Azure Cloud Connections

Overview

A Cloud Connection is a connection to Blob storage. This article shows you how to configure them in the admin web portal.

A Cloud Connection lets you configure the following settings for connecting to Blob storage:

• Storage Account Name
• Blob Container
• Relative path following the Blob container
• Connection String used to authenticate to the Storage Account
• Blob storage environment (i.e. commercial endpoint versus GovCloud)

You may also use instance identity instead of a Connection String, here is the documentation for configuring instance identity.

First launch

When you log into your SFTP Gateway VM, the first thing you see is a Configure Default Storage popup.

Click OK, and this will take you to a page titled Add Azure Cloud Connection.

Note: It is important that you make sure the Cloud Connection is working before you proceed. In other words, make sure the Test Connection button near the bottom of the page gives you 3 green checkmarks.

Create a Blob Storage Container

If you don't already have a Blob Storage Container, take a moment to create one.

Note: Make sure the Container name is all lowercase, which is an Azure requirement.

Add Azure Cloud Connection

You will need to fill out the following form:

• Connection Name: On first launch, leave this as the default, so you know it's the default Cloud Connection.
• Cloud Connection Notes: This field is optional.
• Container Resource URI: Get this URL from Storage Account > Container > Properties > Container URL
• Cloud Connection Credentials: Change this to Use unique credentials
  • Connection String: Get this from Storage Account > Access keys > Connection String

Container Resource URI example

For the Container Resource URI, get this from the Container's Properties page in the Azure Portal.

The Container Resource URI contains multiple pieces of information. For example:

https://storagetest.blob.core.windows.net/containertest

This has the following information:

• Storage Account name: storagetest
• Blob container name: containertest
• Blob environment: blob.core.windows.net or the global commercial Blob endpoint (not GovCloud)

You can manually customize this URL. For example, you can append a relative Blob storage path:

https://storagetest.blob.core.windows.net/containertest/path/to/something

When using this Cloud Connection, SFTP files will be uploaded to a relative path within the Container:

/path/to/something/

Test Connection

When you have configured all the fields, click Test Connection.

If all goes well, you should see 3 green checkmarks. Otherwise, check your settings and get this step working before proceeding.

If you are stuck, you can reach out to us at azure-support@thorntech.com.

Video Example

For more information, we have a video that walks through setting up a Cloud Connection on Azure.