To access your data in Microsoft Azure File Storage, create a connection asset for it.
Azure Files are Microsoft's cloud file system. They are managed file shares that are accessible via the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol or the Network File System (NFS) protocol.
Create a connection to Microsoft Azure File Storage
To create the connection asset, you need these connection details:
Connection string: Authentication is managed by the Azure portal access keys.
Microsoft Entra ID is a cloud-based identity and access management service. To obtain connection values for the Entra ID authentication method, sign in to the Microsoft Azure portal and go to your storage account. For information about Microsoft Entra ID, see What is Microsoft Entra ID?.
Entra ID client secret credential
- Tenant ID: The Microsoft Entra tenant ID. To find the Tenant ID, go to Microsoft Entra ID> Properties. Scroll down to the Tenant ID field. For more information, see How to find your Microsoft Entra tenant ID.
- Client ID: The client ID for authorizing access to Microsoft Azure File Storage. To find the Client ID for your application, select Microsoft Entra ID. From App registrations, select your application. Click Copy to copy the Client ID of your application. For more information, see Register a Microsoft Entra app and create a service principal.
- Client secret: The authentication key that is associated with the client ID for authorizing access to Microsoft Azure File Storage. To find the Client secret for your application, select Microsoft Entra ID. From App registrations, select your application. Go to Certificates & secrets > Client secrets. Click Copy to copy the existing Client secret or click New client secret to create a new Client secret and copy it. For more information, see Register a Microsoft Entra app and create a service principal.
- Storage account URL: Storage account URL.
Entra ID username password credential
- Client ID: The client ID for authorizing access to Microsoft Azure File Storage. To find the Client ID for your application, select Microsoft Entra ID. From App registrations, select your application. Click Copy to copy the Client ID of your application. For more information, see Register a Microsoft Entra app and create a service principal.
- Username and Password: Username and password for the Microsoft Azure File Storage account. You need permission to access the file without multi-factor authentication.
- Storage account URL: Storage account URL.
Choose the method for creating a connection based on where you are in the platform
- In a project
- Click Assets > New asset > Connect to a data source. See Adding a connection to a project.
- In a catalog
- Click Add to catalog > Connection. See Adding a connection asset to a catalog.
- In a deployment space
- Click Import assets > Data access > Connection. See Adding data assets to a deployment space.
- In the Platform assets catalog
- Click New connection. See Adding platform connections.
Next step: Add data assets from the connection
Where you can use this connection
You can use Microsoft Azure File Storage connections in the following workspaces and tools:
Projects
- DataStage (DataStage service). See Connecting to a data source in DataStage.
- Decision Optimization (watsonx.ai Studio and watsonx.ai Runtime)
- SPSS Modeler (watsonx.ai Studio)
Catalogs
-
Platform assets catalog
-
Other catalogs (IBM Knowledge Catalog)
Note:Preview, profile, and masking are not certified for this connection in IBM Knowledge Catalog.
Azure File Storage setup
Set up storage and access keys on the Microsoft Azure portal. For instructions see Manage storage account access keys.
Example connection string, which you can find in the ApiKeys section of the container:
DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=sampleaccount;AccountKey=samplekey;EndpointSuffix=core.windows.net
Choose the method to create and manage your Azure Files:
- Quickstart: Create and manage Azure Files share with Windows virtual machines
- Quickstart: Create and manage Azure file shares with the Azure portal
- Quickstart: Create and manage an Azure file share with Azure PowerShell
- Quickstart: Create and manage Azure file shares using Azure CLI
- Quickstart: Create and manage Azure file shares with Azure Storage Explorer
Restriction
- Microsoft Azure's maximum file size is 1 TB.
- When using Entra ID credentials for authentication with Azure File Storage connection, creating or deleting a share/container is not supported. Only listing an existing shares and making changes to them is supported.
Supported file types
The Azure File Storage connection supports these file types: Avro, CSV, Delimited text, Excel, JSON, ORC, Parquet, SAS, SAV, SHP, and XML.
Table formats
The Azure File Storage connection supports these Data Lake table formats: Delta Lake and Iceberg.
Known issues
- During the upload, the data is appended in portions to a temporary file and then converted into the file. Depending on the size of the streamed content, there might be a delay in creating the file. Wait until all the data is uploaded.
Learn more
Parent topic: Supported connections