Introduction to Storage Account Access Keys
Azure storage accounts use credentials for authentication and authorization. These credentials include a storage account name and a key. The storage account key grants full read/write access to the data in your storage account, including administrative access to file shares. It’s essential to manage and rotate these keys securely.
How to Configure Access Keys for Azure Storage Accounts
To configure access keys for Azure Storage Account, follow these steps:
- Log into the Azure portal.
- Navigate to the Storage Account for which you want to configure access keys.
- In the Storage Account menu, select ‘Access Keys’.
- Here, you will find two keys – ‘key1’ and ‘key2’. These are the primary and a secondary connection strings, respectively. You can use either of these keys for authentication to your storage account.
Microsoft provides you with two keys so that you can maintain connections using one key while rotating the other one. Key rotation is an essential practice for security, turning old keys that might be compromised with new ones.
Rotating Access Keys
The process to rotate access keys involves seven steps overall:
- From Azure portal, go to the relevant storage account.
- Navigate to ‘Access keys’, choose the key that you are not currently using, and click on the ‘Copy’ button to copy the connection string to your clipboard.
- Update your application connection string with the new key and deploy the configuration. All new instances of your application will now use the new key.
- Wait for all existing instances of the application to finish or stop them immediately to make sure all the instances use the updated key.
- Return to the ‘Access keys’ section in the Azure portal for your storage account.
- Select the old key and click on the ‘Regenerate’ button. You now have a new key and the old key is invalidated.
- Repeat the process using the new key and the other key.
Remember to always verify that your application works as expected after switching keys, and troubleshooting any issues that arise.
Regenerating an Access Key
There may be instances where an access key must be regenerated—this could be due to a security breach or simply to ensure security best practices. Here’s how:
- From the Azure portal, go to the storage account whose key needs to be regenerated.
- Proceed to ‘Access keys’, click (…) next to the key you wish to regenerate, and select ‘Regenerate’.
- A pop-up window will appear, asking for confirmation. Click ‘Yes’ to proceed.
- Once confirmed, Azure will regenerate a new access key, rendering the old key useless.
Note that regenerating your Access Key terminates all existing connections using the old key, thus it’s essential to first follow the steps under ‘Rotating Access Keys’ before regenerating a key.
Key Takeaways
Securing your storage account access keys is paramount to maintaining the security and integrity of your Azure environment. Regular practices related to managing and rotating access keys can prevent unauthorized entry or a security breach.
Understanding the processes of configuring, rotating, and regenerating Azure Storage account access keys will be of tremendous benefit to those aiming to take the AZ-500 Microsoft Azure Security Technologies exam.
Keep in mind that these outlined steps for key management are critical for maintaining a strong security posture in any Microsoft Azure environment. And always remember the cardinal rule of ‘Regenerate with care’!
To conclude, the skills needed to configure and secure Azure Storage account access keys are invaluable for any Azure professional, and its importance for the AZ-500 Microsoft Azure Security Technologies exam cannot be overstated.
Practice Test
True/False: Azure storage accounts use two access keys.
- True
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure uses two keys, key1 and key2, so that if one needs to be regenerated, the other key can continue to serve traffic.
True/False: Storage account access keys are used by applications to perform operations on the data stored in the storage account.
- True
Answer: True
Explanation: The Azure storage account access keys are used by applications to perform operations on the data within the storage account.
Which of the following options are security risks associated with storage account access keys?
- (a) Storage account keys are long and complex, hence difficult to remember
- (b) If keys are leaked, a person can delete the data
- (c) If keys are leaked, a person cannot view the data
Answer: (b)
Explanation: If access keys are leaked, your data is at risk as the person with the keys can perform any tasks including viewing, modifying or deleting data.
What can be done if a storage account access key is believed to be compromised?
- (a) Disable the storage account
- (b) Regenerate the access keys
- (c) Ignore it because Azure is secure
Answer: (b)
Explanation: If a storage account access key is compromised, you should regenerate the keys.
What happens when a storage account access key is regenerated?
