Microsoft Azure Blob Storage connection
To access your data in Microsoft Azure Blob Storage, create a connection asset for it.
Azure Blob Storage is used for storing large amounts of data in the cloud.
Create a connection to Microsoft Azure Blob Storage
To create the connection asset, you need these connection details:
Connection string: Authentication is managed by the Azure portal access keys.
For Credentials, you can use secrets if a vault is configured for the platform and the service supports vaults. For information, see Using secrets from vaults in connections.
Choose the method for creating a connection based on where you are in the platform
- In a project
- Click Assets > New asset > Data access tools > Connection. See Adding a connection to a project.
- In a catalog
- Click Add to catalog > Connection. See Adding a connection asset to a catalog.
- In a deployment space
- Click Add to space > Connection. See Adding connections to a deployment space.
- In the Platform assets catalog
- Click New connection. See Adding platform connections.
Next step: Add data assets from the connection
Where you can use this connection
You can use Azure Blob Storage connections in the following workspaces and tools:
Projects
- Data Refinery (Watson Studio or Watson Knowledge Catalog)
- DataStage (DataStage service). See Connecting to a data source in DataStage.
- SPSS Modeler (SPSS Modeler service)
Catalogs
-
Platform assets catalog
-
Other catalogs (Watson Knowledge Catalog)
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliance
The Microsoft Azure Blob Storage connection cannot be created in a FIPS environment.
Azure Blob Storage connection string setup
Set up blob storage and access keys on the Microsoft Azure portal. For instructions see:
- Quickstart: Upload, download, and list blobs with the Azure portal
- Manage storage account access keys
Example connection string, which you can find in the ApiKeys section of the container:
DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=sampleaccount;AccountKey=samplekey;EndpointSuffix=core.windows.net
Supported file types
The Azure Blob Storage connection supports these file types: Avro, CSV, Delimited text, Excel, JSON, ORC, Parquet, SAS, SAV, SHP, and XML.
Learn more
Parent topic: Supported connections