Azure Foundations: Resource Groups & Storage
Organise cloud infrastructure the Azure way and deploy scalable blob storage.
Stay safe and cost-free
The Azure free account includes $200 in credits (for 30 days) and 12 months of popular free services. Microsoft does NOT auto-charge when credits run out-they disable the account until you manually upgrade. Still, practice good cloud hygiene by explicitly following the cleanup step to delete the resource group at the end.
You will learn to
- Navigate the Azure Portal dashboard
- Understand the hierarchy of Subscriptions and Resource Groups
- Provision a Storage Account with LRS redundancy
- Create a Blob Container and upload unstructured data
- Perform lifecycle cleanup using Resource Group deletion
Before you start
- An Azure free account (free to create)
Tools needed
- Azure free account
- Azure Portal (browser)
Step-by-step
Tick each task as you finish it, your progress saves on this device.
1. Open the Azure Portal
Sign in to the Azure Portal. If you do not have an account, create a free one. The Portal is your command center for all Microsoft Cloud services.
Done when: You are signed into the Azure Portal and can see the dashboard2. Create a Resource Group
In Azure, absolutely every resource must live inside a "Resource Group" (a logical folder). Search "Resource groups" in the top bar. Click "Create". Select your subscription, name it `teki-learning-rg`, and select a Region geographically close to you. Click "Review + create", then "Create".
Done when: The resource group teki-learning-rg is created successfully3. Provision a Storage Account
Go inside `teki-learning-rg` and click "Create". Search for "Storage account" and click Create. \n- Name it something unique (lowercase letters and numbers only).\n- Set Region to match your resource group.\n- Performance: Standard.\n- Redundancy: Locally-redundant storage (LRS), this is the cheapest option.\nClick "Review", then "Create". Deployment will take about 1-2 minutes.
Done when: A storage account is deployed and shows status "Deployment succeeded"4. Create a Blob Container
Click "Go to resource" to open your Storage Account. In the left menu under "Data storage", click "Containers". Click the "+ Container" button. Name it `public-assets`, set the Public access level to "Blob (anonymous read access for blobs only)", and click Create.
Done when: A container named public-assets is active5. Upload and Access an Object
Click into `public-assets`. Click "Upload" and select an image file from your computer. Once uploaded, click on the file name in the list. Copy the "URL" field and paste it into a new browser tab. You should see your image loaded directly from the Azure cloud!
Done when: You successfully viewed your uploaded image via its public URL6. Clean up with a single click
The beauty of Resource Groups is easy cleanup. Search for "Resource groups" again and open `teki-learning-rg`. Click "Delete resource group" in the top menu. Type the name of the group to confirm and click Delete. This destroys the group, the storage account, the container, and the image all at once, ensuring zero ongoing costs.
Done when: The resource group and all contained resources are permanently deleted
Finished every step?
Mark the lab complete to record it on this device.
Reflect
If you can answer these in your own words, the lab stuck.
- Why is deleting a Resource Group safer and easier than deleting individual resources?
- What is the difference between an Azure Storage Account and a Container?
- Why did we choose Locally-redundant storage (LRS) instead of Geo-redundant (GRS)?