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How to Host a Public Website Using Azure Blob Storage

forsyth famous — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 17:00:18 +0000

What is Hosting a Website in Azure Storage?

Before deploying a public website, it’s important to understand what this means in the context of Azure.

In Microsoft Azure, Blob Storage isn’t just for storing files, it can also serve static content directly over the internet.

This allows you to host content such as:

HTML pages
CSS stylesheets
JavaScript files
Images and media

All without needing to manage a traditional web server.

Think of it as turning your storage account into a lightweight, globally accessible web host.

Why This Matters

Hosting a static website using Azure Storage is:

Cost-effective – no need for virtual machines or app services
Scalable – Azure handles traffic automatically
Simple to deploy – upload files and go live

But here’s the catch, just like we discussed in my previous post, storage accounts are globally accessible by default unless configured otherwise. That means the moment you enable public access, you’re making content available to anyone with the link.

If you haven’t already, check out my previous article where I break down what a storage account is and how to create one:

forsyth famous

Apr 24

Provide storage for the IT department testing and training

#cloud #microsoftcloud #azure #learning

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4 min read

That foundation will make the concepts in this guide much easier to follow, especially when working with containers and access levels.

Setting Up the Scenario

Now that we understand the concept, let’s get practical.

The goal isn’t just to get a website running or exposing a file or image to the internet from a storage account, it’s about understanding how to do it securely and responsibly in a real-world cloud environment.

Now let’s walk through how to actually set this up step by step.

Create a storage account with high availability.

Create a storage account to support the public website.
- In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts.
- Select + Create.
- For resource group select new. Give your resource group a name and select OK.
- Set the Storage account name to publicwebsite. Make sure the storage account name is unique by adding an identifier.
- Take the defaults for other settings.
- Select Review and then Create.
- Wait for the storage account to deploy, and then select Go to resource.
This storage requires high availability if there’s a regional outage. Additionally, enable read access to the secondary region.
- In the storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.
- Ensure Read-access Geo-redundant storage is selected.
- Review the primary and secondary location information.
Information on the public website should be accessible without requiring customers to login.
- In the storage account, in the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.
- Ensure the Allow blob anonymous access setting is Enabled.
- Be sure to Save your changes.

Create a blob storage container with anonymous read access

The public website has various images and documents. Create a blob storage container for the content.
- In your storage account, in the Data storage section, select the Containers blade.
- Select + Container.
- Ensure the Name of the container is public.
- Select Create.
Customers should be able to view the images without being authenticated. Configure anonymous read access for the public container blobs.
- Select your public container.
- On the Overview blade, select Change access level.
- Ensure the Public access level is Blob (anonymous read access for blobs only).
- Select OK.

Practice uploading files and testing access.

For testing, upload a file to the public container. The type of file doesn’t matter. A small image or text file is a good choice.
- Ensure you are viewing your container.
- Select Upload.
- Browse to files and select a file. Browse to a file of your choice.
- Select Upload.
- Close the upload window, Refresh the page and ensure your file was uploaded.
Determine the URL for your uploaded file. Open a browser and test the URL.
- Select your uploaded file.
- On the Overview tab, copy the URL.
- Paste the URL into a new browser tab.
- If you have uploaded an image file it will display in the browser. Other file types should be downloaded.

Configure soft delete

It’s important that the website documents can be restored if they’re deleted. Configure blob soft delete for 21 days.
- Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.
- On the Properties page, locate the Blob service section.
- Select the Blob soft delete setting.
- Ensure the Enable soft delete for blobs is checked.
- Change the Keep deleted blobs for (in days) setting to 21.
- Notice you can also Enable soft delete for containers.
- Don’t forget to Save your changes.
If something gets deleted, you need to practice using soft delete to restore the files.
- Navigate to your container where you uploaded a file.
- Select the file you uploaded and then select Delete.
- then delete the file.
- Select OK to confirm deleting the file.
- On the container Overview page, toggle the slider Show deleted blobs. This toggle is to the right of the search box.
- Select your deleted file, and use the ellipses on the far right, to Undelete the file.
- Refresh the container and confirm the file has been restored.

