Create an Azure Blob source connection in the UI
This tutorial provides steps for creating an Azure Blob (hereinafter referred to as “Blob”) source connection using the Platform user interface.
Getting started
This tutorial requires a working understanding of the following components of ۶Ƶ Experience Platform:
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Experience Data Model (XDM) System: The standardized framework for organizing customer experience data in Experience Platform.
- 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 connection, you may skip the remainder of this document and proceed to the tutorial on configuring a dataflow.
Supported file formats
Experience Platform supports the following file formats to be ingested from external storages:
- Delimiter-separated values (DSV): You can use any single column delimiter such as a tab, comma, pipe, semicolon, or hash to collect flat files in any format.
- JavaScript Object Notation (JSON): JSON formatted data files must be XDM compliant.
- Apache Parquet: Parquet formatted data files must be XDM compliant.
Gather required credentials
In order to access your Blob storage on Experience Platform, you must provide valid values for the following credentials:
| table 0-row-2 1-row-2 | |
|---|---|
| Credential | Description |
| Connection string | A string that contains the authorization information necessary to authenticate Blob to Experience Platform. The Blob connection string pattern is: DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName={ACCOUNT_NAME};AccountKey={ACCOUNT_KEY}. For more information about connection strings, see this Blob document on . |
| table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2 | |
|---|---|
| Credential | Description |
| SAS URI | The shared access signature URI that you can use as an alternative authentication type to connect your Blob account. The Blob SAS URI pattern is: https://{ACCOUNT_NAME}.blob.core.windows.net/?sv=<storage version>&st={START_TIME}&se={EXPIRE_TIME}&sr={RESOURCE}&sp={PERMISSIONS}>&sip=<{IP_RANGE}>&spr={PROTOCOL}&sig={SIGNATURE}> For more information, see this Blob document on . |
| Container | The name of the container that you want to designate access to. When creating a new account with the Blob source, you can provide a container name to specify user access to the sub folder of your choice. |
| Folder path | The path to the folder that you want to provide access to. |
Once you have gathered your required credentials, you can follow the steps below to connect your Blob storage to Experience Platform
Connect your Blob account
In the Platform UI, select Sources from the left navigation bar to access the Sources workspace. The Catalog screen displays a variety of sources with which you can create an account.
You can select the appropriate category from the catalog on the left-hand side of your screen. Alternatively, you can find the specific source you wish to work with using the search bar.
Under the Cloud storage category, select Azure Blob Storage, and then select Add data.
The Connect to Azure Blob Storage page appears. On this page, you can either use new credentials or existing credentials.
Existing account
To use an existing account, select the Blob account you want to create a new dataflow with, then select Next to proceed.
New account
If you are creating a new account, select New account, and then provide a name and an optional description for your new Blob account.
The Blob source supports both account key authentication and shared access signature (SAS) authentication. An account key-based authentication requires a connection string for verification, while a SAS authentication utilizes a URI that allows for secure delegated authorization of your account.
During this step, you can also designate the sub folders that your account will have access to by defining the name of the container and the path to the sub folder.
To authenticate with an account key, select Account key authentication and provide your connection string. During this step, you can also designate the container name and path to the sub folder that you want access to. When finished, select Connect to source.
You can use SAS to create authentication credentials with varying degrees of access, as a SAS-based authentication allows you to set permissions, start and expiry dates, as well as provisions to specific resources.
To authenticate with a shared access signature, select Shared access signature authentication and then provide your SAS URI. During this step, you can also designate the container name and path to the sub folder that you want access to. When finished, select Connect to source.
Next steps
By following this tutorial, you have established a connection to your Blob account. You can now continue on to the next tutorial and configure a dataflow to bring data from your cloud storage into Platform.