Manage Azure Storage Queues

This document guides you through the process of managing Azure Storage Queues, covering creation, configuration, message handling, and deletion.

Introduction to Queue Storage

Azure Queue Storage is a service that stores large numbers of messages that can be accessed and processed by a web application or a range of clients. Queue storage is used to store queues of messages. Each queue is a collection of messages. The maximum size of a queue is the maximum size of all messages within the queue, which is approximately 60 TB. A queue can contain hundreds of thousands of messages.

Key features include:

• Scalability: Handles a massive number of messages.
• Decoupling: Allows applications to communicate asynchronously.
• Reliability: Messages can be persisted and retrieved.

Creating an Azure Storage Queue

You can create an Azure Storage Queue using the Azure Portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, or programmatically via the Azure SDKs.

Using Azure Portal:

1. Navigate to your Storage Account in the Azure Portal.
2. In the left-hand menu, under "Data storage", select "Queues".
3. Click "+ Queue" to create a new queue.
4. Enter a unique name for your queue (lowercase letters and numbers only, starting with a letter).
5. Set the access policy (e.g., Private or Blob).
6. Click "Create".

Using Azure CLI:

az storage queue create --name myqueue --account-name mystorageaccount --account-key ""

Using SDKs (Example: Python):

from azure.storage.queue import QueueServiceClient

account_name = "YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME"
account_key = "YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY"
queue_name = "my-new-queue"

# Construct the connection string
connect_str = f"DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName={account_name};AccountKey={account_key};EndpointSuffix=core.windows.net"

# Create a QueueServiceClient
queue_service_client = QueueServiceClient.from_connection_string(connect_str)

# Create the queue
try:
    queue_client = queue_service_client.create_queue(queue_name)
    print(f"Queue '{queue_name}' created successfully.")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error creating queue: {e}")

Managing Queue Properties

Azure Storage Queues have properties that can be viewed and sometimes modified, such as the approximate message count. You can view these properties through the Azure Portal or programmatically.

Working with Queue Messages

Messages are the core of Queue Storage. You can add, retrieve, and delete messages.

Adding a Message

Messages are typically submitted as strings. Azure Storage automatically encodes them into Base64.

# Python example (continued)
message_content = "This is a message to be processed."
queue_client.send_message(message_content)
print(f"Message sent to queue '{queue_name}'.")

Retrieving Messages

When you retrieve a message, it becomes invisible to other consumers for a specified visibility timeout. After processing, you delete it. If not deleted within the timeout, it reappears in the queue.

# Python example (continued)
messages = queue_client.receive_messages(visibility_timeout=30) # Visible for 30 seconds

if messages:
    for msg in messages:
        print(f"Received message: {msg.content}")
        # Process the message here
        queue_client.delete_message(msg.id, msg.pop_receipt)
        print(f"Message {msg.id} deleted.")
else:
    print("No messages in the queue.")

Clearing a Queue

You can clear all messages from a queue at once.

# Python example (continued)
# queue_client.clear_messages()
# print(f"Queue '{queue_name}' cleared.")

Deleting an Azure Storage Queue

You can delete a queue and all its messages. This action is irreversible.

Using Azure Portal:

1. Navigate to the queue you wish to delete.
2. Click the "Delete" button at the top.
3. Confirm the deletion.

Using Azure CLI:

az storage queue delete --name myqueue --account-name mystorageaccount --account-key ""

Using SDKs (Example: Python):

# Python example (continued)
# try:
#     queue_service_client.delete_queue(queue_name)
#     print(f"Queue '{queue_name}' deleted successfully.")
# except Exception as e:
#     print(f"Error deleting queue: {e}")