Saturday, April 30, 2011

Azure Storage Explorer 4.0.0.9 Refresh with Blob Security Features

An update to Azure Storage Explorer 4 is now available. The Refresh 9 (4.0.0.9) update provides expanded security support for blobs and containers.

Previous versions of Azure Storage Explorer allowed you to set a container's default access level at time of creation (Private, Public Blob, or Public Container) but you couldn't change the access level after the fact. Nor was there any support for Shared Access Signatures or Shared Access Policies. This release provides all of that. Simply click the new Security button in the Blob toolbar and a Blob & Container Security dialog will open.


There are three tabs on the Blob & Container Security dialog: Container Access, Shared Access Signatures, and Shared Access Policies.

To change a container's default access level, use the Container Access tab. Select the access level you wish and click Update Access Level.


On the Shared Access Signatures tab, you can generate custom URLs that override the default access for container and blobs with custom permission settings (read/write/delete/list) and a time window for validity. You can generate both ad-hoc Shared Access Signatures and policy-based Shared Access Signatures.

For ad-hoc Shared Access Signatures, specify the permissions and time window. You are limited to a maximum of 60 minutes. Click Generate Signature to generate the signature. Once generated, you can use action buttons to copy the signature URL to the clipboard or open it in a browser to test it.


Shared Access Signatures based on policies give you the option to change or revoke the privileges even after you have distributed Shared Access Signatures based on them. To generate a Shared Access Signature based on policy, select a policy on the Shared Access Signature tab and click Generate Signature.


The Shared Access Policies tab allows you to manage your shared access policies. Each policy has a name, permissions, and a validity time window. Unlike ad-hoc Shared Access Signatures, Shared Acccess Policies aren't limited to a 60-minute maximum time window.


What's next for Azure Storage Explorer? Probably a maintenance release to address issues and requested features.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is sweet!! Great addition.