DEV Community: Henry Idokoh

Exercise - Provide shared file storage for the company offices

Henry Idokoh — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:24:24 +0000

Create and configure a storage account for Azure Files.

Create a storage account for the finance department’s shared files.

In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.

For Resource group select Create new. Give your resource group a name and select OK to save your changes

Provide a Storage account name. Ensure the name meets the naming requirements.

Set the Performance to Premium.

Set the Premium account type to File shares.

Set the Redundancy to Zone-redundant storage.

Select Review and then Create the storage account.

Wait for the resource to deploy.

Select Go to resource.

Create and configure a file share with directory.

Create a file share for the corporate office.

In the storage account, in the Data storage section, select the File shares blade.

Select + File share and provide a Name

Review the other options, but take the defaults.
Select Create.

2.Add a directory to the file share for the finance department. For future testing, upload a file.

Select your file share and select + Add directory.

Name the new directory finance.

Select Browse and then select the finance directory.

Notice you can Add directory to further organize your file share.
Upload a file of your choosing.

Configure and test snapshots.

Similar to blob storage, you need to protect against accidental deletion of files. You decide to use snapshots.

Select your file share.
In the Operations section, select the Snapshots blade

Select + Add snapshot. The comment is optional. Select OK

Select your snapshot and verify your file directory and uploaded file are included.

2.Practice using snapshots to restore a file.

Return to your file share.
Browse to your file directory.

Locate your uploaded file and in the Properties pane select Delete. Select Yes to confirm the deletion.

Select the Snapshots blade and then select your snapshot.

Navigate to the file you want to restore,
Select the file and the select Restore

Provide a Restored file name.

Verify your file directory has the restored file.

Configure restricting storage access to selected virtual networks.

This tasks in this section require a virtual network with subnet. In a production environment these resources would already be created.

Search for and select Virtual networks

Select Create. Select your resource group. and give the virtual network a name.

Take the defaults for other parameters, select Review + create, and then Create.

Wait for the resource to deploy.

Select Go to resource.

In the Settings section, select the Subnets blade.

Select the default subnet.

In the Service endpoints section choose Microsoft.Storage in the Services drop-down.

Do not make any other changes.
Be sure to Save your changes.

2.The storage account should only be accessed from the virtual network you just created.

Return to your files storage account.

In the Security + networking section, select the Networking blade.

Change the Public network access to Enabled from selected virtual networks and IP addresses.

In the Virtual networks section, select Add existing virtual network.

Select your virtual network and subnet, select Add.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Select the Storage browser and navigate to your file share.

Verify the message not authorized to perform this operation. You are not connecting from the virtual network.

Provide storage for the IT department testing and training

Henry Idokoh — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:25:31 +0000

Exercise Instructions

Create a resource group and a storage account.

Create and deploy a resource group to hold all your project resources.

In the Azure portal, search for and select Resource groups.

Select + Create.

Give your resource group a name. For example, storagerg.

Select Review and create to validate the resource group.

Select Create to deploy the resource group.

2.Create and deploy a storage account to support testing and training.

In the Azure portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.

On the Basics tab, select your Resource group.

Provide a Storage account name. The storage account name must be unique in Azure.

Set the Performance to Standard.
Select Review, and then Create.

Wait for the storage account to deploy and then Go to resource.

Configure simple settings in the storage account.

The data in this storage account doesn’t require high availability or durability. A lowest cost storage solution is desired.

In your storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Select Locally-redundant storage (LRS) in the Redundancy drop-down.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Refresh the page and notice the content only exists in the primary location.

2.The storage account should only accept requests from secure connections.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure Secure transfer required is Enabled.

3.Developers would like the storage account to use at least TLS version 1.2.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.
Ensure the Minimal TLS version is set to Version 1.2.

4.Until the storage is needed again, disable requests to the storage account.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.
Ensure Allow storage account key access is Disabled.

Be sure to Save your changes.

5.Ensure the storage account allows public access from all networks.

In the Security + networking section, select the Networking blade.

Ensure Public network access is set to Enabled from all networks.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Project Exercise: Provide private storage for internal company documents

Henry Idokoh — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:07:10 +0000

Create a storage account and configure high availability.

Create a storage account for the internal private company documents.

In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.

Select the Resource group created in the previous lab.

Set the Storage account name to private. Add an identifier to the name to ensure the name is unique.

