Designing a private storage solution for IT training and prototyping.
Tags: azure, programming, beginners, cloudcomputing
Published: 2023-12-02 17:00:55

## Question
An IT department must train new hires and prototype various storage configurations. If the data is erased or overwritten, there is no need to restore the content because it is not significant enough to warrant a backup. What is needed is a straightforward configuration that is easily modifiable.

## Answer
The question is asking us to create a storage account for an IT department, since the content is not important and doesn't need back up and restoration, it means that the redundancy can be set to Local-Redundant Storage. Let's dive into the walkthrough

## Create and deploy a resource group
- Log into your Azure portal
- Click create
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/mql6xir8rlgtnx0b7wdg.png)
- Search for resource group in the market place
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/nopr54onq3mijquw1r4n.png)
- Fill in the project details which consist of subscription and resource group
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/x0kq9ogqw98xytchghyd.png)
- Then select the regions for your resource group in the resource details
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/j6tyucnicerjqgp9r6ko.png)
- Click create + review
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/i7hrz098xn5lf2ojfxl9.png)
- Once validation is passed, click create
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/mf15lgr86c5btiac69dl.png)
- Wait for it to deploy

## Creating and deploying a storage account
- In the market place search for storage account and select create
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/vp1c54qijr0m1ndbjkup.png)
- In the project details, select the resource group you just created
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/m2eq3f1fnh08vr5gwicn.png)
- Under the instance details, supply the name for your storage account, Since the latency of the storage doesn't matter, set the performance to standard. 
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/11jorex44mu1qwk97mkp.png)
- Click review
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/jno3uskc3wzgzj0uaani.png)
- Once validation is passed, click create
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/27ibc3nsb7m7ikhvhm95.png)
- Wait for it to deploy
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/7elfe65abtysjx80f1w3.png)
- After deployment is done, click go to resource
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/u3ow8hdmlubfktlvi6yu.png)

## Changing the redundancy of the storage account
If there is no need for high availability or durability for the data in this storage account. The most affordable storage option is preferred which is the locally-redundant storage (LRS).
- After clicking go to resource, in the data management section, select redundancy blade
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rw2cfqusuc7qbm4i44ej.png)
- Select locally-redundant storage (LRS) in the redundancy drop down.
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wtk8ygrcn6h7whpt3k6p.png)
- Click save
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/b3y09c5f9hitwmdirzd4.png)
Notice that the primary and secondary location before changing the redundancy to LRS will change to only primary location
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/bxec6yhlzd4p0iz0v4rv.png)
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/7us0wwfx8cxde5ffqw6e.png)

## Enabling Secure transfer required
If Only requests from secure connections should be accepted by the storage account, then we need to enable secure transfer required.
- In the settings section, select configuration blade.
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/i8msn5mpm6gynis8oulo.png)
- Enable secure transfer required
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/uynqgk3hf86uu77k8ji0.png)
- Then click save
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/st3xgwn1rlc1z20cu9ym.png)

## Changing the TLS version
If the storage account should utilize TLS version 1.2 or above, according to developers, follow these steps:
- Select configuration in the settings section
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/zrmsjxxdkbhxgelrr8zh.png)
- Click Minimum TLS version and select version 1.2 from the drop-down
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9s98nuob0i87c7uhdk4w.png)
- Click save
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/aup2fl05s1r8955qlca9.png)

## Disabling Shared Keys
Disable requests to the storage account until the storage is needed again using these steps:
- Still under settings in the configuration blade, disable Allow storage account access
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/zrqehb4a8qo4y7hvk138.png)
- Click save
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/yi50439x9cev2khhjehl.png)

## Enabling Public network access
Below is how to make sure that all networks can access the storage account by the general public.
- Select Networking blade under Security + networking section
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2jktncg4drh4w3aujz11.png)
- Click save
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/itjp0jrz71pyhaf483p7.png)