The Azure Blob connector supports uploading to and downloading from the Azure Blob cloud storage service.
Key Capabilities
- Cloud storage integration with both Access Key and SAS Token authentication
- Container-based file organization with upload/download capabilities
- File filtering and masking for selective operations
- Overwrite protection and deletion management for uploaded files
- Optional caching to ensure only new or updated files are downloaded
Overview
Each Azure Blob connector connects to a specified Microsoft Azure storage account. Within the remote storage, you set a single container as the upload target, and a list of containers as the download target.
Files that reach the Azure Blob connector in the flow are uploaded to the upload target container, and files found in the download target container are downloaded and entered into the flow. The connector supports upload and download filters to send and receive only specific file names and/or file extensions.
Connector Configuration
This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.
Settings Tab
Authorization
Settings related to the Azure account used to access the Azure Blob service.
| Setting | Description |
|---|
| Connector Id | The static, unique identifier for the connector. |
| Connector Type | Displays the connector name and a description of what it does. |
| Connector Description | An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow. |
| Account | The Azure Blob account to access. |
| Auth Scheme | Whether to authenticate using an Access Key or a SAS Token. After you make your choice, provide the AccessKey or SAS Tokens. |
| AccessKey | The access credential (provided by Microsoft) for the specified account. |
| SAS Tokens | The Shared Access Token (SAS) for the Azure Storage account. |
Send
Settings related to uploading to the remote storage.
| Setting | Description |
|---|
| Container Name | Files processed by the connector are uploaded to this container. |
| Overwrite | Whether to overwrite or skip existing files. |
Receive
Settings related to downloading from the remote storage.
| Setting | Description |
|---|
| Container Name | The container from which files are downloaded. |
| File Mask | A glob pattern that determines which files in the Remote Path should be downloaded (for example, *.txt). If you need to specify multiple file masks, use the Receive Filter on the Advanced tab instead. |
| Delete files (after received) | Check this to delete successfully downloaded files from the remote storage. |
Caching
Settings related to caching and comparing files between multiple downloads.
| Setting | Description |
|---|
| File Size Comparison | Check this to keep a record of downloaded file names and sizes. Previously downloaded files are skipped unless the file size is different than the last download. |
| Timestamp Comparison | Check this to keep a record of downloaded file names and last-modified timestamps. Previously downloaded files are skipped unless the timestamp is different than the last download. |
When you enable caching, the file names are case-insensitive. For example, the connector cannot distinguish between TEST.TXT and test.txt.
Advanced Tab
Advanced Settings
Settings not included in the previous categories.
| Setting | Description |
|---|
| Recurse remote subdirectories | Whether to download files in subfolders of the target remote path. |
| Timeout | The duration the connector waits for a connection response before throwing a timeout error. |
| Receive Filter | A glob pattern filter to determine which files should be downloaded from the remote storage (for example, *.txt). You can use negative patterns to indicate files that should not be downloaded (for example, -*.tmp). Use this setting when you need multiple File Mask patterns. Multiple patterns can be separated by commas, with later filters taking priority except when an exact match is found. |
| Local File Scheme | A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros. |
| Processing Delay | The amount of time (in seconds) by which the processing of files placed in the Transactions tab is delayed. This is a legacy setting. Best practice is to use a File connector to manage local file systems instead of this setting. |
Proxy Settings
Logging
Miscellaneous Settings
Automation Tab
Automation Settings
Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.
| Setting | Description |
|---|
| Send | Whether files arriving at the connector are automatically uploaded. |
| Retry Interval | The amount of time before a failed upload is retried. |
| Max Attempts | The maximum number of times the connector processes the input file. Success is measured based on a successful server acknowledgement. If you set this to 0, the connector retries the file indefinitely. |
| Receive | Whether the connector should automatically poll the remote download path for files to download. |
| Interval | The interval between automatic download attempts. |
| Minutes Past the Hour | The minutes offset for an hourly schedule. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Hourly. |
| Time | The time of day that the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. |
| Day | The day on which the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Weekly or Monthly. |
| Minutes | The number of minutes to wait before attempting the download. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Minute. |
| Cron Expression | A five-position string representing a cron expression that determines when the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Advanced. |
Alerts Tab
SLAs Tab
Establishing a Connection
Establishing a connection to the Azure Blob service requires Azure account credentials:
Use the Test Connection button to verify that the account information provided is valid.
Uploading and Downloading
Upload
To upload files, set the Container Name in the Send portion of the Settings page to the container where files should be uploaded. Each Azure Blob connector uploads to a single container.
Use the Overwrite remote files option to indicate whether files that already exist in the container should be overwritten or skipped.
After configuration is complete, files placed in the connector Transactions tab are uploaded to the remote storage. If Send Automation is enabled, the upload happens automatically; otherwise, you can send individual files from the Transactions tab.
Download
To download files, set the Container Name in the Receive portion of the Settings page to the container from where files should be downloaded. Use a comma-delimited list to specify multiple download containers.
Use the File Mask to set a glob filter (for example *.txt) that limits the downloads to files matching the filter. To specify multiple filters, use the Receive Filter option on the Advanced tab.
Use Delete to specify whether successfully downloaded files should be removed from the remote storage.
After configuration is complete, files are downloaded according to the Receive Automation settings, or you can manually click the Receive button on the Transactions tab.
Macros
Examples
