Optimize object storage costs automatically with smart tier—now generally available

By continuously optimizing data placement, smart tier ensures your retention costs are aligned with existent usage.

We are excited to denote the wide availability (GA) of astute tier for Azure Blob and Data Lake Storage. Smart tier is simply a afloat managed, automated tiering capableness for Azure Blob Storage and Data Lake Storage that helps optimize retention costs without ongoing operational effort. By continuously optimizing information placement, astute tier ensures your retention costs are aligned with existent usage.

As information estates grow and entree patterns evolve, managing lifecycle rules astatine standard becomes complex. Customers request automated, continuous tiering to support costs aligned with usage.

Smart tier continuously evaluates your information entree patterns and automatically moves objects crossed the hot, cool, and acold tiers to support your costs aligned with usage without manual configuration.

Since launching the nationalist preview of astute tier astatine Ignite successful November 2025, customers and partners person adopted it crossed a scope of information estates and over 50% of smart-tier–managed capableness has automatically shifted to cooler tiers based connected existent entree patterns:

We spot a important and measurable payment from adopting astute tier successful Azure Storage for our Azure Data Explorer (ADX) clusters. By intelligently placing information successful the astir cost‑effective tier based connected existent usage patterns, astute tier allows america to optimize retention walk without sacrificing performance. Hot information remains instantly accessible for query workloads, portion cooler, little often accessed information is automatically shifted to lower‑cost tiers. Smart tier efficaciously removed the guesswork from retention optimization, enabling america to absorption connected delivering insights alternatively than managing information placement.

Brad Watts, Principal PM for Azure Data Explorer

The Azure Blob and Data Lake Storage spouse ecosystem is besides integrating astute tier into their solutions:

Smart Tier represents a large measurement guardant successful simplifying however enterprises optimize retention successful the cloud. The quality to automate tiering portion maintaining resilience and predictable economics is highly complementary to Qumulo’s information services connected Azure. Together with Microsoft, we’re enabling customers to modernize record workloads connected Azure portion reducing operational complexity and improving long‑term outgo efficiency.

Brandon Whitelaw, SVP and Head of Product astatine Qumulo

Smart tier is mostly disposable contiguous successful nearly each zonal nationalist unreality regions, supporting some Azure Blob and Data Lake Storage.

How astute tier makes tiering decisions

Smart tier continuously evaluates the past entree clip of each idiosyncratic entity connected the retention relationship wherever astute tier is enabled.

Frequently accessed information stays successful the blistery tier to enactment show and transaction efficiency; inactive information transitions to the chill tier aft 30 days and to the acold tier aft an further 60 days. When information is accessed again, it is instantly promoted backmost to blistery and the tiering rhythm restarts. This means your datasets stay successful the astir cost-effective tier automatically, removing the request to foretell entree patterns.

Read and constitute operations against an object, i.e. Get Blob oregon Put Blob operations are restarting the tiering cycle. Metadata operations, i.e. Get Blob Properties, are not impacting transitions. These static tiering rules are portion of the underlying work and guarantee automatic optimizations without the request for manual maintenance.

Setting up astute tier

Enabling astute tier is straightforward and designed to minimize alteration absorption portion delivering contiguous cost-optimization benefits:

1. During storage relationship creation, just select astute tier as the default entree tier done the retention relationship configuration for immoderate retention relationship with zonal redundancy. This is supported some via API and the Azure portal.
2. Enable existing accounts with zonal redundancies by switching the blob entree tier from default to astute done the aforesaid tooling.
3. Let Azure optimize automatically: Objects inheriting the default tier are continuously managed without manual interventions needed.

Please note: Smart tier doesn’t enactment bequest relationship types specified arsenic Standard general-purpose v1 (GPv1) and is not applicable connected leafage oregon append blobs.

For objects managed by astute tier, you wage modular hot, cool, and acold capableness rates, without further charges for tier transitions, aboriginal deletion, oregon information retrieval. Moving existing objects into astute tier does not incur tier-change fees; a monitoring fee covers the orchestration.

Over time, automated down-tiering of inactive information combined with astute tier’s simplified billing tin construe into meaningful savings astatine scale.

Best practices for maximizing astute tier worth

• After enabling astute tier connected the relationship level, you tin explicitly pin objects that you don’t privation to beryllium managed by astute tier to different tiers. No monitoring interest volition use to those objects.
• Don’t exclude tiny objects. Objects little than 128 KiB enactment successful hot, don’t tier down, and don’t incur the monitoring fee. If an entity aboriginal grows to adjacent to oregon greater than 128 KiB, astute tier policies use automatically.
• Common pitfall: Avoid trying to power tiering behaviour utilizing lifecycle rules oregon different tier optimization mechanisms for astute tier–managed objects.

Based connected patterns observed crossed aggregate ample astute tier preview deployments, customers commonly spot the pursuing outcomes aft enabling astute tier:

Smart tier adoption for a ample analytics workload

During nationalist preview, a ample information analytics lawsuit enabled astute tier crossed hundreds of tebibytes of telemetry and log information with mixed and evolving entree patterns.

Before enabling astute tier, the squad relied connected customized lifecycle rules that required predominant retuning arsenic entree patterns evolved and often led to unexpected outgo spikes aft re-access.

After enabling astute tier:

• More than half of this customer’s managed information footprint automatically transitioned to cooler tiers based connected existent usage patterns.
• The squad eliminated lifecycle argumentation management entirely, freeing engineering time.
• Storage costs became much predictable and resilient to re-access spikes, since rehydration occurred automatically without retrieval oregon aboriginal deletion charges.

While savings alteration by workload, this signifier reflects however astute tier helps align entity retention costs with existent usage.

Who should usage astute tier?

Smart tier is good suited for organizations that:

• Manage large oregon fast-growing entity information estates.
• Have mixed, evolving, oregon unpredictable entree patterns.
• Want to optimize costs without maintaining lifecycle rules.
• Need information to stay online and immediately accessible, adjacent erstwhile infrequently used.
• Want safeguards against billing spikes caused by unplanned rehydration of cooler-tier datasets.

This includes analytics pipelines, information lakes, logs, telemetry, and exertion information wherever usage people changes implicit time.

Why alteration astute tier now?

• Reduce operational overhead: No lifecycle rules to design, test, oregon maintain.
• Align costs with existent usage: Data continuously moves to the astir due tier based connected entree patterns.
• Preserve performance: Frequently accessed information remains hot; re‑access is automatic.
• Simplify billing: No tier transition, aboriginal deletion, oregon retrieval charges wrong astute tier; a monthly monitoring interest occurs for each entity successful scope.
• Scale with confidence: Built for large, evolving information estates.

What’s adjacent for astute tier?

Smart tier is designed arsenic a foundational capableness that volition proceed to evolve. Upcoming improvements absorption on:

• Broader determination availability, including further nationalist unreality regions arsenic GA rollout progresses.
• Client tooling support: Watch retired for upcoming releases of our Storage SDKs and tooling supporting this caller capability.

Get started with astute tier

Enable astute tier during retention relationship instauration oregon update an existing zonal retention relationship by mounting astute tier arsenic the default entree tier. Once enabled, Azure continuously optimizes information placement—no ongoing configuration required.