Azure Storage CLI Documentation

Introduction

The Azure CLI (Command-Line Interface) provides a powerful and flexible way to manage your Azure Storage resources directly from your terminal. This documentation guides you through the common commands for interacting with Blob, File, Table, and Queue storage services.

Whether you're automating deployments, performing routine maintenance, or analyzing data, the Azure CLI is an indispensable tool for any Azure developer or administrator.

Installation

Before you begin, ensure you have the Azure CLI installed. You can find detailed installation instructions for your operating system on the official Azure CLI documentation.

After installation, log in to your Azure account:

az login

Managing Blob Storage

Azure Blob Storage is designed for storing massive amounts of unstructured data, such as text or binary data. The Azure CLI offers comprehensive commands for managing blobs and containers.

Create a Blob Container

Containers are logical groupings of blobs. To create a new container, use the az storage container create command:

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

Replace mycontainer with your desired container name and mystorageaccount with your storage account name. Using --auth-mode login leverages your Azure CLI login credentials.

Upload a Blob

Upload a file as a blob using az storage blob upload:

az storage blob upload --container-name mycontainer --file ./local/path/to/myfile.txt --name remote/blob/name.txt --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

--file specifies the local path, and --name specifies the desired name for the blob in the container.

Download a Blob

Download a blob to your local machine with az storage blob download:

az storage blob download --container-name mycontainer --name remote/blob/name.txt --file ./downloaded/myfile.txt --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

List Blobs

List all blobs within a container:

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

Delete a Blob

Delete a specific blob:

az storage blob delete --container-name mycontainer --name remote/blob/name.txt --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

To delete an entire container, use az storage container delete.

Managing File Storage

Azure Files offers fully managed cloud file shares that are accessible via the industry-standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. You can mount these shares on cloud or on-premises Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.

Create a File Share

Create a new file share using az storage share create:

az storage share create --name myshare --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

Upload a File

Upload a file to a share directory using az storage file upload:

az storage file upload --share-name myshare --source ./local/path/to/document.pdf --path documents/ --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

The --path argument specifies the directory within the share.

Download a File

Download a file from a share:

az storage file download --share-name myshare --path documents/document.pdf --dest ./downloaded/document.pdf --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

List Files

List files and directories within a share:

az storage file list --share-name myshare --path documents/ --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

Delete a File

Delete a file from a share:

az storage file delete --share-name myshare --path documents/document.pdf --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

To delete an entire file share, use az storage share delete.

Managing Table Storage

Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL key-attribute store that lets you store large amounts of unstructured data. The Azure CLI can interact with tables and entities.

Create a Table

Create a new table using az storage table create:

az storage table create --name mytable --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

Insert an Entity

Insert a new entity into a table. Note that table storage doesn't have fixed schemas. You define entities as sets of key-value properties.

Example: Insert a user entity

az storage entity insert --table mytable --account-name mystorageaccount --partition-key user --row-key 123 --columns Name=Alice Age=30 Email=alice@example.com --auth-mode login

--partition-key and --row-key form the unique identifier for an entity.

Query Entities

Query entities from a table using az storage entity query. You can specify filter expressions.

Example: Query entities with Age greater than 25

az storage entity query --table mytable --account-name mystorageaccount --filter Age gt 25 --auth-mode login

Delete a Table

Delete an entire table and all its entities:

az storage table delete --name mytable --account-name mystorageaccount --auth-mode login

Managing Queue Storage

Azure Queue Storage is a service that stores large numbers of messages. Queue messages can be accessed from anywhere in the world via HTTP or HTTPS.

To interact with queues, you typically use commands like az storage queue create, az storage message put, az storage message get, and az storage queue delete.

Authentication

The Azure CLI supports several authentication methods:

• az login: Authenticates using your Azure Active Directory credentials. This is the recommended method for interactive use.
• Shared Access Signatures (SAS): Generate temporary access credentials for specific permissions and expiry times. Use these with the appropriate connection string or account key parameters.
• Account Keys: Direct access using storage account keys. While convenient, this method grants full access and should be used cautiously, especially in scripts.

In the examples above, --auth-mode login leverages your AAD credentials. For other methods, you might use --connection-string or --account-key.

Best Practices

• Use --auth-mode login: Whenever possible, use interactive login for enhanced security.
• Permissions: When using SAS tokens or managed identities, grant the minimum necessary permissions.
• Error Handling: Implement robust error handling in your scripts to manage command failures gracefully.
• Resource Naming: Follow Azure naming conventions for storage accounts, containers, and queues for consistency.
• Idempotency: Design your scripts to be idempotent, meaning running them multiple times has the same effect as running them once.