DEV Community: daniel ugot

HOST A STATIC WEBSITE ON AZURE BLOB STORAGE IN 5 MINUTES (No VMs)

daniel ugot — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 22:43:56 +0000

Have you ever wanted to put up a website without worrying about managing a web server, paying for hosting or wrestling with some complex configurations? There's good news: Azure Storage can host a static website for almost nothing, and you can get your hands on it.

In this blog post, I will tell you exactly what a static website is, I will introduce you to Azure Storage and its different types and tell you why Blob storage is a really good fit, and then walk you through the steps to get your static website hosted.

Are you ready......

Let's get started!!!

WHAT IS A STATIC WEBSITE

A static website is a collection of fixed files -HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images - that your browser downloads and displays exactly as they are. Every visitor to the site gets to see the same content, and no database or server-side code is running behind the scenes.

A good example includes Business Brochures, Documentation and Knowledge Bases, Landing Pages, and Personal Portfolios.

Because static sites are just files, they load really fast and are very secure (there is no database to hack), and can be hosted on simple storage services like the Azure Blob Storage.

AZURE STORAGE - THE CLOUD HARD DRIVE

Azure Storage is Microsoft's cloud service for storing all kinds of data. When you create a storage account, you get a suite of services, each built to handle a specific type of data storage task. Here's a simple breakdown of each:

🚀 Blob Storage: Handles unstructured data - images, website files, videos, backups

🚀 Azure files: Handles Cloud file shares

🚀 Azure Tables: A NoSQL Key-value store for semi-structured data.

🚀 Azure Queues: Message queuing for decoupling app components.

WHAT IS AZURE BLOB STORAGE

Blob stands for Binary Large Object. It’s designed to store massive amounts of unstructured data – think of it as a giant, super‑reliable folder in the cloud. Within Blob Storage, you create containers (like folders) and upload blobs (your files).

Blobs come in three flavours:

✅ Block blobs – ideal for text and media files (perfect for websites)

✅ Page blobs – used for virtual machine disks

✅ Append blobs – optimised for logging

For a static site, you’ll use block blobs.

Why Azure Blob Storage Is a Great Fit for Static Websites

You might wonder, “Why not just use a traditional web host?” Here’s what makes Blob Storage special for static sites:

🎯 No server to manage – You don’t install, patch, or secure any operating system or web server software.

🎯 Incredibly low cost – You pay only for the storage your files use and the requests they generate. The static website feature is free to enable.

🎯 Built‑in HTTPS – Azure gives you a *.web.core.windows.net URL with an automatic SSL certificate, so your site is secure from the start.

🎯 Global scale – Azure’s infrastructure is massive. If your site goes viral, Blob Storage handles the traffic without breaking a sweat.

🎯 99.9%+ durability – Microsoft automatically replicates your files to protect against hardware failure.

🎯 Easy custom domains – You can map your own domain (like
www.your-site.com) to the Azure endpoint.

⚠️ One small limitation: Because there’s no web server, you cannot run server‑side code (PHP, Node.js, etc.). If you need authentication or custom headers, look at Azure Static Web Apps – a more powerful (but still serverless) option.

STEP BY STEP WALK THROUGH: HOST A STATIC WEBSITE ON AZURE BLOB STORAGE

STEP ONE - Create a Storage Account in Azure

1️⃣ Sign in to your Azure Portal

2️⃣ In the search bar, type in Storage Account and click on it in the drop-down suggestion.

3️⃣ Inside the Storage centre, click on Create to create an Azure blob storage

4️⃣ Fill in the basics

🔲 Resource group: Create a new resource group by clicking on create new and providing your resource group name.

🔲 Storage account name: Must be globally unique -try mynewstaticsite (lowercase letters and numbers only)

🔲 Region: Pick one close to your audience

🔲 Preferred Storage type: Azure Blob Storage or Azure Data Lake Storage.

🔲 Performance: Standard (perfect for a static site)

🔲 Redundancy: Locally redundant storage (LRS)

5️⃣ Click Review + Create and then Create

Deployment takes a few seconds. Once it is done, click Go to Resource

STEP TWO - ENABLE STATIC WEBSITE HOSTING

1️⃣ In your storage account's left menu, under Data Management, click Static Website

2️⃣ Set Static website hosting to Enabled

3️⃣ Enter:
🔘 Index document name: index.html (this is your home page)
🔘 Error document path: 404.html

4️⃣ Click Save above

After saving, Azure automatically creates a special container named $web – this is where all your website files will live. Azure also shows you a Primary endpoint URL like
https://yourstorageaccount.z22.web.core.windows.net/ – it’s your site’s address.

STEP THREE – Download a Free Template from Tooplate.com

1️⃣ Go to Tooplate.com and browse the free templates. For this example, I’ll use “2137_barista_cafe”

2️⃣Click the Download button to get a ZIP file.

3️⃣ Extract the ZIP on your computer. You’ll see folders like css, js, images and an index.html file.

STEP FOUR – Upload Your Template Files to the $web Container

1️⃣ In your storage account, go to Containers (under Data storage).

2️⃣ Click on the $web container to open it.

3️⃣ Click the Upload button to add the content of the static website to the $web container

4️⃣ Drag the extracted files and folders from your computer into the upload window, or click to browse.

