Creating a storage account and container in Windows Azure

 Jul 14, 2015

We are constantly moving further into the space of using the cloud to host our application and services, so why not use Windows Azure to contain your files as well? Windows Azure comes with a storage service that you can utilize for just such an occasion.

When talking about the storage service you can use up to three different services, namely Blob storage, Table Storage and Queue Storage. In this blog I will be focusing on the Blob Storage.

Traditionally we have saved all our files to specific hard drives or network storage devices; with the cloud now fully available to us we can use these services to store these files. When we use the Azure storage solution we will have a storage account and containers that we will use.

To use this we first have to create a Storage Account, so first log on to your Azure portal.

Then in your menu find the menu option called Storage and click on it.

You should now see all available storage services you have created; we now want to create a new storage account to be used, to do this click on the new button on the bottom of your menu.

Once the New menu pops up, make sure Storage is selected and then press the Quick Create option.

You will then have to provide the URL, Location and Replication settings for your Storage Account. The URL will consist of all lowercase letter and it will always append the “.core.windows.net” at the end. This URL will form part of your URL to access the image in the future; next we set the location of where the account must be stored. I will use Australia Southeast as it is closest to me. The last part of the creation wizard is to choose the replication type; options here can be between local, zone specific or global depending on your needs.

After you have created your storage account you will have to create containers. These containers will be what store your files (blobs). To do this open your storage account in question by clicking on the arrow next to the name.

Then, on the navigation on the top click on the option called containers and then click on the Add button on the bottom menu.

You will now set the name of the container as well as the access the container must present, this can either be made publicly available or set to private. When you set it as public anybody can access that container and see the blobs, whereas if it is set to private they must require the account storage name and the access key to work with the files.

To retrieve the access keys of the container you can go to your storage menu again and highlight the storage account that you want to view, this will bring up an option on the bottom called “Manage Access Keys”

Through this window you will be able to copy the storage account name as well as the keys associated with them. You also have the option to regenerate the keys if you feel that you need to change access to the storage.

By following these steps you are now ready to start uploading files into the container.

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About the Author:

Auret Swanepoel  

As a recent addition to the New Horizons team, Auret is a highly skilled and qualified IT Technical trainer. He has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) since 2008 and has since then, also become a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP), a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) and a Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional (MCITP). With his international experience as a trainer in South Africa, Auret is able to adapt his teaching style to different audiences in the classroom and ensure that students are learning in a positive and collaborative environment.

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