Setting up the Azure Storage Emulator Environment on Windows
Ir order to stop spending high amounts of credits on Azure Storage Services just for testing purposes, my team decided to setup a Local Emulator.
This Emulator can do almost the same things as the real Azure Storage, with some limitations, such as less space for files and lower security, but it’s a real deal for a testing environment, so let’s begin!
First of all, we’ll need to create a local Microsoft SQL Server instance with SqlLocalDb.
We don’t need the entire Microsoft SQL Server, just the SqlLocalDb module, but we have to download the SQL Server 2017 Express Edition to get the SqlLocalDb.MSI.
After you launched the executable, choose the “Download Media” option
Pick your language, choose the LocalDB option, and pick a location to download the MSI:
Then you’ll get a very big dialog to indicate success. Choose the Open Folder option:
The folder will open, and you will see SqlLocalDB.msi. Launch this executable to start the wizard, where you’ll need to accept a license agreement. Click on install and agree with the app making changes on your device.
Installing Azure Storage Emulator (ASE)
Now that we have SqlLocalDb, you’ll install Azure Storage Emulator.
After that, press the start button or windows key, search for and start Azure Storage Emulator, like this:
This screen should appear:
Warning:
If you find an issue with the following message:
“ Cannot create database ‘AzureStorageEmulatorDb57’ : The database ‘AzureStorageEmulatorDb57’ does not exist.”
It’s probably related to your SqlLocalDb version. In order to fix that you can get a hotfix update.
Wrapping Up
Now that we have Azure Storage Emulator working, we need to download Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer to create and modify content.
To modify local content, go to Local and Attached, expand it and to Storage Accounts, now you can create Blobs, Queues and Tables.
Thanks for reading! Now you should have an Azure Storage Emulator working, with the possibility to modify and upload data.
Right below are the articles that helped the team figure out the ASE setup. Make sure to stop by them as well for extra details!
