Understanding Storage Explorer in Microsoft Azure.

It is a GUI application to simplify the access, management of data stored in a Storage account. It provides following benefits:

• Its easy to connect and manage multiple storage accounts
• It lets you connect to Cosmos DB and Data lake.
• Used to update and view entities in your storage accounts
• It is free to download and use.
• Using it you can edit, download, copy and delete data.
• It is supported in Mac OS, windows and Linux.

Azure Storage explorer supports all Azure storage services:

• Azure Blob Storage: It stores unstructured data as a binary large object (blob)
• Azure Table Storage: Store NoSQL, semi-structured data
• Azure Queue Storage: Store messages in a queue which can be accessed and processed by application through https calls.
• Azure Files: It is a file sharing service , similar to traditional file servers. It works on SMB protocol.
• Azure Data Lake Storage: It is used to store large data volumes, can can store structured and unstructured data.

Local Emulators: You can use Local emulator to avoid additional costs of Storage accounts in case your project is in development phase. It supports two emulators:

• Azure Storage Emulator: It uses a local instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express LocalDB. It emulates Azure table, Queu and Blob Storage.
• Azurite: It is based on Node.js, it is an opens source and supports most Azure storage commands through an API.

Install Azure Storage Explorer:

1. Download the software from: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/features/storage-explorer/?azure-sandbox=true
2. For Operating system, select your preferred operating system. The following steps will go through the Windows version of the application. Your steps will be different if you’re using a different OS.
3. Select the Download now button to download the Storage Explorer installer application to your computer.
4. Locate the downloaded file and run it. For the Windows version, use the StorageExplorer.exe file.
5. Accept the license agreement, and select Install.
6. Browse to the location where you want to install Storage Explorer, or accept the default location. Then select Next.
7. For Windows installations, select the Start menu folder. Accept the default and select Next.
8. When the installation is complete, select Finish.
9. Open the Storage Explorer. Select Azure in Azure environment and click next.
   

10. Use your Azure Credentials to sign in:


11. When you signed in, associated azure account and subscription will appear in the Account Management.

12. Confirm the details and click Apply



Create a Storage account and add a Blob:

1. Run the command in Azure shell:
   az storage account create \ –name example$RANDOM \ –resource-group learn-888c9168-0821-4478-b6d5-0ed48cc51f0f \ –sku Standard_GRS \ –kind StorageV2
2. In the Storage explorer, refresh all and then locate your subscription.
3. Locate your Storage Account, it will show Blob, Files share, Queues and Tables.

4. Click on create blob container and name your container and press Enter.

5. Upload a blob to the container.