Azure-docs: Confusion Around Costs

[Mike-E-angelo]

As someone who is new to this, it would be greatly beneficial if the following was further outlined and clarified:

1. If each file is considered a "block" in a block blob.
2. if I have 5,000 files in my static website, does that mean it will cost $0.05 each time I want to update (write) files to it?
3. If serving a file is considered a "read" operation. This is especially confusing as the Azure block blob cost page refers to a "read" operation as GetBlob and SetBlobTier (when it moves a Blob from Archive to Cool, Cool to Hot, or Archive to Hot, but if a request is made to https://contoso.z4.web.core.windows.net/image.jpg (or https://contoso.z4.web.core.windows.net/index.html) does that mean there is a hidden/implicit call to GetBlob?

Thank you for any consideration/clarification around this.

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Document Details

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• ID: dcd3f99a-f522-6edb-6d39-eac1bb917956
• Version Independent ID: 69e9c1e5-8deb-8092-46f4-6646d076fbe4
• Content: Static website hosting in Azure Storage (Preview)
• Content Source: articles/storage/blobs/storage-blob-static-website.md
• Service: storage
• GitHub Login: @MichaelHauss
• Microsoft Alias: mihauss

[Mike-Ubezzi-MSFT]

@Mike-EEE Thank you for the feedback and your interest in Azure. We will review and get back to you with an update. The documentation contains a link to the Storage pricing page without any other details and it might be helpful to include an example static web site billing scenario for a simple one page website...as an example.

[Mike-E-angelo]

Great, that would indeed be very helpful. Thank you, @Mike-Ubezzi-MSFT !

[Mike-E-angelo]

I'm also OK with having anyone taking a stab at answering some of these questions in the meantime, too. 😂😁😇

The other component here that I feel needs more mention is the notion of CDNs and the role that they play in this new era of content delivery.

Is the assumption/expectation that CDNs are utilized in this setup? There seems to be a lot of chatter of exactly this in the comments of this post:
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-storage-static-web-hosting-public-preview/

So then, is calculating cost a matter of:

• Storage per GB
• Read Operations to the CDN
• CDN transfer

?

I am thinking the best use of an example here would be to take a typically generated site and provide metrics around that, if possible. If it helps, I myself am using Hugo and from a basic template without much content, it generates 2.5MB of content comprised of 117 files and 42 folders.

So, if I took this payload and published it with this new feature, how much would I expect to pay per month, assuming I had, say, 100 unique visitors each day? And if I put a CDN in front of that?

Having an example that highlight and explains this would be most excellent and valuable for me, thank you again for any consideration towards this. :)

[MichaelHauss]

Any blob read is a Get Blob transaction. A "file" (blob object) can be comprised of multiple blocks. The web endpoint is not priced any differently than the blob endpoint. This blog post is a bit old, but gives great detail on pricing: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsazurestorage/2010/07/08/understanding-windows-azure-storage-billing-bandwidth-transactions-and-capacity/. Transactions are priced per 10,000. If adding CDN, you'll need to look at CDN pricing: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/cdn/. You'll be billed for CDN, and also billed for storage when CDN reads from the origin. Cache hits with CDN aren't billed by transaction, just total data payload / egress.

We can work toward publishing a pricing sample in the doc

[Mike-E-angelo]

Excellent, thank you for providing additional context @MichaelHauss.

I myself _think_ I understand the mechanics and dynamics at play here now, so I can start to get some sense of understanding on what a typical site might cost. It took me writing in and hassling your team to get to that point, however. The CDN offers a different level of complexity here as you are now offering hosting services through an offering that has traditionally been utilized for storage.

Having a very simple example outlining these two scenarios (w/ and w/o CDN) for your new offering would be greatly appreciated.

FWIW, I am extremely happy to see you provide this service. I think as more and more developers learn the simplicity and ease-of-use that static pages provide you will, in turn, see this really grow into an incredibly popular feature. My world has completely been shifted since learning about Hugo, myself. 👍

[Mike-E-angelo]

@tamram Ah, I apologize if the ask is not apparent (it's sort of hidden in my last message), but the request is to update the documentation with some scenario-based examples for this new service. Ideally, this would be one example using CDN and then another without it.

Or is the ask clear and that's your way of saying to buzz off? 😂

[tamram]

@Mike-EEE - No, I would not say that. (-;

@MichaelHauss - Can you address the request for additional examples?

[MichaelHauss]

As I commented above, we will work toward publishing a pricing sample in the doc. This won't happen today, but I absolutely plan to do it.

[tamram]

Thanks @MichaelHauss !

please-close

[femsulu]

@Mike-EEE We will now close this issue. If there are further questions regarding this matter, please reply to @femsulu and we will gladly continue the discussion.