What is Azure Storage? A Simple Guide for Everyone
Have You Ever Run Out of Space on Your Phone?
You know that frustrating moment when your phone says "Storage Full" and you can't take a new photo or download a new app? Now imagine that problem — but for a big company that handles millions of files, customer records, videos, and data every single day.
That's exactly the kind of problem Azure Storage was built to solve.
So, What Is Azure Storage?
Azure Storage is Microsoft's online storage service. Think of it like a giant, super-secure hard drive in the sky — except instead of sitting on your desk, it lives in Microsoft's powerful computers (called servers) spread across the world.
You store your files there. You access them from anywhere. And you never have to worry about running out of space.
In simple terms: Azure Storage = A safe place on the internet to keep your data — whether that's photos, videos, documents, or computer program files.
Create a resource group and a storage account.
- Create and deploy a resource group to hold all your project resources. Learn more about resource groups. What is a resource group? Think of it as a folder in Azure where you keep related services together. For example, if you’re building a website, you might have a storage account, a database, and a web app — all grouped in one resource group.
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
(this is the physical location of Microsoft’s datacenter where your resources will live).
Example: West Europe, East US, etc.
Stick to one region for consistency.
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.
What is a storage account?
It’s like a digital locker in the cloud where you store files, images, or documents. Azure Blob Storage lives inside this account.
Learn more about the types of storage accounts.
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.
Configure simple settings in the storage account.
1.The data in this storage account doesn’t require high availability or durability. A lowest cost storage solution is desired.
Redundancy (Data Copies)
Redundancy = how many copies of your data Azure keeps
Learn more about storage account redundancy.
In your storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade
Select Locally-redundant storage (LRS) in the Redundancy drop-down.
Choose LRS (Locally Redundant Storage) → keeps 3 copies in one datacenter (lowest cost).
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. Learn more about requiring secure transfer 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.
Learn more about transport layer security (TLS).
TLS = Transport Layer Security, a protocol that keeps data safe during transfer.
Set Minimum TLS version to 1.2 (modern and secure).
- 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.
Shared keys = a way to access storage.
Developers may prefer other secure methods.
Learn more about disabling shared keys.
- In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.
-Ensure Allow storage account key access is Disabled.
Here the key access is enabled
Public network access = allow anyone to reach your storage account from the internet
Disable key access
- Be sure to Save your changes.
5.Ensure the storage account allows public access from all networks.
Public network access = allow anyone to reach your storage account from the internet.
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.
Public network finally enabled from all networks
Conclusion
We have now:
Created a resource group .
Created a storage account.
Configured it for low cost (LRS), secure connections (TLS 1.2), and public access.
This setup is perfect for testing and training scenarios where cost matters more than high availability.
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