The Azure CLI az storage blob upload command can be used to upload a local file into Azure Blob Storage. However, there are times when it would be easier to upload a file straight from the HTTP(S) URL into Azure Blob Storage. Unfortunately the Azure CLI does not have a command for this specific scenario, it requires the file to be downloaded locally first. This article looks at the Bash and PowerShell commands to download a file from URL and upload it to Azure Blob Storage. Plus, if you run these commands inside the Azure Cloud Shell, then you don’t need to worry about your local network bandwidth speeds or limits if you’re uploading a large file into Azure Blob Storage.
Uploading Files from URL to Azure Blob Storage
Let’s first look at the steps for uploading a file to Azure Blob Storage using the Azure CLI. Consider in this scenario for the file we want to upload we have a URL for the file as it’s hosted on the Internet somewhere. We want to take the HTTP(S) URL of the file and upload it to Azure Blob Storage.
Step 1: Download the File
Before we can upload the file to Azure Blob Storage, we first need to download it. This can be done using either the wget or curl commands in bash, or `Invoke-WebRequest` in PowerShell.
Here are examples of each of the bash commands:
wget " -O "localfile.zip"
curl " --output "localfile.zip"Here’s an example of the PowerShell command:
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri " -OutFile "localfile.zip"Be sure to replace the HTTP(S) URL of the source file, and the output file path to your desired file locations.
Need to save local bandwidth? If your local networking bandwidth is slow or limited, you can open the Azure Cloud Shell within the Azure Portal and run these commands there. This way you’ll benefit from the fast Internet bandwidth and connectivity of Microsoft Azure. Often times, the file transfers will run faster this way too.
Step 2: Upload the File to Azure Blob Storage
Now that the file has been downloaded, we can use the Azure CLI to upload it to Azure Blob Storage using the az storage blob upload command.
Here’s an example:
az storage blob upload --account-name \
--account-key \
--container-name \
--name \
--file "localfile.zip" Be sure to set the command arguments appropriately for your Azure Blob Storage Account:
--account-name– The Name of the Azure Storage Account.--account-key– The Azure Storage Account Key, so the Azure CLI can authenticate and have access to upload the blob.--container-name– The Container name where the blob will be uploaded within the Azure Storage Account.--name– The name of the Blob. This can be different than the source / local file name.--file– The file path and name of the source / local file to be uploaded to blob storage.
Step 3: Delete the Local File
Once the downloaded file has been uploaded to Azure Blob Storage, the file saved on your local machine (or in Azure Cloud Shell if you’re using that) can now be deleted.
The bash rm command can be used to delete a file in bash:
rm "localfile.zip"And, from PowerShell, the “ command can be used:
Remove-Item -Path "localfile.zip"Full Bash Script to Automate HTTP(S) URL File Upload to Azure Blob Storage
To use bash to automate the uploading of a file from it’s HTTP(S) URL into Azure Blob Storage you’ll want to write a script.
Here’s a full bash script that contains all the above commands with some variables for ease of use:
#!/bin/bash
// file download information
url="
temp_file="localfile.zip"
// Azure Blob Storage information
storage_account_name=""
storage_account_key=" Be sure to replace the placeholders in this script with your own file URL, local file name, and Azure Blob Storage Account information.
Full PowerShell Script to Automate HTTP(S) URL File Upload to Azure Blob Storage
To use PowerShell to automate the uploading of a file from it’s HTTP(S) URL into Azure Blob Storage you’ll want to write a script.
Here’s a full PowerShell script that contains all the above commands with some variables for ease of use:
// file download information
$url = "
$temp_file = "localfile.zip"
// Azure Blob Storage information
$storage_account_name = ""
$storage_account_key = ""
$blob_name = ""
// download file with wget or curl
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $temp_file
// upload file to Azure Blob Storage
az storage blob upload --account-name $storage_account_name `
--storage-account-key $storage_account_key `
--container-name $container_name `
--file $temp_file `
--name $blob_name
// delete local file after upload
Remove-Item -Path $temp_file Be sure to replace the placeholders in this script with your own file URL, local file name, and Azure Blob Storage Account information.
Conclusion
In this article we looked at how to take a file with a known HTTP(S) URL and upload it into an Azure Blob Storage container. While the Azure CLI can’t take a URL and save it directly to Azure Blob Storage, we need to download the file locally first, then upload it to Azure Blob Storage using the Azure CLI. Also, if you run the commands within the Azure Cloud Shell, then you don’t need to do this locally and can save bandwidth of your local network.
Happy Azure CLI scripting!
Original Article Source: Upload File from URL to Azure Blob Storage using Azure CLI with Bash and PowerShell by Chris Pietschmann (If you’re reading this somewhere other than Build5Nines.com, it was republished without permission.)