Select Review, and then Create the storage account.

Wait for the storage account to deploy, and then select Go to resource.

2.This storage requires high availability if there’s a regional outage. Read access in the secondary region is not required. Configure the appropriate level of redundancy.

In the storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Ensure Geo-redundant storage (GRS) is selected.

Refresh the page.

Review the primary and secondary location information.
Save your changes.

Create a storage container, upload a file, and restrict access to the file.

Create a private storage container for the corporate data.

In the storage account, in the Data storage section, select the Containers blade.

Select + Container.

Ensure the Name of the container is private.

Ensure the Public access level is Private (no anonymous access).

As you have time, review the Advanced settings, but take the defaults.
Select Create.

2.For testing, upload a file to the private container. he type of file doesn’t matter. A small image or text file is a good choice. Test to ensure the file isn’t publically accessible.

Select the container.

Select Upload.

Browse to files and select a file.
Upload the file.

Select the uploaded file.

On the Overview tab, copy the URL.

Paste the URL into a new browser tab.

Verify the file doesn’t display and you receive an error.

3.An external partner requires read and write access to the file for at least the next 24 hours. Configure and test a shared access signature (SAS).

Select your uploaded blob file and move to the Generate SAS tab.

In the Permissions drop-down, ensure the partner has only Read permissions.

Verify the Start and expiry date/time is for the next 24 hours.

Select Generate SAS token and URL.

Copy the Blob SAS URL to a new browser tab

Verify you can access the file. If you have uploaded an image file it will display in the browser. Other file types will be downloaded.

Configure storage access tiers and content replication

To save on costs, after 30 days, move blobs from the hot tier to the cool tier.

Return to the storage account.

In the Overview section, notice the Default access tier is set to Hot.

In the Data management section, select the Lifecycle management blade.

Select Add rule.

-Set the Rule name to movetocool.

Set the Rule scope to Apply rule to all blobs in the storage account.

Select Next.

Ensure Last modified is selected.

Set More than (days ago) to 30.

In the Then drop-down select Move to cool storage.

As you have time, review other lifecycle options in the drop-down.
Add the rule.

2.The public website files need to be backed up to another storage account.

In your storage account, create a new container called backup. Use the default values.

Navigate to your publicwebsite storage account. This storage account was created in the previous exercise

In the Data management section, select the Object replication blade.

Select Create replication rules.

Set the Destination storage account to the private storage account.

Set the Source container to public and the Destination container to backup.

Create the replication rule.

Optionally, as you have time, upload a file to the public container. Return to the private storage account and refresh the backup container. Within a few minutes your public website file will appear in the backup folder.

Provide storage for the public website

Henry Idokoh — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 13:40:29 +0000

## Create a storage account with high availability.

Create a storage account to support the public website.

In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.

For resource group select new. Give your resource group a name and select OK.

Set the Storage account name to publicwebsite. Make sure the storage account name is unique by adding an identifier.

Take the defaults for other settings.
Select Review and then Create.

Wait for the storage account to deploy, and then select Go to resource.

2.This storage requires high availability if there’s a regional outage. Additionally, enable read access to the secondary region.

In the storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Ensure Read-access Geo-redundant storage is selected.

Review the primary and secondary location information.

3.Information on the public website should be accessible without requiring customers to login.

In the storage account, in the Settings section, select the Configuration blade

Ensure the Allow blob anonymous access setting is Enabled.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Create a blob storage container with anonymous read access

The public website has various images and documents. Create a blob storage container for the content.

In your storage account, in the Data storage section, select the Containers blade.

Select + Container.

Ensure the Name of the container is public.

Select Create.

2.Customers should be able to view the images without being authenticated. Configure anonymous read access for the public container blobs.

Select your public container.

On the Overview blade, select Change access level.

Ensure the Public access level is Blob (anonymous read access for blobs only).

Select OK.

Practice uploading files and testing access.

For testing, upload a file to the public container. The type of file doesn’t matter. A small image or text file is a good choice.

Ensure you are viewing your container.
Select Upload.

Browse to files and select a file. Browse to a file of your choice.

Select Upload.

Close the upload window, Refresh the page and ensure your file was uploaded.

2.Determine the URL for your uploaded file. Open a browser and test the URL.

Select your uploaded file.

On the Overview tab, copy the URL.
Paste the URL into a new browser tab.

