Create an Azure Storage Account Overview

This document provides an overview of how to create an Azure Storage account, the fundamental building block for Azure Storage. A storage account provides a unique namespace in Azure for your data objects, which are accessible from anywhere in the world via HTTP or HTTPS.

What is an Azure Storage Account?

An Azure Storage account is a service that provides a unique namespace for your data. All Azure Storage services, such as Blob Storage, File Storage, Queue Storage, and Table Storage, are accessed through this storage account.

Key characteristics:

• Namespace: Each storage account has a globally unique name.
• Accessibility: Data can be accessed via REST API, SDKs, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, and the Azure portal.
• Data Durability: Azure Storage offers multiple redundancy options to ensure data durability.
• Scalability: Designed to handle massive amounts of data and high throughput.

Types of Azure Storage Accounts

Azure Storage offers several types of storage accounts, each optimized for different scenarios:

• General-purpose v2 (GPv2): The recommended account type for most scenarios. It supports blobs, files, queues, and tables, and offers the latest features.
• Blob Storage: Optimized for storing large amounts of unstructured data like text or binary data.
• File Storage: Provides fully managed cloud file shares that are accessible via the industry-standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol.
• BlockBlobStorage: Optimized for block blobs with high transaction rates or low latency requirements.
• Account Kind (Legacy): Specific types like `Storage` (general-purpose v1) and `BlobStorage` (legacy) are available for compatibility but GPv2 is generally preferred.

Creating a Storage Account

You can create an Azure Storage account using several methods:

1. Azure Portal

The Azure portal provides a user-friendly graphical interface for creating resources.

1. Navigate to the Azure portal.
2. Click Create a resource.
3. Search for "Storage account" and select it.
4. Click Create.
5. Fill in the required details: Subscription, Resource group, Storage account name, Region, Performance tier (Standard/Premium), Redundancy options, and other advanced configurations.
6. Review and create the account.

2. Azure CLI

The Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) is a powerful tool for managing Azure resources programmatically.

az storage account create \
    --name mystorageaccountname \
    --resource-group myresourcegroup \
    --location eastus \
    --sku Standard_RAGRS \
    --kind StorageV2
                

Replace mystorageaccountname, myresourcegroup, and eastus with your desired values.

3. Azure PowerShell

Azure PowerShell offers similar capabilities to the CLI for scripting and automation.

New-AzStorageAccount `
    -Name "mystorageaccountname" `
    -ResourceGroupName "myresourcegroup" `
    -Location "East US" `
    -SkuName "Standard_RAGRS" `
    -Kind "StorageV2"
                

Replace mystorageaccountname, myresourcegroup, and East US with your desired values.

Key Considerations

• Naming: Storage account names must be between 3 and 24 characters and can contain only lowercase letters and numbers.
• Location: Choose a region close to your users or applications for lower latency.
• Performance: Standard accounts offer good performance for most workloads. Premium accounts (SSD-based) are suitable for high-performance scenarios.
• Redundancy: Select a redundancy option (LRS, GRS, RA-GRS, ZRS, GZRS, RA-GZRS) based on your durability and availability requirements.
• Access Tiers: For Blob storage, consider Hot, Cool, or Archive access tiers to optimize costs for data access frequency.

By understanding these options and considerations, you can effectively create and configure Azure Storage accounts to meet your data storage needs.

Last updated: October 26, 2023