First, you need to create a text file to upload and edit later in the project. These instructions are written for Windows and can be adapted for other OSs. In File Explorer on the Home tab, click New item, and select Text Document (see Figure 8-20). Rename the document with something easily identifiable, such as BlobProject. Open the document and type some text, such as This is a test. Save the changes and close the document. In your Azure portal, click the Storage accounts service on your Home page. Click +Add to create a new storage account. Select the desired subscription, and click Create new to create a new resource group. Give the resource group a name that is unique across Azure storage accounts, and click OK. Name your storage account and choose a location. Choose StorageV2 for Account kind, and change Replication to Locally-redundant storage (LRS)this setting is required in order to stay within free tier service limits. Leave other default settings unchanged. Click Review + create, and then click Create.

1. On the Storage accounts page, click your new storage account. What services are listed in your storage account?

2. In the storage accounts navigation pane, scroll down to the Blob service category, and click Blobs. To create a container, click +Container. Give the container a name, such as mycontainer. Without changing the Public access level setting, look to see what other settings are available. What options are listed? Leave the Public access level set to Private (no anonymous access). Click OK.

3. Click the container you just created. To upload the text file you created in Step 1, click Upload and select the file. Click the Advanced drop-down menu. By default, the blob type is set to Block blob. Without changing the setting, look to see what other types are available. What options are listed? Leave the Blob type set to Block blob, and click Upload. Close the Upload blob blade, and click the file you just uploaded. Copy the URL and paste it into a new tab in your browser. What happens?

4. Close the tab and return to your Azure portal. Close the blob blade. On the container blade, click Change access level. Change the Public access level selection to Blob (anonymous read access for blobs only) and click OK. Click the filename again, and try again to open the text files URL in a new tab in your browser. What happens this time?

5. Close the tab and return to your Azure portal. On the blobs blade, click Snapshots, and then click Create snapshot. The new snapshot appears in the list. Click Edit blob. Change the text to something noticeably different, such as Beam me up, Scotty. Save your changes. Return to the Overview tab, and open the blobs URL in a new tab. What happens this time?

6. Close the tab and return to your Azure portal. On the blobs blade, click Snapshots. Select the snapshot and click Promote snapshot. Read the warning and click OK. Open the blobs URL in a new tab again. What happens this time?