Upload Azure Blob from Visual Studio

Question

So we can upload a blob onto Azure from Visual Studio IDE using the server explorer.

And it always uploads Block type blobs. It seems to be the default setting.

Is there any direct way or work around to upload Page type blobs? Did not find any options to do so.

Basically we are trying to avoid using another tool/plugin to do so, if VS can do it easily.

Answer 1

I posted here previously saying that I had issues with the few third-party Azure Blob Storage applications that I have found and used; the best I could find until recently was the Azure Storage Explorer from the CodePlex website, but I've since been shown an alternative that has changed my mind.

Cerebrata (now owned by Red Gate) make a pay-for application called Azure Management Studio, which as the name suggests allows almost full control of your Azure account from a desktop application. One small part of this application provides the ability to manage the Blob storage contents.

In addition, Cerebrata also make a free application called Azure Explorer (http://www.cerebrata.com/labs/azure-explorer) which focuses entirely on Blob storage management.

Through use of both apps I've mentioned above, I felt as though Azure Blob storage is brought closer to the desktop, as you're able to move files (drag/drop/etc) between your local PC and storage much easier than I've found before.

Answer 2

I don't think you can upload page blobs using Visual Studio's Server Explorer. So your choices are:

• Use a 3rd party solution: Make sure the solution supports sparse upload i.e. upload only the occupied bytes.
• You can also use AzCopy tool which is built by storage team. More information about this tool can be found here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazurestorage/archive/2012/12/03/azcopy-uploading-downloading-files-for-windows-azure-blobs.aspx and http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazurestorage/archive/2013/09/07/azcopy-transfer-data-with-re-startable-mode-and-sas-token.aspx.
• Use storage client library/REST API to write your own code: You may find this blog post from storage team useful regarding this: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazurestorage/archive/2010/04/11/using-windows-azure-page-blobs-and-how-to-efficiently-upload-and-download-page-blobs.aspx.