Create a storage account and rotate its account access keys

This script creates an Azure Storage account, displays the new storage account's access keys, then renews (rotates) the keys.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

Prerequisites

• Use the Bash environment in Azure Cloud Shell. For more information, see Quickstart for Bash in Azure Cloud Shell.

  

• If you prefer to run CLI reference commands locally, install the Azure CLI. If you're running on Windows or macOS, consider running Azure CLI in a Docker container. For more information, see How to run the Azure CLI in a Docker container.

  • If you're using a local installation, sign in to the Azure CLI by using the az login command. To finish the authentication process, follow the steps displayed in your terminal. For other sign-in options, see Sign in with the Azure CLI.

  • When you're prompted, install the Azure CLI extension on first use. For more information about extensions, see Use extensions with the Azure CLI.

  • Run az version to find the version and dependent libraries that are installed. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade.

Sample script

Launch Azure Cloud Shell

The Azure Cloud Shell is a free interactive shell that you can use to run the steps in this article. It has common Azure tools preinstalled and configured to use with your account.

To open the Cloud Shell, just select Try it from the upper right corner of a code block. You can also launch Cloud Shell in a separate browser tab by going to https://shell.azure.com.

When Cloud Shell opens, verify that Bash is selected for your environment. Subsequent sessions will use Azure CLI in a Bash environment, Select Copy to copy the blocks of code, paste it into the Cloud Shell, and press Enter to run it.

Sign in to Azure

Cloud Shell is automatically authenticated under the initial account signed-in with. Use the following script to sign in using a different subscription, replacing <Subscription ID> with your Azure Subscription ID. If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

subscription="<subscriptionId>" # add subscription here

az account set -s $subscription # ...or use 'az login'

For more information, see set active subscription or log in interactively

Run the script

# Rotate storage account keys

# Variables for storage
let "randomIdentifier=$RANDOM*$RANDOM"
location="East US"
resourceGroup="msdocs-azuresql-rg-$randomIdentifier"
tag="rotate-storage-account-keys"
storage="msdocsstorage$randomIdentifier"

# Create a resource group
echo "Creating $resourceGroup in $location..."
az group create --name $resourceGroup --location "$location" --tags $tag

# Create a general-purpose standard storage account
echo "Creating $storage..."
az storage account create --name $storage --resource-group $resourceGroup --location "$location" --sku Standard_RAGRS --encryption-services blob

# List the storage account access keys
az storage account keys list \
    --resource-group $resourceGroup \
    --account-name $storage 

# Renew (rotate) the PRIMARY access key
az storage account keys renew \
    --resource-group $resourceGroup \
    --account-name $storage \
    --key primary

# Renew (rotate) the SECONDARY access key
az storage account keys renew \
    --resource-group $resourceGroup \
    --account-name $storage \
    --key secondary

Clean up resources

Use the following command to remove the resource group and all resources associated with it using the az group delete command - unless you have an ongoing need for these resources. Some of these resources may take a while to create, as well as to delete.

az group delete --name $resourceGroup

Sample reference

This script uses the following commands to create the storage account and retrieve and rotate its access keys. Each item in the table links to command-specific documentation.

Command	Notes
az group create	Creates a resource group in which all resources are stored.
az storage account create	Creates an Azure Storage account in the specified resource group.
az storage account keys list	Displays the storage account access keys for the specified account.
az storage account keys renew	Regenerates the primary or secondary storage account access key.

Next steps

For more information on the Azure CLI, see Azure CLI documentation.

Additional storage CLI script samples can be found in the Azure CLI samples for Azure Blob storage.