Q75. How to configure Azure Connection Strings?

For cloud service applications, we store the Azure Connection Strings in the Azure service configuration file. We can create a connection string in visual studio for a cloud application. In Visual studio, select cloud service project, Double-click on the WebRole in the Roles section of your cloud project, and then click on the settings section of the role designer. The following screen is displayed. Using Add setting button, we can add multiple connection strings which are targeted for different environments. We will create one for the cloud and one for local development.

Click on the Add Setting button and enter the name of the connection string. I have entered the name 'MyConnectionString'. Select the Connection String in the Type dropdownlist and press the ellipsis button.



The Create Storage connection string dialog is displayed.

We are targeting a storage account in the cloud, so enter the primary access key for that storage account. The Account key can be copied from the “manage access keys” option in the storage section of the Windows Azure Management Portal.

Now, in the Storage connection string dialog, we can enter the Azure storage account credentials - Account name and the Account key.



With these steps connection string is created and placed in the configuration file automatically. For later usage in the application, the connection string can be retrieved from the application code using CloudConfigurationManager which is a class in the Storage Client Library.

This way of creating Connection string relies on the default endpoints for the storage services.

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