Getting Started with Azure Storage: A Lab for Building a Lightweight Azure Storage Environment for Prototyping and Training.
Scenario: In our IT department, we needed a simple and flexible way to prototype storage scenarios and train new personnel. The goal was to create a lightweight Azure configuration that could be easily modified, didn’t require backup or recovery, and offered a low-cost solution for temporary data. This blog post walk you through the setup I used, including key concepts and configuration steps.
What Is Azure Storage?
Azure Storage is Microsoft’s cloud-based solution for storing data objects such as blobs, files, queues, and tables. It’s designed to be scalable, secure, and highly available. Though in this lab, we’re focusing on a minimal setup for non-critical use.
What Is a Resource Group?
A Resource Group in Azure acts like a folder that holds related resources. It helps organize and manage services like storage accounts, virtual machines, and databases as a single unit. For this lab, we’ll create a dedicated resource group to keep everything tidy and isolated.
Why Use Locally-Redundant Storage (LRS)?
Azure offers multiple redundancy options, but for this lab, we’re using Locally-Redundant Storage (LRS). It stores data within a single region and is the most cost-effective choice perfect for environments where data loss is acceptable.
Security and Networking Goals
Even though this is a test environment, we’ll still configure basic security settings to follow best practices:
- Enforce secure transfer using TLS 1.2
- Disable shared key access while the storage is idle
- Enable public network access for training flexibility
What You'll See in the Demo
In the following steps, I’ll walk through:
- Creating a resource group
- Deploying a storage account
- Configuring redundancy, security, and networking settings
I’ve included screenshots from each step to help you follow along visually.
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 a region. Use this region throughout the project.
Select Review and create to validate the resource group
Select Create to deploy the resource group.
- 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.
Review + Create
Create
Wait for the storage account to deploy and then Go to resource.
Configure simple settings in the storage account.
1. The data in this storage account doesn’t require high availability or durability.
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.
Conclusion
This lab was a great way to get hands-on with Azure Storage in a low-risk environment. Whether you're onboarding new team members or experimenting with configurations, this setup offers a fast, flexible foundation to build on.
If you're just getting started with Azure, this setup is a great way to build confidence and hands-on experience.
Thanks for reading. I hope this guide helped you get started with Azure Storage. See you in the next post!
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