So you finally are ready to try out some of Azure’s most common and loved technologies.Well the cheap storage they provide is definitely one of them that we do. Whether you want to store your own personal files and photos, or you have a requirement from your business to quickly expand some storage, with Azure its quick and easy to setup, access and use.
In this quick tutorial I will run you through just how easy it is to setup an Azure Storage Account.
STEP BY STEP GUIDE ON HOW TO CREATE AN AZURE STORAGE ACCOUNT.
Open the Azure Portal
First thing to do is to open the browser of your choice and into your Azure Subscription at https://portal.azure.com
New Azure Storage Account
Now navigate to the top left of the browser, click the three dashes and scroll down to Storage Accounts, then choose create.
Create an Azure Storage Account
The Browser will now open into the Create a Storage Account Wizard.
Here you will need to know and set a few things so your storage account can be created.
SUBSCRIPTION – First thing is which of your Azure Subscriptions the Storage Account should reside in.
RESOURCE GROUP – Next is the Resource Group, you can either choose an existing Resource Group or create a new one.
STORAGE ACCOUNT NAME – This is the name that you want the Storage Account to be called. It must be unique.
REGION – The Azure datacentre you want the Storage Account to reside.
PERFORMANCE – You can choose Standard or Premium for the performance of the Storage Account.
REDUNDANCY – Choose what sort of redundancy you want for the Storage Account. (More info on this and more about Azure Blob Storage at this link)
Choose from;
- Locally Redundant Storage – (LRS)
- Geo Redundant Storage – (GRS)
- Zone Redundant Storage – (ZRS)
- Geo Zone Redundant Storage – (GZRS)
Azure Storage Account Advanced Page
If you clicked on Review + Create on the previous page, you can skip these steps. However, if you click on Next : Advanced you will be on the further settings page in the Storage Account Creation wizard.
On this page you configure some further settings;
SECURITY
SECURE TRANSFER FOR REST API – This setting will only allow communication to the Storage Account using HTTPS. HTTP will be rejected when this setting is enabled.
ENABLE BLOB PUBLIC ACCESS – Choose if you want this storage account to be accessed externally, or only via your internal network.
ENABLE STORAGE ACCOUNT KEY ACCESS – Choose whether you want to enable access using an Azure Shared Storage Key.
AZURE ACTIVE DIRECTORY– If you have Azure Active Directory you can set this to allow access to the Storage Account using Azure AD.
MINIMUM TLS VERSION – This sets the minimum TLS version that any applications accessing the Storage Account can use.
- TLS version 1.2
- TLS version 1.1
- TLS version 1.0
DATA LAKE STORAGE GEN2
ENABLE HIERARCHICAL NAMESPACE – The Data Lake Storage Gen2 hierarchical namespace accelerates big data analytics workloads and enables file-level access control lists
SSH FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL (SFTP)
ENABLE SFTP – Enables the SSH File Transfer Protocol for your storage account that allows users to access blobs via an SFTP endpoint.
BLOB STORAGE
ENABLE NETWORK FILE SYSTEM v3 – This will allow the Network File System Protocol so that users can access their files across the network.
ALLOW CROSS-TENANT REPLICATION – This allows object replication from this storage account to another storage account within a Different Azure tenant. Not enabling this setting will limit this replication only within the same Azure tenant.
ACCESS TIER – Sets the default access tier for the storage account.
- HOT – For frequently accessed data
- COOL – For less frequently accessed data
AZURE FILES
ENABLE LARGE FILE SHARES – Provides support for file shares up to 100 TiB.
Azure Storage Account Network Connectivity
If you clicked on Review + Create on the previous page, you can skip these steps. However if you click on Next : Advanced you will be on the further settings page in the Storage Account Creation wizard.
On this page you configure some further settings;
NETWORK CONNECTIVITY
CONNECTIVITY METHOD – This setting will only allow communication to the Storage Account using HTTPS. HTTP will be rejected when this setting is enabled.
- PUBLIC ENDPOINTS (ALL NETWORKS) – All networks will be able to access this storage account.
- PUBLIC ENDPOINTS (SELECTED NETWORKS) – Selected networks will be able to access this storage account.
- PRIVATE ENDPOINT – Only allow access from your internal network.
NOTE: The remaining options on this page will change depending on which of the connectivity methods you chose above.
PUBLIC ENDPOINTS (ALL NETWORKS) OPTION
ROUTING PREFERENCE– Chose how to route the traffic to your storage account endpoint.
- MICROSOFT NETWORK ROUTING
- INTERNET ROUTING
PUBLIC ENDPOINTS (SELECTED NETWORKS) OPTION
VIRTUAL NETWORKS – Only the selected networks will be able to access this Storage Account.
VIRTUAL NETWORK SUBSCRIPTION – Which Azure Subscription the network will be provisioned.
VIRTUAL NETWORK – You can create or use an existing virtual network to allow access to this storage account.
NETWORK ROUTING – Determine how to route your traffic as it travels from the source to its Azure endpoint. Microsoft network routing is recommended for most customers.
ROUTING PREFERENCE – Two options here, Microsoft Routing or Internet Routing. Microsoft Network Routing will direct your traffic to enter the Microsoft cloud as quickly as possible from the source. Internet Routing will direct your traffic to enter the Microsoft Cloud closer to the Azure Endpoint.
- MICROSOFT NETWORK ROUTING
- INTERNET ROUTING
PRIVATE ENDPOINT
NETWORK ROUTING – Determine how to route your traffic as it travels from the source to its Azure endpoint. Microsoft network routing is recommended for most customers.
ROUTING PREFERENCE – Two options here, Microsoft Routing or Internet Routing. Microsoft Network Routing will direct your traffic to enter the Microsoft cloud as quickly as possible from the source. Internet Routing will direct your traffic to enter the Microsoft Cloud closer to the Azure Endpoint.
- MICROSOFT NETWORK ROUTING
- INTERNET ROUTING
Azure Storage Account Recovery
Now you should be presented with the Data Protection Page.
On this page you configure these settings;
RECOVERY – Protects your data from accidental deletion and erroneous deletion or modification.
Choose which of these options you want to protect the data within your Storage Account, and how many days you wish to retain the deleted Blobs.
- POINT IN TIME RESTORES FOR CONTAINERS
- ENABLE SOFT DELETE FOR BLOBS
- ENABLE SOFT DELETE FOR CONTAINERS
- ENABLE SOFT DELETE FOR FILE SHARES
TRACKING
Provides versioning and monitors and logs changes made to your Blob data.
- ENABLE VERSIONING FOR BLOBS
- ENABLE BLOB CHANGE FEED
ACCESS CONTROL
ENABLE VERSION LEVEL IMMUTABILITY SUPPORT– Allows you to set time-based retention policy on the account-level that will apply to all blob versions. Enable this feature to set a default policy at the account level. Without enabling this, you can still set a default policy at the container level or set policies for specific blob versions. Versioning is required for this property to be enabled.
Azure Storage Account Tagging
Almost there, now on the TAGS Page.
On this page, you configure any TAGS you want to be applied to the Storage Account.
Azure Storage Account Created
Finally, we are there (Well if you did skip all options in Step 3, you were here a lot sooner)
Confirm all the settings here match the options you want and when you are finally ready to create your Azure Storage Account, click on Create.
And that’s all there is to it, you have created a Storage Account within Azure that you can now start to access and use all the benefits that Azure’s Storage has to offer.
Now once you start using it and want to gain some insights into your Azure Storage Consumption and Usage, you can trial our software for free, Cloud Storage Manager.
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