Uploading Files To Azure Blob Storage

Introduction

In the article given below, we are going to learn what Azure Blobs are and the concept of uploading the Blobs into Azure Blob storage account. To make use of the Azure Blobs, you need to create a storage account in Azure first. These Blobs are a part of Azure storage account in which some small data can be stored. We will be discussing the methods of creating a container in Azure but prior to it, we need to have a storage account in Azure. The method to create a storage account in the azure portal is shown in the link.

Before you get into Azure Blobs, first make sure what is meant by Azure Blobs. Study the explanation below first and then get into the container creation process in the Blobs.

Azure Blob

Azure Blob storage is a Service to store large amounts of unstructured object data, such as text or binary data, which can be accessed from anywhere in the world via HTTP or HTTPS. You can use Blob storage to expose the data publicly to the world or to store an Application data privately. This is a simple explanation to make you to get a small idea about the Blobs. If you need to know more, please surf it in the official Microsoft forums.

Getting started

First, finish up the process of creating the storage account in the Azure portal. Once you finish it, click on the all resources option. You will see all the resources which you have configured in your portal. Find the name of the storage account, which you have created and then click it. You will be displayed with a Window in which lot of configuration options for your storage account can be found. In the middle, you can see three different squares namely Blobs, Files, Tables and Queues. Click Blobs option to open the Service.

Creating the container

Now, you will be shown a Window with the name Blob Service. Click on the +Container option, which is found in the top of the Window. Once you click it, you will be shown a new window asking for the name of your container and the type of access policy your container should have. Give some cool name which you like to give for your container and then select some sort of access policy for your Blob , which is based on your need and then click on Create button.

Uploading the file

Now, you have successfully created a container in Azure storage account. Go to you Blob Service Window again and now you can find a new container, which is created in Blob Service. Click on Blob Service and then you will be viewing a new window where you can access the properties and all other access key policies of your Service. The access policies are the connection strings, which will help you to connect to your Blob from the Application, which you design. Now, to upload a file into the container of Blob, click the Upload option in the top of the Window. This will show you a new Window in which a few details will be asked. Select the type of Blob, which you like to upload from the options menu. Now, choose some block size based on the size of your block of blob. Now click on the browse option and choose the file which you like to upload into your blob container. Finally click OK button. This will upload your Blob into the container. The time to upload Blob to the container will be based on the size of the file, which you upload. Network speed will also play a major role in it.

Viewing the uploaded file

Once your file gets uploaded into your Azure storage Blob container, you will be notified. Now, the name of the file will be displayed in the container. Click over the file name and you will be shown the properties of Blob. Now, you can find the amount of data is uploaded and the amount of space is left. In the top, you can find the Download option. Click on it to view the data, which you have uploaded into your Blob. This is how we generally upload the files to Blobs. This can also be done through PowerShell commands.

Conclusion

Finally, we have learned the concept of uploading the files into Azure Blob storage. The same concepts are used for uploading the data to the table and queues too. I will be writing some other articles in which the queues and other storage Services can be used. I hope, you learned something about Cloud data storage. Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment, if you have any queries. Thank you.