2. Azure Blob Storage and Account Creation

2.1. Azure Blob Storage

Azure Storage is Microsoft’s cloud storage solution for modern data storage scenarios. Azure Blob storage is Microsoft’s object storage solution for the cloud. Blob storage is optimized for storing massive amounts of data.

Blob storage offers three types of resources:

  • The storage account
  • A container in the storage account
  • A blob in a container

2.2. Azure Storage account creation

Following are the steps to create Azure storage account

  • Prerequisites

    Create a free Azure cloud services subscirption account.

  • Log in to the Azure Portal.

../_images/azure-portal.pngAZ-Portal{#fig:az-portal}

  • In the Azure portal, click on Create a resource on the top left corner.

../_images/azure-resource.pngAZ-Resource{#fig:az-resource}

  • Select Storage Account from the options shown

../_images/azure-account.pngAZ-Account{#fig:az-account}

  • Select the subscription in which to create the storage account.
  • Under the Resource group field, select Create new. Enter a name for your new resource group.
  • Next, enter a name for your storage account.
  • Select a location for your storage account, or use the default location.
  • Select create

After the completion of above steps, Azure blob storage service will be ready for use. As a first step, a Container should be created in the Blob storage. A container organizes a set of blobs, similar to a directory in a file system. A default Container should be set in the cloudmesh4.yaml file, details of which are outlined here

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The free Azure account needs to be upgrade to a pay-as-you-go subscription after first 30 days to get continued access to free products—some for the first 12 months.

Refer to more details here - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/