Azure Blob Storage
File storage that outlives the machine that wrote the file, with tiers that make old data cheap to keep.
Object storage
Chosen per project
Maintainable handover
Documents, scans, invoices and photographs accumulate faster than anyone plans for. Keeping them on an application server ties them to that server and makes both scaling and disaster recovery harder than they need to be.
Blob storage separates the two. Files get their own durability, their own access rules, and lifecycle policies that move anything untouched for a year into a tier costing a fraction as much.
What we build with Azure Blob Storage
Uploads and generated documents from a web or mobile application
Long-term retention of statements, invoices and compliance records
Backups held away from the application server
Static content served through Azure CDN or Front Door
Where it fits — and where it does not
Good fit when
Anything a user uploads or an application generates as a file
Archives where cost matters more than retrieval speed
Content shared with a time limit rather than made public
Consider something else when
Data you need to query — that belongs in a database
Frequent small random reads inside a large file
Where a file should live as it ages
The same file costs very different amounts depending on how it is stored — and lifecycle rules move it without anyone deciding.
Hot
Actively read; highest storage cost, lowest access cost.
Cool
Read occasionally; cheaper to keep, dearer to fetch.
Archive
Compliance retention; cheapest, retrieval takes hours.
Deleted, recoverable
Soft delete window before it truly goes.
How we work with Azure Blob Storage
Private containers
Public access disabled; sharing done with short-lived SAS tokens or through a CDN.
Tiering by policy
Lifecycle rules move blobs to Cool and Archive automatically instead of relying on somebody remembering.
Soft delete on
Deleted and overwritten blobs recoverable for a retention window, because mistakes happen.
Identity, not keys
Applications authenticate with managed identity so there is no account key to rotate or leak.
Our typical Azure Blob Storage setup
| Concern | What we use |
|---|---|
| Access | Private containers; anonymous access disabled at account level |
| Sharing | User-delegation SAS with short expiry |
| Tiers | Hot, Cool and Archive driven by lifecycle policy |
| Protection | Soft delete and versioning on containers that matter |
| Auth | Managed identity with RBAC scoped to a container |
Frequently asked questions
The application checks permission and issues a SAS URL valid for a few minutes. The container itself never becomes public, and the link stops working shortly after it is used.
Yes, and it is usually the single biggest saving available on a storage bill. A lifecycle rule does it automatically based on how long a blob has gone untouched.
It is a common destination, particularly with immutability policies where a retention guarantee is required.
Services built with Azure Blob Storage
Cloud Solutions
Hosting designed around what your application actually needs, with the monitoring and backups that make it safe to rely on.
Web Application Development
Applications that run in the browser, handle real workloads and hold up when several departments depend on them at once.
Enterprise Software Development
Systems for organisations where several departments, sites and approval chains all have to work from the same data.
Software Maintenance
Keeping working systems working — including ones built by somebody else.
Tell us what you are trying to build
Describe the problem in plain language and we will tell you what it would take to solve it — the approach, the moving parts and the sensible order to build them in. No obligation either way.