Configure blob versioning

It’s important to keep track of the different website product document versions.
- Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.
- In the Properties section, locate the Blob service section.
- Select the Versioning setting.
- Ensure the Enable versioning for blobs checkbox is checked.
- Notice your options to keep all versions or delete versions after.
- Don’t forget to Save your changes.
As you have time experiment with restoring previous blob versions.
- Upload another version of your container file. This overwrites your existing file.
- Your previous file version is listed on Show deleted blobs page.

Conclusion

Hosting a public website with Azure Blob Storage is simple, but doing it the right way is what really matters.

You’ve seen how easy it is to make content accessible over the internet, but also why understanding access levels and data protection features like soft delete and versioning is important.

At this point, you’re not just uploading files, you’re thinking about security, accessibility, and real-world usage.

See you in the next one, where we take this a step further.

Provide storage for the IT department testing and training

forsyth famous — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 20:23:46 +0000

What is an Azure Storage Account?

Before we dive into creating and securing a storage account, it’s important to understand what it actually is.

In Microsoft Azure, a storage account is a fundamental resource that acts as a secure, scalable container for your data in the cloud. It provides a unified namespace to store and manage different types of data, all under one roof.

Think of it as a cloud-based data hub where you can store:

Blobs → for unstructured data like images, videos, backups, logs
Files → managed file shares accessible via SMB/NFS
Queues → for messaging between application components
Tables → NoSQL structured data

Each storage account is uniquely named and globally accessible (unless restricted), making it a critical entry point that must be properly secured.

Setting Up the Environment.

Now that you know what a storage account is, let’s get our hands dirty.

In this guide, we’ll create and secure an Azure Storage Account for an IT department testing and training environment, keeping things practical, straightforward, and (hopefully) a bit fun along the way.

And if you’re the type who likes to dig deeper, I’ve included a link to the official Microsoft documentation so you can explore Azure Storage in more detail.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-account-overview

Create a resource group and a storage account.

Create and deploy a resource group to hold all your project resources.
- In the Azure portal, search for and select Resource groups.
- Select + Create.
- Give your resource group a name. For example, storagerg.
- Select a region. Use this region throughout the project.
- Select Review and create to validate the resource group.
- Select Create to deploy the resource group.
Create and deploy a storage account to support testing and training.
- In the Azure portal, search for and select Storage accounts.
- Select + Create.
- On the Basics tab, select your Resource group.
- Provide a Storage account name. The storage account name must be unique in Azure.
- Set the Performance to Standard.
- Select Review, and then Create.
- Then Create.
- Wait for the storage account to deploy and then Go to resource.

Configure simple settings in the storage account.

The data in this storage account doesn’t require high availability or durability. A lowest cost storage solution is desired.
- In your storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.
- Select Locally-redundant storage (LRS) in the Redundancy drop-down.
- Be sure to Save your changes.
- Refresh the page and notice the content only exists in the primary location.
The storage account should only accept requests from secure connections.
- In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.
- Ensure Secure transfer required is Enabled.
Developers would like the storage account to use at least TLS version 1.2.
- In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.
- Ensure the Minimal TLS version is set to Version 1.2.
Until the storage is needed again, disable requests to the storage account.
- In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.
- Ensure Allow storage account key access is Disabled.
- Be sure to Save your changes.
Ensure the storage account allows public access from all networks.
- In the Security + networking section, select the Networking blade.
- Ensure Public network access is set to Enabled from all networks.
- Be sure to Save your changes.

Conclusion

And that’s it, you’ve just deployed and secured your first Azure Storage Account.

What started as a simple setup turned into a solid foundation for a secure IT department testing and training environment. More importantly, you’ve seen how small configuration choices can make a big difference when it comes to protecting your data.

Keep experimenting, keep building, and most importantly, keep securing your resources.