Create an Azure Storage Account for Blobs

Create an Azure Storage Account

This guide walks you through the steps to create an Azure Storage account, which is the foundational resource for Azure Blob Storage, File Storage, Queue Storage, and Table Storage.

Step 1: Access the Azure Portal

Navigate to the Azure portal and sign in with your Azure account.

Step 2: Initiate Storage Account Creation

On the Azure portal dashboard, click + Create a resource. In the search box, type "Storage account" and select it from the results.

Click Create.

Step 3: Configure Basic Settings

On the Create a storage account page, under the Basics tab, fill in the following fields:

Subscription: Select your Azure subscription.
Resource group: Choose an existing resource group or create a new one. A resource group is a logical container for your Azure resources.
Storage account name: Enter a globally unique name for your storage account. This name must be between 3 and 24 characters and can only contain lowercase letters and numbers.
Region: Select the Azure region where you want to deploy your storage account. Choose a region close to your users or applications for better performance.
Performance: Choose between Standard (for most scenarios) and Premium (for high-performance scenarios requiring low latency). For Blob storage, Standard is typically sufficient.
Redundancy: Select the data redundancy option. Common choices include Locally-redundant storage (LRS), Zone-redundant storage (ZRS), Geo-redundant storage (GRS), and Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS). LRS is the most cost-effective.

Step 4: Configure Advanced Settings (Optional but Recommended)

Navigate to the Advanced tab. Here you can configure:

Account kind: For Blob storage, typically StorageV2 (general purpose v2) is recommended.
Access tier: Choose between Hot (frequently accessed data) and Cool (infrequently accessed data).
Networking: Configure network access (e.g., public endpoint, private endpoint).
Data protection: Enable features like soft delete for blobs and containers, versioning, and restore.

Note: Enabling soft delete for blobs and containers is highly recommended for data protection against accidental deletions.

Step 5: Review and Create

Click on the Review + create tab. Azure will validate your configuration. Once validation passes, review the summary and click Create.

Step 6: Deployment

The deployment process may take a few minutes. You will receive a notification once the storage account is successfully deployed.

Important: After creation, you'll need to access your storage account's access keys or configure Shared Access Signatures (SAS) for programmatic access to your blobs.

Creating Storage Accounts via CLI or PowerShell

You can also create storage accounts programmatically using Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell. Here are examples:

Azure CLI Example


az storage account create \
    --name mystorageaccountname \
    --resource-group myresourcegroup \
    --location westus2 \
    --sku Standard_LRS \
    --kind StorageV2 \
    --access-tier Hot

Azure PowerShell Example


New-AzStorageAccount `
    -StorageAccountName "mystorageaccountname" `
    -ResourceGroupName "myresourcegroup" `
    -Location "WestUS2" `
    -SkuName "Standard_LRS" `
    -Kind "StorageV2" `
    -AccessTier "Hot"

Tip: For detailed information on Azure CLI and PowerShell commands, refer to the official Azure documentation.