A root container serves as a default container for your storage account. A storage account may have one root container. The root container must be explicitly created and must be named $root.
A blob stored in the root container may be addressed without referencing the root container name, so that a blob can be addressed at the top level of the storage account hierarchy. For example, you can now reference a blob that resides in the root container in the following manner:
http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mywebpage.html
Managing the Root Container
To use the root container with your storage account, create a new container named $root. The following sample request shows how to create the root container:
Request Syntax:
PUT http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/$root?restype=container HTTP/1.1
Request Headers:
x-ms-version: 2011-08-18
x-ms-date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:50:32 GMT
x-ms-meta-Name: StorageSample
x-ms-blob-public-access: container
Authorization: SharedKey myaccount:Z5043vY9MesKNh0PNtksNc9nbXSSqGHueE00JdjidOQ=
You can also delete the root container if you no longer have a need for it.
Like other containers, the root container can be made available for anonymous public access. You can make the container public by setting the x-ms-blob-public-access header when the container is created, or by calling Set Container ACL (REST API) after it already exists. See Restricting Access to Containers and Blobs for more information.
If the root container is present, it will appear when you perform the List Containers (REST API) operation against the storage account.
When you perform a List Blobs (REST API) operation against the root container, the root container does not appear in the resource URLs for the blobs returned. The following request syntax shows how to call List Blobs against the root container:
GET http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/$root?restype=container&comp=list HTTP/1.1
.gif) Important |
|
A blob in the root container cannot include a forward slash (/) in its name. |
Examples
The following examples show how to work with container and blob resources, including the root container:
GET Operations
To list the containers in a storage account:
GET http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/?comp=list
To get a container's properties:
GET/HEAD http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer?restype=container
To list the blobs in a container named mycontainer:
GET http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer?restype=container&comp=list
To list the blobs in the root container:
GET http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/$root?restype=container&comp=list
To read a blob named myfile from a container named mycontainer:
GET http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/myfile
To read a blob named myphoto from the root container:
GET http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myphoto
You can also explicitly reference the root container:
GET http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/$root/myphoto
To read blob metadata on a blob in the root container:
GET http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myphoto?comp=metadata
You can also explicitly reference the root container:
GET http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/$root/myphoto?comp=metadata
.gif) Note |
Be careful to avoid including a trailing forward slash (/) when referencing a blob under the root container. For example, a URL such as the following now results in status code 400 (Bad Request):http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblob/
In the above example, the Blob service reads the container name as myblob and expects to see a blob name after the trailing slash. The request is malformed due to the missing blob name.
The following URL is valid for an operation on a blob in the root container:http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblob |
PUT Operations
To create a container named mycontainer:
PUT http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer?restype=container
To create a blob named myblob in the root container:
PUT http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblob
You can also explicitly specify the root container:
PUT http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/$root/myblob
To create a blob named myblob in a container named mycontainer:
PUT http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/myblob
To create a blob named photos/myphoto in a container named mycontainer:
PUT http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/photos/myphoto
To set metadata on a blob named myblob in the root container:
PUT http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblob?comp=metadata
DELETE Operations
To delete a container named mycontainer:
DELETE http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer?restype=container
To delete the root container:
DELETE http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/$root?restype=container
To delete the blob myblob from the root container:
DELETE http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/myblob
You can also explicitly specify the root container:
DELETE http://myaccount.blob.core.windows.net/$root/myblob
See Also