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Software Developer II at CSG
Real User
Top 5
A stable and scalable solution that provides excellent security features
Pros and Cons
  • "The product’s security features are valuable."
  • "The user interface is very difficult."

What is our primary use case?

We use the tool to connect with Power BI to make visualizations. We also use it to store data.

What is most valuable?

The product’s security features are valuable.

What needs improvement?

The user interface is very difficult. It is not user-friendly. We need time to understand the product and create a container. It would be nice if the user interface were made simpler. The documentation is difficult to understand. There are no videos on the website. It is difficult for a new user to understand the solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for one year and three months.

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure Block Storage
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure Block Storage. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The tool is stable. I rate the stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s scalability a ten out of ten. We might have 500 to 1000 users in our organization.

How are customer service and support?

I connect with our internal team for access issues.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Amazon’s UI is very simple. We can directly create a function in Amazon S3.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is difficult. It is very difficult to identify the things we need. I rate the ease of setup an eight out of ten. Deploying the solution takes less than a minute, but the process is difficult.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is costlier than Amazon S3.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Solution Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
High-speed data solution that supports multiple types of deployment
Pros and Cons
  • "It can be deployed independently and supports every kind of deployment."
  • "It is also costly and not cheap compared to Internet-based networks."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for high-speed data and a very critical mission.

What is most valuable?

Block storage is typically used when you have structured data. For example, RDP systems like SQL Oracle and the SQL DB tool. If you have structured data, you need Microsoft Azure Block Storage.

What needs improvement?

The solution should also support unstructured data. There is a different file format for unstructured data. It would also be good if the solution notification features.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for three years. Microsoft Azure Block Storage is deployed as per the requirement. It can be deployed independently and supports every kind of deployment.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable, and I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable, and I rate the scalability an eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is very good.

How was the initial setup?

The setup is not as simple as File Storage, and it requires a lot of investment because block storage requires a high-speed network, and you have to deploy a lot of fibre cables. It is also costly and not cheap compared to Internet-based networks. So the initial investment cost for deploying the block storage is very expensive.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price depends on the requirement. If the data is critical, you must deploy block storage. But if it is not that critical, you can choose cheaper storage options. I rate the pricing for Microsoft Azure Block Storage a two out of ten.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Multiple vendors offer good block storage solutions, such as BMC Storage, NetApp Storage, Azure, Google and Oracle. Microsoft Azure Block Storage is deployed for mission-critical and business-critical data. When deploying these kinds of data, you must have a data center to control moving the data and allow multiple storages. You can know where the data is stored, which software controls the data, and who manages your data. But for cloud, the customer does not have any visibility or know who is responsible for managing data or whether it's secured. Therefore, transparency, control and storage deployment is significant.

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution an eight out of ten, and I would recommend this to others.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure Block Storage
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure Block Storage. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Technical Operations Manager at Mphasis
Real User
A stable and widely accepted solution
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup for the production areas was on premise, which is very simple."
  • "It has been a couple of years since I contacted support. However, at that time, it was difficult to get someone on the call even though it was an issue of high severity."

What is our primary use case?

We use the hybrid version of Microsoft Azure Block Storage. We have a client based in the UK who utilizes the hybrid cloud. We also have a couple of archiving solutions there, as well as NetApp on TapCloud. 

The NFS solution goes into that, deployment is purely on the Azure cloud. The production areas and archiving solutions are mostly done on-premises, while testing and application development in some areas is purely cloud-based.

Block storage is used for the data that is configured for our servers. We have it for auditing purposes and as a compliance method.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

As for scalability, we use other archiving solutions, NetApp on TapCloud, for example, because there are some limitations with capacity unless you extend the terabytes of data.

How are customer service and support?

It has been a couple of years since I contacted support. However, at that time, it was difficult to get someone on the call even though it was an issue of high severity.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for the production areas was on-premises, which is very simple.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Azure Block Storage is higher priced than its competitors. It is costly. The pricing is difficult to calculate as there are different tiers to select from. 

What other advice do I have?

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is widely accepted. People are choosing the enterprise solution. I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Cloud architecture
Real User
Has file share features that help to migrate small data amounts from on-prem to cloud
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the product’s versioning and file share features. The file share feature is most useful when we are connecting on-premises services. Azure file share helps to migrate small data amounts from on-premises to the cloud."
  • "I find the user interface of newer versions, particularly, the flows, not user-friendly. The UI of Azure’s initial version was very comfortable. I didn’t have to remember floor menus. I knew where I had to go to see the logs or grab configuration parameters."

What is our primary use case?

