Azure Table storage
What it is
Azure Table storage is a NoSQL key-value / key-attribute store for structured, semi-structured data — billions of rows without a fixed schema. Each row (entity) has a partition key + row key (the composite primary key) and attribute columns.
Why it exists
Cost-effective, schema-less storage for structured app data (user profiles, device metadata, logs) that doesn’t need a full relational database. Tables scale out by partition for parallel throughput.
Key ideas
- Entity = row; attributes = columns; a partition groups entities by partition key for atomic operations & load distribution.
- Composite primary key: PartitionKey + RowKey (together unique).
- Schemaless — entities can have different attributes; via the OData/REST table service.
- Cheap per-GB — good for large structured datasets with simple lookups.
- Part of a storage account alongside blobs/queues/files; addressable at
<account>.table.core.windows.net. - Managed offering Azure Cosmos DB (Table API / Azure Table) can replace it for premium.
How it fits (diagram)
Exam notes
- PartitionKey + RowKey = primary key; partition = unit of scale & atomic batch.
- Tables are schema-less — use for structured, not relational.
- Contrast with queues (messages, transient) vs blobs (unstructured files).
Related
storage-account · azure-queues · blob-storage
📘 Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Tables