☁️ Azure Blob Storage for Absolute Beginners (and Mildly Confused Developers)

aferencz21
May 16
2 min read

Updated: Jun 13

So, you’ve decided to dip your toes into the vast, mysterious ocean that is Microsoft Azure. Congratulations! You’re now only 47 clicks away from accidentally provisioning a quantum computer when all you wanted was a place to store cat pictures.

But fear not, brave cloud traveler. Today, we’re going to start with something simple: Azure Blob Storage — aka “the cloud’s junk drawer.”

What Even Is Blob Storage?

Blob stands for Binary Large Object, which is just a fancy way of saying “stuff.” Pictures? Stuff. Videos? Stuff. JSON files you swear you’ll clean up later. Definitely stuff.

Blob Storage is Azure’s way of letting you throw all your digital clutter into the cloud and pretend it’s organized.

🛠️ Step 1: Create an Azure Account (subscription)

If you don’t already have an Azure account, go to azure.microsoft.com and sign up. Microsoft will ask for your credit card, your phone number, etc. So, if you're a company with more than two people (as in you're not a student trying to learn), reach out to us at Insight to help get you started (and you won't have to pay MSRP).

📦 Step 2: Create a Storage Account

Go to the Azure Portal.
Click “Create a resource”.
Search for “Storage Account”.
Click “Create” and fill in the form like you’re signing up for a dating app:
- Subscription: Pick the one that doesn’t say “don’t use.”
- Resource Group: Make a new one and name it something cool like BlobSquadRG.
- Storage Account Name: Must be globally unique, so mycoolstorageaccount123456789 it is.
- Region: Pick the one closest to you unless you enjoy latency.
- Performance: Standard is fine unless you’re storing 4K videos of your dog.
- Redundancy: LRS is good enough unless you’re storing the secrets to the universe.

Click “Review + Create”, then “Create” again. Boom. You’re now the proud owner of a digital shoebox in the sky.

🪣 Step 3: Create a Blob Container

Go to your shiny new storage account.
Click “Containers” in the sidebar.
Click “+ Container”.
Name it something like stuff, files, or definitelynotpicturesofcats
Set the access level:
- Private: Only you can see it.
- Blob: Anyone with the link can see the blobs.
- Container: Anyone can see everything. (Bold move.)

Click “Create” and voilà — you now have a container for your blobs. It’s like Tupperware, but for data.

Step 4: Upload Something (Anything!)

Click into your container and hit “Upload”. Choose a file — maybe a picture of your dog, a resume, or a PDF titled “Final_Final_ThisOneReallyFinal.pdf”.

Click “Upload” and watch the magic happen. You’ve just stored a blob in the cloud. You’re basically a cloud engineer now.

Bonus: Access Your Blob via URL

Click on your uploaded file and copy the Blob URL. Paste it into your browser. If it works, congratulations — you’ve just built the world’s simplest file hosting service.