We use the tool for static website hosting and log storage. My company also uses it to store static information, and as a backup solution to store files.

What is most valuable?

I like the product’s versioning and file share features. The file share feature is most useful when we are connecting on-premises services. Azure file share helps to migrate small data amounts from on-premises to the cloud.

What needs improvement?

I find the user interface of newer versions, particularly, the flows, not user-friendly. The UI of Azure’s initial version was very comfortable. I didn’t have to remember floor menus. I knew where I had to go to see the logs or grab configuration parameters.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The tool’s stability is fine and I would rate it a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the solution’s scalability a ten out of ten. The product has become a common requirement for all projects. Almost all people in my company use it. There are more than 100 users for the solution in our company. We are a startup, and not a big company.

How are customer service and support?

The solution’s support is very helpful. Whenever I am at a dead end or need help, I would seek the product’s support which is like an ex-colleague to me. I had had some incidents where there were outages.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The solution’s initial setup is simple and straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

The tool’s deployment was done by our in-house team members.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I would rate the solution’s pricing a nine out of ten and it’s cheaper than Amazon S3.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the overall solution a nine out of ten. Azure has better usability and user experience compared to Amazon S3. Both products have similar functionality and I would say that both of them have reached saturation. S3’s storage account is also costlier compared to Azure. S3 is also complex in configuration and UI is not user-friendly like Azure.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Srinivas Reddy Katta - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at IdeaBytes
Real User
Top 5
A highly scalable and stable solution that can be used for storage purposes
Pros and Cons
  • "Storing and then retrieving data are the most valuable features of Microsoft Azure Block Storage."
  • "The solution’s user interface could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We are using the solution for storage purposes.

What is most valuable?

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is an easy-to-use solution. Storing and then retrieving data are the most valuable features of Microsoft Azure Block Storage.

What needs improvement?

The solution’s user interface could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure Block Storage for three to four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is a stable solution.

I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage a nine out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure Block Storage is a highly scalable solution. Most of our clients for Microsoft Azure Block Storage are medium and large sized businesses.

I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage an eight out of ten for scalability.

How was the initial setup?

I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage a nine out of ten for the ease of its initial setup.

What about the implementation team?

The solution's deployment doesn't take much time and can be done in a few minutes.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six or seven out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

We are using the latest version of Microsoft Azure Block Storage.

Overall, I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Syed Zakaulla - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at Softway
Integrator
Top 5Leaderboard
It has a straightforward implementation process, but it's laggy and provides horrible technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft Azure Block Storage has the same features as other solutions, but I like that its implementation process is straightforward."
  • "The performance of Microsoft Azure Block Storage needs improvement because it's laggy. Microsoft Azure Block Storage also has a lot of limitations on file sizes. The rendering and loading times also need improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use Microsoft Azure Block Storage for storing files. We don't use it for anything else.

What is most valuable?

Microsoft Azure Block Storage has the same features as other solutions, but I like that its implementation process is straightforward.

What needs improvement?

The performance of Microsoft Azure Block Storage needs improvement because it's laggy. My company used it in different places, including the Microsoft browser, but it still lags.

Pricing for the product is another area for improvement.

Microsoft Azure Block Storage also has a lot of limitations on file sizes. The rendering and loading times also need improvement. Sometimes, Microsoft Azure Block Storage crashes, an issue that needs to be taken care of promptly, but Microsoft hasn't been able to do that for a very long time.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Microsoft Azure Block Storage for many years since its inception.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I didn't find Microsoft Azure Block Storage stable or secure.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would not even think of scaling Microsoft Azure Block Storage based on its current performance.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support for Microsoft Azure Block Storage is horrible. Whenever my team reaches out, Microsoft support will keep escalating the issue because of a lack of expertise, so my company ends up paying for useless technical consultations. The support team could be more knowledgeable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use Microsoft Azure Block Storage, but usage is limited to specific clients because it comes with very high pricing.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for Microsoft Azure Block Storage is simple. It's more of tweaking the connection settings or connecting it to your DB.

Deploying the product took two hours.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing for Microsoft Azure Block Storage is high because of MSA and SBA contracts, where Microsoft takes care of the security aspects, apart from the maintenance, and Microsoft has service level agreements with the customers. On the other hand, AWS requires you to purchase items independently, so my company only typically refers Microsoft Azure Block Storage to other clients if the client signed an MSA with Microsoft.

Both Microsoft Azure Block Storage and AWS cost hundreds of dollars. The licensing for Microsoft Azure Block Storage is yearly. How much you pay depends on the amount of storage. Microsoft will start charging you from $100 to a few hundred per month, depending on how much you're trying to store.

