Azure Blob connection
Destination changelog changelog
With the July 2023 Experience Platform release, the Azure Blob destination provides new functionality, as listed below:
- Dataset export support.
- Additional file naming options.
- Ability to set custom file headers in your exported files via the improved mapping step.
- Ability to customize the formatting of exported CSV data files.
Overview overview
Azure Blob (hereinafter referred to as Blob) is Microsoft’s object storage solution for the cloud. This tutorial provides steps for creating a Blob destination using the Platform user interface.
Connect to your Azure Blob storage through API or UI connect-api-or-ui
- To connect to your Azure Blob storage location using the Platform user interface, read the sections Connect to the destination and Activate audiences to this destination below.
- To connect to your Azure Blob storage location programmatically, read the Activate audiences to file-based destinations by using the Flow Service API tutorial.
Getting started
This tutorial requires a working understanding of the following components of ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ Experience Platform:
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Experience Data Model (XDM) System: The standardized framework by which Experience Platform organizes customer experience data.
- Basics of schema composition: Learn about the basic building blocks of XDM schemas, including key principles and best practices in schema composition.
- Schema Editor tutorial: Learn how to create custom schemas using the Schema Editor UI.
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Real-Time Customer Profile: Provides a unified, real-time consumer profile based on aggregated data from multiple sources.
If you already have a valid Blob destination, you may skip the remainder of this document and proceed to the tutorial on activating audiences to your destination.
Supported audiences supported-audiences
This section describes which types of audiences you can export to this destination.
Export type and frequency export-type-frequency
Refer to the table below for information about the destination export type and frequency.
Export datasets export-datasets
This destination supports dataset exports. For complete information on how to set up dataset exports, read the tutorials:
File format of the exported data file-format
When exporting audience data, Platform creates a .csv, parquet, or .json file in the storage location that you provided. For more information about the files, see the supported file formats for export section in the audience activation tutorial.
When exporting datasets, Platform creates a .parquet or .json file in the storage location that you provided. For more information about the files, see the verify successful dataset export section in the export datasets tutorial.
Connect to the destination connect
To connect to this destination, follow the steps described in the destination configuration tutorial. In the destination configuration workflow, fill in the fields listed in the two sections below.
Authenticate to destination authenticate
To authenticate to the destination, fill in the required fields and select Connect to destination.
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Connection string: the connection string is required to access data in your Blob storage. The Blob connection string pattern starts with:
DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName={ACCOUNT_NAME};AccountKey={ACCOUNT_KEY}.- For more information about configuring your Blob connection string, see in the Microsoft documentation.
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Encryption key: Optionally, you can attach your RSA-formatted public key to add encryption to your exported files. View an example of a correctly formatted encryption key in the image below.
Fill in destination details destination-details
To configure details for the destination, fill in the required and optional fields below. An asterisk next to a field in the UI indicates that the field is required.
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Name: Enter a name that will help you identify this destination.
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Description: Enter a description of this destination.
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Folder path: Enter the path to the destination folder that will host the exported files.
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Container: Enter the name of the Azure Blob Storage container to be used by this destination.
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File type: Select the format Experience Platform should use for the exported files. When selecting the CSV option, you can also configure the file formatting options.
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Compression format: Select the compression type that Experience Platform should use for the exported files.
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Include manifest file: Toggle this option on if you’d like the exports to include a manifest JSON file that contains information about the export location, export size, and more. The manifest is named using the format
manifest-<<destinationId>>-<<dataflowRunId>>.json. View a sample manifest file. The manifest file includes the following fields:flowRunId: The dataflow run which generated the exported file.scheduledTime: The time in UTC when the file was exported.exportResults.sinkPath: The path in your storage location where the exported file is deposited.exportResults.name: The name of the exported file.size: The size of the exported file, in bytes.
Enable alerts enable-alerts
You can enable alerts to receive notifications on the status of the dataflow to your destination. Select an alert from the list to subscribe to receive notifications on the status of your dataflow. For more information on alerts, see the guide on subscribing to destinations alerts using the UI.
When you are finished providing details for your destination connection, select Next.
Activate audiences to this destination activate
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To activate data, you need the View Destinations, Activate Destinations, View Profiles, and View Segments access control permissions. Read the access control overview or contact your product administrator to obtain the required permissions.
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To export identities, you need the View Identity Graph access control permission.
See Activate audience data to batch profile export destinations for instructions on activating audiences to this destination.
Validate successful data export exported-data
To verify if data has been exported successfully, check your Azure Blob storage and make sure that the exported files contain the expected profile populations.