Exercise - Use Azure Storage Explorer to upload data to Azure Storage

To do one-off data transfers into an Azure Data Lake store, use Azure Storage Explorer.

Storage Explorer is a free standalone application for Windows, macOS, and Linux that lets you manage Azure Storage data including blobs, queues, tables, file shares, and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. That's why we use it in this exercise.

Use Storage Explorer

Begin by downloading and installing Storage Explorer. You can use Storage Explorer to do several operations against data in your Azure Storage account and data lake:

• Upload files or folders from your local computer into Azure Storage.
• Download cloud-based data to your local computer.
• Copy or move files and folders around in the storage account.
• Delete data from the storage account.

This module explores some of these capabilities.

Connect Storage Explorer to your Azure account

To get started using Storage Explorer, sign in with your Azure account:

1. In Storage Explorer, select View > Account Management, or select the Manage Accounts button in the left toolbar.

2. In the ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT panel, select Add an account.... The Connect to Azure Storage dialog opens.

3. In the Select Resource panel, select Subscription.

4. In the Select Azure Environment panel, select your Azure environment (for example, Azure), and then select Next.

5. Storage Explorer opens a browser page for you to sign in. Sign in with your Azure account.

6. After you sign in, your account and its subscriptions appear under ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT. Select the subscription in which you created the Azure Storage account, and then select Apply.

Storage Explorer loads the Explorer tab and shows all storage accounts associated with your selected subscriptions. Your Azure Storage account appears in the list.

Create a file system in Storage Explorer

Because blobs are always uploaded into folders, you can organize groups of blobs much like you organize files on your computer.

In Data Lake Storage Gen2, you start by creating a file system. This defines the Blob storage container that holds your data lake. You create folders and files within this dedicated area.

1. In Storage Explorer, expand your subscription, and then expand your storage accounts.

2. Expand the storage account that you created earlier, and select Blob Containers.

3. Right-click Blob Containers and select Create Blob Container.

4. Under Blob Containers, enter salesdata.

5. After the container is created, select salesdata.

Create a folder in a storage container

A folder helps provide a hierarchical structure for your data. You can create multiple levels in the account. Just ensure that main folders exist before you create subfolders.

1. On the menu at the top of Storage Explorer, select New Folder.

   

2. Name the folder sample. Then select OK to create the directory. If you get a message that asks if you want to refresh your view, select Yes.

3. Double-click the new folder. This action traverses into the folder, which should be empty.

4. Create another folder named data.

Create a sample text file

You'll need data to work with, so create a sample text file on your computer named sales.txt. Then paste the following text into the file:

#salaries Details
#Company Information
#Fields : Date company employee Salaries
01-01-2019  c1   e1 1000
01-01-2019  c2   e2 2000
01-01-2019  c1   e3 4000
01-01-2019  c2   e4 2000
01-01-2019  c1   e5 5000
01-01-2019  c3   e6 7000

You'll upload this data file in various ways. Keep in mind that this is a simple example. Typically, you'll populate your data lake with much larger data samples from a variety of sources.

Upload a file

You can upload files and folders from your local machine to directories in your file share right from Storage Explorer.

1. In Storage Explorer, double-click the data folder.

2. On menu at the top of the window, select Upload. From the Upload menu, you can upload a folder or a file.

3. Select Upload Files.

4. Select the sales.txt file you created earlier.

5. In the Upload Files dialog box, ensure that the destination directory is sample/data. Then select Upload.

   

When you finish, the file appears on the list.

Download a file

To download a copy of a file from your file share, right-click the file, and then select Download. Choose where to put the file on your local machine, and then select Save. The download progress appears in the Activities pane at the bottom of the window.