Data classifications and Storage Choice
Application data can be classified in one of three ways:
Structured — Choose Azure SQL database or similar,
o In structured data, sometimes called relational data, all data has the same fields or properties
o All the data has the same organization and shape, or schema.
Semi-Structured — choose Azure Cosmos(MongoDBN) or similar ,
o Semi-structured data isn’t stored in a relational format because the fields don’t fit neatly into tables, rows, and columns.
o Semi-structured data contains tags that make the organization and hierarchy of the data apparent.
o One example is key/value pairs.
o Semi-structured data is also referred to as non-relational or not only SQL (NoSQL) data.
o Three common serialization languages are XML, JSON, and YAML.
· Unstructured — choose Azure Storage account or similar .
o The organization of unstructured data is undefined.
o Unstructured data is often delivered in file format, such as in photo or video files.
Examples of unstructured data include:
- Media files, like photos, videos, and audio files
- Microsoft 365 files, like Word documents
- Text files
- Log files