5️⃣ After the upload completes, you should see all your files inside $web

STEP FIVE – Test Your Live Website

1️⃣ Go back to the Static website page in your storage account.

2️⃣ Click the Primary endpoint URL (or paste it into your browser).

3️⃣ Congratulations – your Tooplate template is now live on the internet, served directly from Azure Blob Storage!

You’ll see the beautiful, responsive website just like it looks on your computer.

Now you can give this a try. Pick a template you love, upload it to Azure Blob Storage, and share your new site with the world.

If you encounter any issues, please drop a comment – I’ll be happy to help.

Happy hosting! 🚀

Mastering Azure Entra ID: A Hands-On Guide to User Management and Privileged Roles

daniel ugot — Thu, 28 May 2026 00:13:29 +0000

Cloud identity management sits at the center of modern IT operations. Whether you are managing a startup environment or a large enterprise infrastructure, controlling who has access to cloud resources is vital. In Microsoft Azure, this responsibility is handled through Microsoft Entra ID.

In this hands-on guide, you’ll learn how to create users, assign administrative privileges, and apply the principle of least privilege by removing elevated permissions when they are no longer needed. These are foundational tasks every Azure cloud administrator should understand.

By the end of this walkthrough, you will know how to:

Create users in Azure Entra ID
Sign in with newly created accounts
Assign the Global Administrator role
Delegate administrative tasks securely
Revoke elevated access after task completion

What is Microsoft Entra ID?

Microsoft Entra ID is Microsoft’s cloud-based identity and access management service. It allows organizations to manage users, authentication, permissions, and secure access to applications and cloud resources.

Today, Entra ID plays a major role in:

Identity governance
Zero Trust security models
Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Role-based access control (RBAC)
Single Sign-On (SSO)

Organizations use Entra ID to ensure that only authorized users can access critical systems and data.

Prerequisites

Before starting this hands-on lab, ensure you have:

An active Microsoft Azure subscription
Access to the Microsoft Azure Portal
A user account with Global Administrator privileges
Permission to create and manage users

Step 1: Create a New User in Azure Entra ID

Every employee, administrator, developer, or service account in Azure needs an identity. User creation is one of the most common administrative tasks in any cloud environment.

Sign in to the Azure Portal
Search for and open Microsoft Entra ID

Click on ADD, select Users and select Create New User

A window with a form to fill in unique information for your user opens

user principal name:ricky.george@xxxxxxx
Display Name: Ricky George
Password: xxxxxxxxx (uncheck the auto-generate option to enter your password)

Click on Next: properties

First Name: Ricky
Last Name: George
User type: Member

Click Next >> Next: Review + Create >>
Click Create
Back to Entra ID, on the left pane, select Manage >> User

Step 2: Sign In with the Newly Created User Account

Now that the account exists, the next step is testing access by signing in. In real-world environments, administrators often validate accounts before handing them over to employees or team members.

Open a private/incognito browser window
Navigate to the Microsoft Azure Portal
Sign in using the new credentials
Change the password if prompted

At this stage, the new user has very limited permissions.

If the user attempts administrative actions, Azure will deny access because no elevated role has been assigned yet.

This demonstrates Azure’s default security posture: users receive only minimal access until roles are explicitly assigned to them.

Step 3: Grant the User Global Administrator Access

Next, you will elevate the user’s privileges by assigning the Global Administrator role. The Global Administrator role is the highest privileged role in Entra ID.

A Global Administrator can:

Manage all users
Reset passwords
Assign roles
Configure security settings
Manage subscriptions and services

Because of its power, organizations should grant this role carefully and temporarily whenever possible.

Sign back in using your original administrator account
Open Microsoft Entra ID >> Manage >> Users
Select the User we have just created (Ricky George)
Under the user, in the left pane, select Assign Roles

Click on Add assignments

Search for Global Administrator and select the role.
Click ADD at the bottom to apply the role to the selected User.

Step 4: Create Another User Using the Newly Promoted Account

Using the newly promoted Global Administrator account, create another user.

While signed in as the promoted administrator
Open Microsoft Entra ID >> Manage
Navigate to ADD >> Users >> Create new Users

Fill out the necessary information for a new user and click Create.

This confirms the promoted account has administrative privileges.

Step 5: Revoke Global Administrator Access from the First User

Once the administrative task is complete, remove elevated privileges.
One of the biggest security risks in cloud environments is excessive privileged access.

Leaving Global Administrator rights permanently assigned can increase exposure to:

a. Credential theft
b. Insider threats
c. Accidental misconfigurations
d. Unauthorized access

Sign in using your original administrator account
Open Microsoft Entra ID
Navigate to Manage >> Users >> select the New User account
On the left pane, select Assign Roles. You will see the assigned role to the User. Select the Global Administrator Role, then click Remove Assignment.

Sign back in using the first user account. Try accessing administrative settings again. You should notice that administrative capabilities are no longer available.

This confirms the role removal was successful.

Closing Thoughts

Managing identities and permissions is one of the most important responsibilities in cloud administration. In this hands-on, we have learned how to:

Create users in Azure Entra ID
Test account access
Assign Global Administrator privileges
Delegate administrative tasks
Revoke elevated permissions securely

These tasks mirror real-world identity management workflows used across enterprise Azure environments today.