Imagine you want to put pictures, documents, or even a small website online so anyone can see it. Microsoft Azure (a cloud service) lets you store files safely and make them available to the public.
Create a storage account with high availability
1.Create a storage account to support the public website
What is a storage account?
Think of it like a digital locker in the cloud where you keep your files. It’s managed by Microsoft Azure and can be accessed from anywhere.
In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts
Select + Create
-For resource group select new. Give your resource group a name and select OK
Select New
New resource group created
- Set the Storage account name to publicwebsite. Make sure the storage account name is unique by adding an identifier.
Storage account name publicwebsitemikky created
Take the defaults for other settings.
Select Review and then Create.
Wait for the storage account to deploy, and then select Go to resource
storage account to deploy being validated
Click Create
Deployment in progress
Deployment Complete. Go to Resource
2.This storage requires high availability if there’s a regional outage.
What does high availability mean?
It means your files stay online even if one region (data center) has problems. Azure copies your files to another location.
High availability = your files stay online even if one region has problems.
Azure copies your files to another location.
Additionally, enable read access to the secondary region, Learn more about storage account redundancy
In the storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade
Ensure Read-access Geo-redundant storage is selected.
This means your files are backed up in another region.
Review the primary and secondary location information.
3.Information on the public website should be accessible without requiring customers to login (Allow Public Access)
You want people to see your website without logging in.
Public access = anyone can view your files without logging in.
In the storage account, in the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.
Ensure the Allow blob anonymous access setting is Enabled
Blob = file stored in Azure.
Anonymous access = no password needed.
By default, it is disabled
Now enabled
- Be sure to Save your changes.
Update
Create a blob storage container with anonymous read access
Container = a folder inside your storage account
1.The public website has various images and documents. Create a blob storage container for the content. Learn more about storage containers.
In your storage account, in the Data storage section, select the Containers blade.
Select + Container
Ensure the Name of the container is public
Select Create.
Storage container successfully created
2.Customers should be able to view the images without being authenticated. Configure anonymous read access for the public container blobs. Learn more about configuring anonymous public access.
Select your public container.
On the Overview **blade, select **Change access level.
Ensure the Public access level is Blob (anonymous read access for blobs only).
Select OK.
Access level successfully changed
Practice uploading files and testing access.
1.For testing, upload a file to the public container. The type of file doesn’t matter. A small image or text file is a good choice
Ensure you are viewing your container.
Select Upload.
Browse to files and select a file. Browse to a file of your choice.
Select Upload.
Close the upload window, Refresh the page and ensure your file was uploaded.
Upload confirmed
2.Determine the URL for your uploaded file. Open a browser and test the URL
Select your uploaded file.
On the Overview tab, copy the URL.
Paste the URL into a new browser tab.
If you have uploaded an image file it will display in the browser. Other file types should be downloaded.
Configure soft delete
1.It’s important that the website documents can be restored if they’re deleted. Configure blob soft delete for 21 days. Learn more about soft delete for blobs.
Soft delete = recycle bin for your files
Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.
On the Properties page, locate the Blob service section
Select the Blob soft delete setting.
Ensure the Enable soft delete for blobs is checked.
Enable soft delete for blob- Checked
- Change the Keep deleted blobs for (in days) setting to 21.
By default, this is 7 days
Changed to 21 days
Notice you can also Enable soft delete for containers.
Don’t forget to Save your changes.
Saved
Confirmed from the Overview page
2.If something gets deleted, you need to practice using soft delete to restore the files
Navigate to your container where you uploaded a file.
Select the file you uploaded and then select Delete.
Select file uploaded
Select Delete
Select OK to confirm deleting the file.
On the container Overview page, toggle the slider Show deleted blobs. This toggle is to the right of the search box.
Select your deleted file, and use the ellipses on the far right, to **Undelete **the file.
Refresh the container and confirm the file has been restored.
Configure blob versioning
1.It’s important to keep track of the different website product document versions. Learn more about blob versioning.
What is versioning?
It keeps old versions of files when you upload new ones. Useful if you update documents often.
Versioning = keeps old versions of files when you upload new ones.
Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.
In the Properties section, locate the Blob service section.
Select the Versioning setting.
Ensure the Enable versioning for blobs checkbox is checked.
Notice your options to keep all versions or delete versions after.
Don’t forget to Save your changes.
2.As you have time experiment with restoring previous blob versions.
- Upload another version of your container file. This overwrites your existing file.
- Your previous file version is listed on Show deleted blobs page.
Conclusion
We’ve just:
Created a storage account for your website.
Made it highly available (safe from outages).
Allowed public access without login.
Added safety features like soft delete and versioning.
This setup is perfect for hosting images, documents, or even static websites on Azure — and now you understand every step.