If you have uploaded an image file it will display in the browser. Other file types should be downloaded.

Configure soft delete

It’s important that the website documents can be restored if they’re deleted. Configure blob soft delete for 21 days.

Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.

-On the Properties page, locate the Blob service section.

Select the Blob soft delete setting.

Ensure the Enable soft delete for blobs is checked.

Change the Keep deleted blobs for (in days setting is 21.

Notice you can also Enable soft delete for containers.

Don’t forget to Save your changes.

2.If something gets deleted, you need to practice using soft delete to restore the files

Navigate to your container where you uploaded a file.

Select the file you uploaded and then select Delete.

Select OK to confirm deleting the file.

On the container Overview page, toggle the slider Show deleted blobs. This toggle is to the right of the search box.

Select your deleted file, and use the ellipses on the far right, to Undelete the file.

Refresh the container and confirm the file has been restored.

Configure blob versioning

It’s important to keep track of the different website product document versions.

Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.

In the Properties section, locate the Blob service section.

Select the Versioning setting.

Ensure the Enable versioning for blobs checkbox is checked.

Notice your options to keep all versions or delete versions after.

Don’t forget to Save your changes.

2.As you have time experiment with restoring previous blob versions.

Upload another version of your container file. This overwrites your existing file.

Your previous file version is listed on Show deleted blobs page.

Concepts Of Cloud Computing

Henry Idokoh — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 15:31:45 +0000

Firstly what is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of IT resources—like computing power, storage, and databases—over the Internet with pay-as-you-go pricing. Essentially, it allows users and businesses to access a shared pool of configurable computing resources from a third-party provider (like AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure) instead of buying, owning, and maintaining their own physical data centers and servers. This model eliminates the large upfront capital expenditure on hardware, shifting the cost to an operational expense that scales with usage.

Key Concepts Of Cloud Computing

Virtualization
Scalability
Agility
High Availability
Fault Tolerant
Global Reach

Virtualization:It's the technology that allows you to create multiple "virtual machines" (VMs) on a single piece of physical hardware. Each VM acts like an independent computer with its own operating system and applications, completely isolated from the others. This is a cornerstone of cloud computing, allowing providers to efficiently share their massive physical infrastructure among countless customers.
Scalability: Scalability is the ability of a system to handle a growing amount of work by adding resources. In the cloud, this often happens automatically. If your website traffic spikes, the cloud can instantly add more servers to handle the load and then reduce them when traffic returns to normal. You only pay for what you use, making it incredibly cost-effective.
Agility: In today's fast-paced world, businesses need to adapt quickly. Agility in cloud computing refers to how rapidly you can deploy, update, and manage your IT resources.Instead of waiting weeks or months to order and set up new hardware, you can provision servers, databases, and other services in minutes with just a few clicks. This allows businesses to experiment, innovate, and respond to market changes at lightning speed.
High Availability: High availability means your applications and services remain accessible and operational almost continuously, even if individual components fail.Cloud providers achieve this by distributing your applications across multiple servers and data centers, so if one fails, others can seamlessly take over without interruption to your users.
Fault Tolerant:This is closely related to high availability, fault tolerance takes it a step further. It's the ability of a system to continue operating without interruption even when one or more of its components fail.It's like having multiple backup systems ready to kick in the instant a problem occurs, often without anyone even noticing.
Global Reach:Global reach in the cloud means you can deploy your applications and data in data centers locatedThis allows you to serve your users with low latency (meaning faster access) no matter where they are, ensuring a better experience and enabling truly global businesses. around the globe with ease.

Understanding these core concepts is key to grasping the power and flexibility that cloud computing offers to individuals and organizations alike. They are the building blocks that make the "cloud" such a transformative technology.

Lastly what is the difference between Elasticity and Scalability?
Scalability:Refers to a system's ability to grow by adding resources to handle an increased or growing, often predictable, workload. This adjustment is typically planned and can be manual. For example, a company knows its user base grows by 20% every year, so they strategically scale up their server capacity.
Elasticity:This is a special characteristic of scalability that refers to the ability to automatically and rapidly add and remove resources to match a workload's sudden and dynamic fluctuations.For example, a retail website automatically adds 10 more servers during a flash sale and then removes them minutes later when traffic returns to normal.
In short: Scalability is about the ability to handle growth, while Elasticity is about the automatic and dynamic responsiveness to fluctuating demand
Thank you for reading my blog.