- (a) The old key instantly becomes invalid
- (b) The old key and the new key both work for some time
- (c) The old key still works indefinitely
Answer: (a)
Explanation: When a storage account key is regenerated, the old key becomes instantly invalid and any applications using the old key will lose access.
True/False: Azure recommends using Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for authorization instead of using storage account access keys because account keys provide unlimited access.
- True
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure recommends using Azure AD because it provides control over who has access and what they can access, as opposed to access keys, which provide unlimited access to all resources.
True/False: It is generally safe and recommended to share your storage account access keys with trustworthy team members
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Regardless of trust, sharing keys is a security risk and should be avoided.
Are all operations allowed with storage account access keys?
- (a) Only read operations are allowed
- (b) Only write operations are allowed
- (c) All operations are allowed
Answer: (c)
Explanation: Storage account keys provide unrestricted access, so all operations are allowed.
True/False: You cannot manage access to Azure Storage by using role-based access control (RBAC) in Azure Active Directory.
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: You can use RBAC to manage access to Azure Storage.
When using Azure Key Vault to secure your storage account keys, the keys are automatically updated within Key Vault when you manually regenerate them.
- (a) True
- (b) False
Answer: (b)
Explanation: When you regenerate access keys of Azure storage account, they are not automatically updated in Azure Key Vault. It needs to be updated manually.
How many access keys are provided by Azure Storage for maintaining availability while rotating keys?
- (a) One
- (b) Two
- (c) Three
Answer: (b)
Explanation: Azure provides two keys to ensure availability during key rotation.
True/False: Any application which uses the storage account key can modify and delete data stored in the storage account.
- True
Answer: True
Explanation: The storage access key can provide unrestricted access to all resources in the storage.
Interview Questions
What is a storage account access key in Azure?
A storage account access key is used to authenticate requests to the storage account. Every storage account has two keys to provide simultaneous regeneration of keys with no gap in resource availability.
How do you retrieve the keys for your Azure Storage account?
You can retrieve the keys through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, PowerShell or through one of Azure’s SDKs.
Where can you find the options for regenerating your storage account keys within the Azure portal?
In the Azure portal, you navigate to your storage account, then on the left-side menu under “Security + networking”, select “Access keys”.
How do you regenerate an access key for your Azure Storage account?
An access key can be regenerated by navigating to the storage account in Azure Portal, under the section “Security + networking”, selecting “Access keys”, and then clicking on the “Regenerate” button.
Can you continue to use an old access key after you regenerate it in Azure?
No, once an access key is regenerated it is no longer valid. Thus, any applications using the old key must be updated to use the new key.
What precautions should be in place before regenerating an access key?
You need to ensure that any applications or services using the current key are updated immediately after the key regeneration, to ensure they continue to have access to the storage account.
How many keys does each Azure storage account have?
Each Azure storage account has two keys – the primary key and the secondary key.
Can Azure storage accounts enforce HTTPS for all incoming requests?
Yes, you can enforce secure transfer for your storage account to ensure all data is encrypted in transit.
Which CLI command is used to list the access keys for a storage account?
The command
az storage account keys listis used to list the access keys for a storage account.
What is the use of Azure Shared Access Signature (SAS)?
An Azure Shared Access Signature (SAS) provides secure, delegated access to resources in your storage account. With SAS, you have granular control over how a client can access your data.
Can you have more than two access keys in Azure Storage Account?
No, Azure storage accounts provide two access keys – the primary and secondary. This is to ensure one can be regenerated while the other is in use, allowing a rolling update pattern.
Can the secondary access key for a storage account be used while the primary key is being regenerated?
Yes, while the primary key is being regenerated, the secondary key can continue to be used. Hence, there is no interruption of service.
What is the purpose of Key Vault in regards to managing storage account keys?
Azure Key Vault can be used to manage storage account keys. It has the ability to automatically rotate keys, keeping keys current without requiring manual intervention.
Can you regenerate both the primary and secondary access keys for your storage account at the same time?
No, you must regenerate each key separately. It's recommended to update any services depending on the key immediately after regenerating it.
Why are there two access keys for a storage account in Azure?
Azure provides two access keys so that you can maintain connections to the storage account while regenerating either of the keys. This ensures that there is always at least one valid key.
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