Szymon Karpęcki
Azure Blob storage is Microsoft's object storage solution for the cloud. Blob storage is optimized for storing massive amounts of unstructured data. Unstructured data is data that doesn't adhere to a particular data model or definition, such as text or binary data.
Dataedo provides a native Azure Blob Storage connector, which allows you to document objects/files stored in this service.
Authentication
In order to document Azure Blob Storage you will need to authenticate. Dataedo supports following options of authentication:
- Acess Key
- Azure Active Directory - Interactive
- Connection string
- Public container (no authentication)
- Shared Access Signature - Account
- Shared Access Signature - Directory
- Shared Access Signature - URL
Out of all options, we recomend Azure Active Directory - Interactive authentication, as it provides best access control in Azure cloud.
How to find storage account name in Azure
Storage account name is a unique identifier of your account within the whole Azure cloud. You can find it in following way (we'll show only Azure Portal method, as others are more advanced):
- Sign into Azure Portal.
Search for storage account and select Storage accounts:
You will see a list of Storage Accounts, where name is first column. Copy name of an account you want to document:
Access key
When you create an Azure Storage Account it receives automatically generated keys, that can be used to authenticate to Blob Storage in Dataedo.
How to find Access Key in Azure Portal
- Search for Storage Accounts, and open the one you would like to document.
On the side tab, look for Access keys and open the page:
Click Show button to reveal Key and copy it to Dataedo. You can use either of keys. Furhtermore, you can copy Storage account name on the page:
Paste values in Dataedo connector window:
Azure Active Directory - Interactive
You can use your Azure AD credentials to access Storage Account. All you need to provide is Account Name. Finding one is described in How to find storage account name in Azure section of this article. Once you click Connect in Dataedo window you wil have to interactively sign in with your Azure account.
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Azure Active Directory - Interactive authentication cannot be used to automate imports with dataedocmd, as it needs you to manually sign in before import can begin
Connection string
Connection string for Azure Data Storage contains all required information to connect to Storage Account, hence there is only one field in Dataedo connector for this type of authentication.
How to find Connection string in Azure Portal
- Search for Storage Accounts, and open the one you would like to document.
On the side tab, look for Access keys and open the page:
Click Show button to reveal Connection string and copy it to Dataedo. You can use either of conection strings. Furhtermore, you can copy Storage account name on the page:
- Paste connection string in Dataedo connector window:
Public container
Some of the contaiers can be accessed publicly, without need of any authentication. In such case, the Dataedo will require you to provide storage account name and container name. Obtaining first one is decribed in How to find storage account name in Azure section. Public container name can be found in following way:
- Search for Storage Accounts, and open the one you would like to document.
On the side tab, look for Containers and open that page:
On the Containers page you will find list of containers avaiable in Storage Account. Make sure selected container has Container access level.
Connecting to Azure Blob Storage
Connect
Once you filled required connection details, hit Connect button.
Once connected set the documentation title.
Select format (optional)
On next screen you will need to select format of files that are going to be documented. This step is optional, as if you will select files in different formats, Dataedo will automatically detect the format and use appropriate connector.
Select files
On next screen select files that are to be documented. As stated earlier, files can be in various formats. In next step, Dataedo will try to document files based on their extensions.
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Once you selected files, hit Import button
Choose Objects to import
During this step you can check/unchek objects and their columns/fields for import. To verify columns/fields, select a file from the list. Furthermore, you can change format which Dataedo recognized, by expanding list in Type column.
Import
Once you're sure everything is correct hit Import button to import selected files.
Outcome
Selected files metadata was loaded into a new documentation.
