Azure Blob SFTP and FTP

SFTPCloud allows you to use your own cloud storage in order to power your SFTP and FTPS servers. This means that SFTPCloud lets you access your Azure Blob Storage using the SFTP/FTP protocols, making it an ideal solution for businesses and individuals looking for a secure and scalable SFTP/FTP solution. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of setting up Azure Blob as a storage option for your SFTP and FTP servers created via SFTPCloud. We will cover the essential steps required to create the Azure Blob credentials, configure your SFTP/FTP server on SFTPCloud, and use the two services in conjunction with one another.

1. Create an Azure Storage account

The first step is to create a new Azure Storage account. Open your Azure portal and on the sidebar hover your mouse over Storage accounts until a small modal appears. On the modal, click the Create button. Now it's time to configure the new storage:

Create a new resource group with an intuitive name (we named it sftpcloud for this example)

Type a Storage account name which must be unique across all existing Azure storage names

Select a region. For this example, we selected Germany West Central as the region

Optional: the Standard performance is more than enough but if you want, feel free to choose the Premium option

Optional: as Redundancy we selected GRS, but again, feel free to change it if you have different requirements.

As the final step, click the button Review + create and proceed with the creation of the new storage.

2. Create a new container

After creating the storage, click the Go to resource button. On the resource page, click Containers on the left sidebar and then click the + Container button to create a new container. A new sidebar on the right will appear. Give a name to your container and click the Create button. Remember this name because you will need it later.

3. Generate the Access Key

On the resource page click Access keys on the left sidebar. Now you can see the access keys for your new storage. Keep this page open because you will need to copy the Storage Account Name and the first key.

4. Create a new SFTPCloud instance

Now it's time to create your SFTP and FTP instance in SFTPCloud. In case you don't have an SFTPCloud account, you will need to make one. Go to the SFPT Instances page, click New SFTP instance from the top navigation bar and select where you want your new server to be located. Now it's time to name the new instance and provide the storage credentials needed to establish the connection with Azure Blob. Name the instance and select Azure Blob Storage as the instance storage. Type the name of your account storage into the Account name field. In this example we used sftpcloud as account storage name (step 1). In the Container input type the name of the container you see in the page left open from step 3. We used sftpcloud as container name. Into the Access key field pase the first key copied from the page left open at step 3. Click the Create SFTP instance button and your FTP and SFTP server will start initializing.

5. Access Azure Blob via SFTP and FTP

Now it's time to get the SFTPCloud credentials which can be used to access Azure Blob via SFTP and FTP. In the SFTPCloud instance you just created, click the Users tab and then click on the first user. A modal with the user details will appear. Click the Connection details tab and there you have all the required details in order to connect to the SFTP/FTP server powered by your Azure Blob Storage.

Conclusion

Now you have an SFTP and FTP server powered by your own Azure Blob Storage account. Any change made via SFTP and FTP will be reflected in your Azure Blob Storage. Similarly, any change made directly via Azure Blob Storage will be reflected in the SFTP and FTP server. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out at support@sftpcloud.io