Laravel Azure Storage Laravel Package

Getting Started

1. Install the package via Composer:

   composer require matthewbdaly/laravel-azure-storage
   

2. Register the service provider (optional for Laravel ≥5.5 auto-discovery; for older versions, add Matthewbdaly\LaravelAzureStorage\AzureStorageServiceProvider::class to config/app.php).
3. Configure a new disk in config/filesystems.php:

   'azure' => [
       'driver' => 'azure',
       'account_name' => env('AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME'),
       'account_key' => env('AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY'),
       'container' => env('AZURE_STORAGE_CONTAINER', 'default'),
       'endpoint' => env('AZURE_STORAGE_ENDPOINT', 'core.windows.net'),
   ],
   

4. Set credentials in .env:

   AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME=your_account_name
   AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY=your_base64_encoded_key
   AZURE_STORAGE_CONTAINER=my-app-files
   

5. First use: Store a file using the Storage facade:

   use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
   
   Storage::disk('azure')->put('test.txt', 'Hello from Azure!');
   

Implementation Patterns

• Switch disks dynamically: Use Storage::disk('azure') instead of the default local disk—ideal for multi-tenant or hybrid storage setups (e.g., local for dev, azure for prod).
• Laravel File Uploads: Integrate with form requests:

  $path = $request->file('avatar')->store('avatars', 'azure');
  

• Generating signed URLs: Use temporaryUrl() for time-limited public access (requires Azure SAS support via underlying Flysystem adapter):

  $url = Storage::disk('azure')->temporaryUrl('private/report.pdf', now()->addHour());
  

• Batch operations: Efficiently list or delete files in bulk:

  $files = Storage::disk('azure')->listFiles('uploads/');
  Storage::disk('azure')->delete($files);
  

• Visibility control: Set default visibility in config or per-file:

  Storage::disk('azure')->put('public/file.png', $contents, 'public');
  

Gotchas and Tips

• Account key format: Ensure AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY is the base64-encoded primary/secondary key from the Azure portal—not the raw hex string. Missing this causes authentication failures.
• Container naming rules: Azure container names must be lowercase, 3–63 chars, and cannot start/end with - or contain consecutive hyphens. Enforce this in config or migration scripts.
• No atomic rename/move: Azure Blob Storage doesn’t support native rename; the driver emulates it via copy+delete—expensive for large files. Prefer copy() explicitly when migration paths matter.
• CORS and public access: If serving files directly to browsers (e.g., via temporaryUrl()), configure CORS rules in Azure Storage Account > CORS settings; otherwise, browser requests may be blocked.
• Archived package status: Since the repo is archived (as of 2022), verify compatibility with newer Laravel/Flysystem versions (e.g., Laravel 10+ may require manual adapter wiring or use of league/flysystem-azure-blob-storage directly).
• Testing locally: Use azurite (Azure Storage Emulator) in Docker to mock Azure Blob Storage during development:

  docker run -p 10000:10000 mcr.microsoft.com/azure-storage/azurite