Azure Storage Blobs

Manage Azure Storage Containers

This document provides detailed guidance on how to manage containers within your Azure Storage account. Containers are fundamental to organizing and accessing your blob data.

Creating a Container

You can create a container using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, PowerShell, or client libraries. When creating a container, you specify a name and an access policy. Container names must be globally unique within the storage account.

• Naming Rules: Container names must start with a letter or number, can contain only letters, numbers, and hyphens. Hyphens cannot be consecutive or at the beginning or end of the name.
• Access Policies: Define the level of public access allowed for blobs within the container. Options include:
  • Private (no anonymous access): The default. Blobs are only accessible with authorization.
  • Blob (anonymous read access for blobs): Blobs can be read anonymously, but container metadata is not accessible.
  • Container (anonymous read access for containers and blobs): Both the container and its blobs can be accessed anonymously.

Example using Azure CLI:

az storage container create --name mycontainer --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

Listing Containers

To view all containers within a storage account, you can use various tools. This is useful for auditing and managing your storage resources.

Example using Azure CLI:

az storage container list --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

Managing Container Properties

Once a container is created, you can modify its properties, such as its access policy. You can also set various metadata and configurations.

Setting Access Policy:

You can update the public access level of a container after it has been created.

Example using Azure CLI to set container access to blob level:

az storage container set-permission --name mycontainer --public-access blob --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

Deleting a Container

Containers can be deleted. Be cautious, as this action is irreversible and all data within the container will be permanently lost.

Example using Azure CLI:

az storage container delete --name mycontainer --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

Container Properties Overview