Creating Private Storage in Microsoft Azure

We'll be going over creating a storage account and adding files for private access. Feel free to look at my many posts discussing how to do this if you're confused.

1. Create a Storage Account and Configure High Availability

   • Ensure Geo-redundant storage (GRS) is selected when creating your storage account.
   • Once your storage account is created, navigate to the resource.

2. Create a Storage Container, Upload a File, and Restrict Access

   • Locate the Data storage section and select Containers.
   • Click +Container, create a name for your container, then click Create.
   • Navigate to your created container, click Upload, add a file, and click Upload.
   • Click the file you uploaded, copy the URL link, and paste it into your browser to confirm you're unable to view the file.

3. Configure Access with a Shared Access Signature (SAS)

   • Go back to your file and click on Generate SAS.
   • Set permissions to Read and adjust the Expiry to 24 hours from the current time.
   • Click Generate SAS token and URL.
   • Copy the generated Blob SAS URL and paste it into your browser to verify access.

4. Configure Storage Access Tiers and Content Replication

   • Move blobs from the Hot tier to the Cool tier after 30 days to optimize costs.
   • Navigate back to the overview of your Storage Account.
   • Locate Lifecycle Management under Data Management.
   • Click Add a rule.
   • Create a name for your rule, leave other settings as default, and click Next.
   • Set the if condition to Last Modified and change More than (days ago) to 30.
   • Change the then condition to Move to cool storage and click Add.

We've now configured a lifecycle policy for our private files.

Remember to delete all resources once you're done.