Microsoft Azure Block Storage has hundreds of items inside, so each item has its own cost.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We tried Google Cloud Storage, but we had a terrible experience with the product because, at the time, Google was new in the market.

What other advice do I have?

I would not recommend Microsoft Azure Block Storage to others, especially if you plan to use it for business purposes, because it's laggy.

My company has several clients on Microsoft Azure Block Storage, but it's been trying to get clients off it.

I advise anyone looking into using Microsoft Azure Block Storage not to. It's best to try avoiding Microsoft Azure-related microservices. Microsoft Azure is good on the dev ops side, such as Kubernetes, but not on storage or other services because Microsoft Azure has its version of services. Still, AWS overshadows Microsoft every single time. For example, if you want to do some heavy deployment, then Microsoft Azure Kubernetes, which is more of a database cluster, is nice. The pricing is also good for Microsoft Azure Kubernetes versus AWS, which has premium pricing, but it is still trying to figure out its solution in this area. Microsoft and AWS have different packages and offerings, so it's up to you to choose wisely. Go for AWS for scalability and Microsoft for reliability and security, in the dev ops area, for example.

My  Microsoft Azure Block Storage rating is four out of ten because of its file size limitations, stability, and technical support.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
PeerSpot user
AmrEL Tahan - PeerSpot reviewer
Software QA Lead at Ajman Municipality
Real User
Top 5
Works as a source code repository and useful for software testing life cycle management
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft Azure Block Storage has high-security features and is very reliable. Its maintenance is done through the cloud, which reduces costs."
  • "Microsoft Azure Block Storage needs to improve its migration and reporting processes."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for several key purposes: first, as a source code repository; second, for software testing life cycle management, including test cases and bug tracking; and third, for deploying our projects through pipelines, supporting continuous deployment and continuous integration.

What is most valuable?

Microsoft Azure Block Storage has high-security features and is very reliable. Its maintenance is done through the cloud, which reduces costs. 

What needs improvement?

Microsoft Azure Block Storage needs to improve its migration and reporting processes. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with the product for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the solution's stability an eight out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

My company has 35-50 users. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We chose Microsoft Azure Blob Storage because we've been using their solutions for a long time, starting from Team Foundation Server since 2010 and even earlier with Visual SourceSafe. We kept upgrading versions, which led us to adopt Azure Cloud. Additionally, the licensing cost was favorable for us. 

How was the initial setup?

Deploying the tool is easy, but we encountered challenges while migrating our old repositories from EFS 2015 and 2019. The main issue was that we had to migrate the entire default collection to do it properly, and there wasn't a straightforward way to handle this. For example, while test cases must be migrated through the default collection, repositories for source code can be migrated alone, which poses a significant challenge for us.

It generally took more than a day to set up and plan everything for on-premises setup. For cloud installations, it was easier because you could pick items from Microsoft storage or repositories and switch them on. However, final configurations for pipelines and other elements still require significant time.

What was our ROI?

We expect ROI through cost reduction after three years. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Microsoft Azure Block Storage a ten out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
AlexeySaverchenko - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Intelligence Lead at IXOM
Real User
Reliable with good storage capabilities and easy uploading
Pros and Cons
  • "The stability seems to be very reliable."
  • "If the documentation could be improved then it would be very good. Right now, if you face a question, you have to guess how it works or you have to test your hypothesis."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for storage. 

What is most valuable?

The storage is great. It's easy to upload files. 

The stability seems to be very reliable.

It's a very scalable solution. 

I like the storage explorer feature. 

What needs improvement?

I cannot recall coming across any missing features. 

I have experience in resolving various issues, however, troubleshooting can be sometimes very difficult as items are not very well documented. If the documentation could be improved then it would be very good. Right now, if you face a question, you have to guess how it works or you have to test your hypothesis. This would be great for newer, more basic users. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have explored the solution several times in the past and have used it maybe for almost a year. I work with it almost on a daily basis.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have never had any issues with eh stability. I've never dealt with bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's stable and reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution scales well. If a company wants to expand it, it can do so. It's not a problem. 

How are customer service and support?

I've never directly dealt with technical support. I can't comment on how helpful they would be if issues came up. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have experience with Databricks and I'd not say that there isn't much of a difference. I tend to prefer Azure as everything is under one umbrella. 

How was the initial setup?

The solution was not deployed by me directly. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm just an end-user. I don't have any special arrangements with the company. 

I would rate the solution a ten out of ten. I haven't had any issues with it at all. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user