Azure Blob Storage

Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft's object storage solution for the cloud. It stores massive amounts of unstructured data — documents, images, videos, backups, and data lakes. Three access tiers (Hot, Cool, Archive) let you optimize costs based on access patterns.

Core Concepts

• Storage Account — top-level namespace for all Azure Storage services
• Container — groups blobs, similar to a directory or S3 bucket
• Blob — a file (Block, Append, or Page blob types)
• Access Tier — Hot (frequent), Cool (infrequent, 30d min), Archive (rare, 180d min)
• SAS Token — Shared Access Signature for time-limited, scoped access
• Lifecycle Policy — automatic tier transitions and deletion rules

Storage Account Setup

# Create a storage account
az storage account create \
  --name myappstorageprod \
  --resource-group my-app-rg \
  --location eastus \
  --sku Standard_LRS \
  --kind StorageV2 \
  --access-tier Hot \
  --min-tls-version TLS1_2 \
  --allow-blob-public-access false

# Get connection string
az storage account show-connection-string \
  --name myappstorageprod \
  --resource-group my-app-rg \
  --query connectionString --output tsv

Container Operations

# Create a container
az storage container create \
  --name uploads \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --auth-mode login

# List containers
az storage container list \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --auth-mode login \
  --query '[].name' --output tsv

Blob Operations

# Upload a file
az storage blob upload \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --container-name uploads \
  --name releases/v1.2.0/app.zip \
  --file ./build/app.zip \
  --tier Hot \
  --auth-mode login

# Upload a directory
az storage blob upload-batch \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --destination static \
  --source ./dist \
  --auth-mode login \
  --overwrite

# Download a blob
az storage blob download \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --container-name uploads \
  --name releases/v1.2.0/app.zip \
  --file ./app.zip \
  --auth-mode login

# List blobs
az storage blob list \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --container-name uploads \
  --prefix releases/ \
  --auth-mode login \
  --query '[].name' --output tsv

# Set blob access tier
az storage blob set-tier \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --container-name backups \
  --name old-backup.tar.gz \
  --tier Archive \
  --auth-mode login

SAS Tokens

# Generate a SAS token for a single blob (read access, 1 hour)
az storage blob generate-sas \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --container-name uploads \
  --name reports/q4.pdf \
  --permissions r \
  --expiry $(date -u -d '+1 hour' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%MZ) \
  --auth-mode login \
  --as-user \
  --output tsv

# Generate a container-level SAS (list + read, 24 hours)
az storage container generate-sas \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --name uploads \
  --permissions lr \
  --expiry $(date -u -d '+24 hours' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%MZ) \
  --auth-mode login \
  --as-user \
  --output tsv

# Generate SAS token with Python SDK
from azure.storage.blob import BlobServiceClient, generate_blob_sas, BlobSasPermissions
from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone

account_name = "myappstorageprod"
account_key = "your-account-key"

sas_token = generate_blob_sas(
    account_name=account_name,
    container_name="uploads",
    blob_name="reports/q4.pdf",
    account_key=account_key,
    permission=BlobSasPermissions(read=True),
    expiry=datetime.now(timezone.utc) + timedelta(hours=1)
)
url = f"https://{account_name}.blob.core.windows.net/uploads/reports/q4.pdf?{sas_token}"
print(f"SAS URL: {url}")

# Generate SAS for upload (write permission)
upload_sas = generate_blob_sas(
    account_name=account_name,
    container_name="uploads",
    blob_name="user-uploads/avatar.jpg",
    account_key=account_key,
    permission=BlobSasPermissions(write=True, create=True),
    expiry=datetime.now(timezone.utc) + timedelta(minutes=15)
)

Lifecycle Management

// lifecycle-policy.json — auto-tier and expire blobs
{
  "rules": [
    {
      "name": "archiveLogs",
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "Lifecycle",
      "definition": {
        "filters": {
          "blobTypes": ["blockBlob"],
          "prefixMatch": ["logs/"]
        },
        "actions": {
          "baseBlob": {
            "tierToCool": {"daysAfterModificationGreaterThan": 30},
            "tierToArchive": {"daysAfterModificationGreaterThan": 90},
            "delete": {"daysAfterModificationGreaterThan": 365}
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "cleanupSnapshots",
      "enabled": true,
      "type": "Lifecycle",
      "definition": {
        "filters": {"blobTypes": ["blockBlob"]},
        "actions": {
          "snapshot": {
            "delete": {"daysAfterCreationGreaterThan": 90}
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

# Apply lifecycle policy
az storage account management-policy create \
  --account-name myappstorageprod \
  --resource-group my-app-rg \
  --policy @lifecycle-policy.json

Python SDK Usage

# Upload and download with Python SDK
from azure.storage.blob import BlobServiceClient

blob_service = BlobServiceClient.from_connection_string("your-connection-string")
container = blob_service.get_container_client("uploads")

# Upload
with open("report.pdf", "rb") as f:
    container.upload_blob(name="reports/2024/q4.pdf", data=f, overwrite=True)

# Download
blob = container.get_blob_client("reports/2024/q4.pdf")
with open("downloaded.pdf", "wb") as f:
    stream = blob.download_blob()
    f.write(stream.readall())

# List blobs
for blob in container.list_blobs(name_starts_with="reports/"):
    print(f"{blob.name} ({blob.size} bytes, tier: {blob.blob_tier})")

AzCopy for Bulk Transfers

# Sync a local directory to blob storage
azcopy sync './dist' 'https://myappstorageprod.blob.core.windows.net/static?SAS_TOKEN' \
  --delete-destination true

# Copy between storage accounts
azcopy copy \
  'https://source.blob.core.windows.net/data/*?SAS' \
  'https://dest.blob.core.windows.net/data/?SAS' \
  --recursive

Best Practices

• Disable public blob access by default; use SAS tokens for temporary sharing
• Use lifecycle management to automatically move cold data to cheaper tiers
• Use AzCopy for large-scale data transfers (parallel, resumable)
• Enable soft delete for accidental deletion recovery (set retention period)
• Use managed identities and RBAC instead of account keys when possible
• Set minimum TLS version to 1.2
• Use Cool tier for data accessed less than once per month
• Enable blob versioning for critical data protection