Azure Managed Disks
- By Avinash Valiramani
- 12/24/2023
- Overview
- Key features
- Key concepts
In this sample chapter from Microsoft Azure Storage: The Definitive Guide, you will learn the key features and benefits of using managed disks in your Azure environment, as well as the components and detailed features of the Azure Managed Disks service.
Overview
In February 2017, Microsoft announced the general availability for the Azure Managed Disks service, starting with the Standard and Premium disk types. Managed disks enable Azure customers to reduce overhead associated with managing and scaling storages account while creating or managing virtual machine (VM) disks. Microsoft also introduced numerous features that made managed disks a compelling solution for every Azure-hosted infrastructure as a service (IaaS) environment and for customers considering migrating to the cloud. Over time, the list of features and benefits associated with the Azure Managed Disks service has grown, and it has become the default disk solution for most organizations that use Azure for their VMs.
Each Azure managed disk is a fully managed block-level storage volume designed for the highest level of redundancy and availability. Azure currently offers different types of managed disks, including Ultra Disks, Premium SSD Disks, Standard SSD Disks, and Standard HDD disks. Each disk type provides varying levels of performance and scalability.