Introduction to Microsoft Azure Storage – Azure Storage Account

What is Microsoft Azure Storage?

Microsoft Azure Storage is a cloud storage platform for storing application data, files, messages, tables, backups, logs, and large unstructured objects. It is used by virtual machines, web applications, mobile applications, analytics workloads, and many other Azure services.

An Azure storage account is the container for Azure Storage data objects such as blobs, file shares, queues, and tables. The storage account gives your data a unique namespace in Azure and provides settings for performance, redundancy, security, networking, and access.

This tutorial explains the main Azure Storage services and then shows how to create an Azure Storage account from the Azure portal. The screenshots in this tutorial were captured from an older Azure portal layout, so some labels may look different in the current portal, but the storage account concepts remain the same.

Core Azure Storage services inside a storage account

A standard general-purpose storage account can be used for several storage services. The service you choose depends on the type of data and how your application needs to access it.

Azure Storage service	Used for	Common example
Blob Storage	Object storage for unstructured data	Images, videos, documents, backups, logs, and application files
Azure Files	Managed file shares	Shared folders accessed by applications, users, or servers
Queue Storage	Simple message queues	Passing messages between application components
Table Storage	NoSQL key-value data	Large volumes of structured or semi-structured entities

Azure Blob Storage for unstructured data

Blob stands for Binary Large Object. Azure Blob Storage is designed for unstructured data such as documents, files, images, videos, logs, backups, and virtual hard disk files. It is commonly used when data does not need to follow a fixed table schema.

Blob data is stored in containers inside a storage account. For cost management, Blob Storage also supports access tiers such as hot, cool, cold, and archive, depending on how often the data is accessed.

Azure Table Storage for NoSQL key-value data

Table Storage is a NoSQL data store for large amounts of structured or semi-structured non-relational data. It is useful when you need fast access to entities by partition and row key, but you do not need relational database features such as joins and foreign keys.

Azure Queue Storage for application messages

Queue Storage provides reliable message storage for communication between application components. A common use case is asynchronous processing, where one component adds messages to a queue and another component processes them later.

For example, a web application can place a message in a queue when a user uploads a file. A background worker can then read the message and process the file without making the user wait.

Azure Files for managed file shares

Azure Files is used to create managed file shares in Azure. These shares can be accessed by applications and systems using file sharing protocols such as SMB, and in supported scenarios NFS. Azure Files is useful when an application expects a shared file system instead of object storage.

How to create an Azure Storage account

To use Azure Storage services, create a storage account first. After the storage account is created, you can create containers, file shares, queues, or tables within that account and then upload or manage data.

Azure Storage Account is the basic management unit for Azure Storage. It controls the namespace, endpoints, redundancy, access settings, networking rules, encryption settings, and supported storage services. Azure Storage accounts can be created from the Azure portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, ARM templates, Bicep, or Terraform.

Azure Storage account settings to decide before creation

Setting	What to choose	Why it matters
Subscription	The Azure subscription where billing and ownership are managed	Controls where the storage account resource is created
Resource group	An existing or new resource group	Groups related Azure resources together
Storage account name	A globally unique lowercase name	Used in service endpoints such as blob and file URLs
Region	The Azure region closest to your users or workload	Affects latency, availability options, and compliance needs
Performance	Standard for most general workloads, Premium for selected high-performance workloads	Affects supported services, performance, and cost
Redundancy	LRS, ZRS, GRS, RA-GRS, GZRS, or RA-GZRS depending on requirement and region	Controls how copies of data are stored for durability and availability

• To create Microsoft Azure Storage account, navigate to Storage accounts | +Add.

Enter the storage account name, select the subscription and resource group, choose the region, and select the required performance and redundancy options. In older portal screens, you may see fields such as deployment model or account kind. In current Azure portal screens, a standard general-purpose v2 storage account is normally used for most blob, file, queue, and table storage scenarios.

