Welcome back.

In this video, we're going to focus on block storage. More specifically, we're going to compare Amazon Web Services’ Elastic Block Store, and Microsoft Azure's managed disks. Because as more organizations adopt a multicloud strategy, understanding the nuances between these foundational services is going to be crucial for performance, cost, and reliability. So if you're deploying applications across both AWS and Azure, this breakdown is for you.

At its core, EBS provides persistent, high-performance block storage volumes for Amazon EC2 instances. You can think of EBS kind of like a highly reliable network-attached hard drive for your virtual servers.

A key strength of EBS is its diverse portfolio of volume types. This allows you to precisely match storage characteristics to your application’s needs. So for example, for your most critical latency-sensitive transactional workloads, like large databases, AWS offers provisioned IOPS SSDs — specifically the io2 Block Express Volumes. These deliver sub-millisecond latency.

For general purpose use, like boot volumes and development environments, the GP3 volumes provide a balanced mix of price and performance, allowing you to provision IOPS and throughput independently of size.

Then for large sequential workloads, like data warehousing or log processing, throughput optimized HDDS offer low-cost magnetic storage.

This granular selection is a cornerstone of the EDS value proposition.

Now I should also mention that management is simplified with Elastic Volumes, which is a feature that lets you dynamically increase capacity, change the volume type, or adjust performance on the fly, all with no downtime.

For data protection, EBS relies on snapshots, which are point-in-time backups stored durably in Amazon S3. These are central for disaster recovery and can be copied across AWS regions.

For clustered applications requiring shared access, the EBS Multi-Attach feature allows a single provisioned IOPS volume to be attached to multiple EC2 instances within the same availability zone, enabling high availability setups.

So now that we've looked at EBS, let's switch gears a bit and take a look at Microsoft Azure solution, which is Azure Managed Disks.

Now, like EBS, Managed Disks are block level storage volumes, and they're managed by Azure and designed for use with Azure virtual machines. Like AWS, Azure also offers a tiered storage portfolio. At the top end you have Ultra Disks, which deliver unprecedented and dynamically scalable performance for data-intensive workloads like SAP HANA and top-tier databases.

However, for most production applications, premium SSDs provide high-performance, low latency storage. Standard SSDs, on the other hand, offer a cost-effective option for web servers or lightly used applications, while standard HDDS are suited for backup and non-critical data.

A standout feature for Azure is its focus on performance flexibility. As such, performance tiers on premium SSDs allow you to change the IOPS and throughput of a disk without changing its size. This is useful for planned events like maybe a holiday sales rush, or for a performance testing where you need a temporary boost.

I should also mention that several disk types also support bursting. What this does is allow you to accumulate performance credits when things are idle, and then you can burst beyond your provisioned limits to handle unexpected traffic spikes.

For high availability, Managed Disks provide durability by storing at least three replicas of your data. They also integrate with availability sets and availability zones to protect applications from hardware and data center failures. And similar to EBS, Azure's Shared Disks feature allows you to attach a Managed Disk to multiple virtual machines, facilitating the migration of clustered applications, like Windows Server failover clusters to the cloud.

So in a multicloud environment, how do you decide?

Well, while both EBS and Managed Disks offer scalable block storage, their design philosophies present a key trade-off. For example, EBS excels with its specialized volume types, which allows you to select the optimal storage profile for your workload from day one, providing a tailored solution. If your application has well-understood and stable performance requirements, this granular selection can be highly efficient.

Azure Managed Disks, on the other hand, emphasize dynamic performance management. Features like performance tiers and bursting give you the flexibility to adapt to changing demands without re-architecting your storage. If your workload is spiky or unpredictable, this can be a more cost-effective and operationally simpler approach for shared storage.

Both EBS Multi-Attach and Azure Shared Disks enable clustered applications, but it's vital to check the documentation for a specific compatibility with your particular software. Ultimately, neither is universally better. Your solution choice is going to depend on both your app's architecture and your performance patterns.

In a multicloud solution, what you want to do is leverage the unique strengths of each platform. Use EDS for workloads that benefit from its wide array of specialized volumes, and turn to Azure Managed Disks when you need the agility to handle variable performance demands. By understanding these core differences, you can build a smarter, more efficient storage foundation across clouds.

Block storage (EBS vs. Azure Managed Disks)

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