The storage account name must be unique across Azure, must use lowercase letters and numbers, and is used as part of service endpoint URLs. For example, a blob endpoint uses a pattern similar to https://accountname.blob.core.windows.net.

Azure Storage redundancy choices during account creation

Azure keeps multiple copies of storage data based on the redundancy option selected for the account. The available options can vary by region, account type, and service.

• Locally redundant storage (LRS): Stores copies within a single data center in the primary region.
• Zone-redundant storage (ZRS): Stores copies across availability zones in the primary region where supported.
• Geo-redundant storage (GRS): Replicates data to a secondary region for regional disaster recovery.
• Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS): Provides read access to replicated data in the secondary region.
• Geo-zone-redundant options: Some regions and account types also support GZRS and RA-GZRS.

• Select subscription and resource group. Create new resource group if no resource group is available.
• Review the storage account configuration, validate the settings, and finally click on Create.

Now our Azure Data Storage account called ‘tutorialkart’ deployed successfully as shown above.

Navigating to the created Azure Storage account

• Click on the ‘Storage account‘ as shown below.

After you open the storage account, you can view its overview, endpoints, access keys, networking options, data protection settings, encryption settings, and storage services. The available services depend on the type of storage account that you created.

Security checks after creating an Azure Storage account

After the account is created, review the security and access settings before storing production data.

• Use Microsoft Entra ID where possible: Prefer role-based access control for supported storage operations instead of sharing account keys widely.
• Review public access: Keep anonymous access disabled unless a specific public blob scenario requires it.
• Restrict network access: Use firewall, virtual network, or private endpoint settings when the storage account should not be open to all networks.
• Enable data protection features: Consider soft delete, versioning, change feed, or immutability based on the workload.
• Monitor storage activity: Use logs, metrics, alerts, and diagnostic settings to track availability, usage, and access patterns.

When to use Blob, Files, Queue, and Table Storage

Requirement	Recommended Azure Storage service
Store images, videos, documents, backups, or log files	Blob Storage
Create a shared folder for applications or users	Azure Files
Pass messages between application components	Queue Storage
Store simple NoSQL entities with partition and row keys	Table Storage
Build big data analytics storage on top of blobs	Azure Data Lake Storage capabilities on Blob Storage

Common mistakes while creating Azure Storage accounts

• Choosing the wrong region: Pick a region based on workload location, latency, compliance, and supported redundancy options.
• Using a weak naming plan: Storage account names are globally unique and cannot be easily changed later.
• Leaving access too open: Review public access, shared keys, SAS tokens, firewall rules, and private endpoint requirements.
• Selecting redundancy without cost review: Higher redundancy can improve resilience but may increase cost.
• Ignoring lifecycle management: For blob data, use access tiers and lifecycle rules to move or delete data when it becomes less frequently used.

Editorial QA checklist for this Azure Storage tutorial

• Confirm that the tutorial explains the storage account as the namespace and management container for blobs, files, queues, and tables.
• Check that Blob Storage, Azure Files, Queue Storage, and Table Storage are described with distinct use cases.
• Ensure portal steps mention current account settings such as subscription, resource group, region, performance, and redundancy.
• Verify that older screenshot labels are not treated as the only current Azure portal experience.
• Review security guidance for Microsoft Entra ID, public access, network restrictions, and monitoring before publishing.

FAQs on Microsoft Azure Storage accounts

Microsoft Azure Storage reference links

• Microsoft Learn: Introduction to Azure Storage
• Microsoft Learn: Storage account overview
• Microsoft Learn: Create a storage account
• Microsoft Learn: Introduction to Azure Blob Storage

Azure Storage account summary : In this Microsoft Azure tutorial, we learned what Azure Storage is, how Blob Storage, Azure Files, Queue Storage, and Table Storage are used, and how to create an Azure Storage account. In the next Azure tutorial, we can create specific storage services inside the storage account.