---
description: 'This engine provides an integration with Azure Blob Storage ecosystem.'
sidebar_label: 'Azure Blob Storage'
sidebar_position: 10
slug: /engines/table-engines/integrations/azureBlobStorage
title: 'AzureBlobStorage Table Engine'
---

# AzureBlobStorage table engine

This engine provides an integration with [Azure Blob Storage](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/storage/blobs) ecosystem.

## Create table {#create-table}

```sql
CREATE TABLE azure_blob_storage_table (name String, value UInt32)
    ENGINE = AzureBlobStorage(connection_string|storage_account_url, container_name, blobpath, [account_name, account_key, format, compression, partition_strategy, partition_columns_in_data_file, extra_credentials(client_id=, tenant_id=)])
    [PARTITION BY expr]
    [SETTINGS ...]
```

### Engine parameters {#engine-parameters}

- `endpoint` — AzureBlobStorage endpoint URL with container & prefix. Optionally can contain account_name if the authentication method used needs it. (`http://azurite1:{port}/[account_name]{container_name}/{data_prefix}`) or these parameters can be provided separately using storage_account_url, account_name & container. For specifying prefix, endpoint should be used.
- `endpoint_contains_account_name` - This flag is used to specify if endpoint contains account_name as it is only needed for certain authentication methods. (Default : true)
- `connection_string|storage_account_url` — connection_string includes account name & key ([Create connection string](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-configure-connection-string?toc=%2Fazure%2Fstorage%2Fblobs%2Ftoc.json&bc=%2Fazure%2Fstorage%2Fblobs%2Fbreadcrumb%2Ftoc.json#configure-a-connection-string-for-an-azure-storage-account)) or you could also provide the storage account url here and account name & account key as separate parameters (see parameters account_name & account_key)
- `container_name` - Container name
- `blobpath` - file path. Supports following wildcards in readonly mode: `*`, `**`, `?`, `{abc,def}` and `{N..M}` where `N`, `M` — numbers, `'abc'`, `'def'` — strings.
- `account_name` - if storage_account_url is used, then account name can be specified here
- `account_key` - if storage_account_url is used, then account key can be specified here
- `format` — The [format](/interfaces/formats.md) of the file.
- `compression` — Supported values: `none`, `gzip/gz`, `brotli/br`, `xz/LZMA`, `zstd/zst`. By default, it will autodetect compression by file extension. (same as setting to `auto`).
- `partition_strategy` – Options: `WILDCARD` or `HIVE`. `WILDCARD` requires a `{_partition_id}` in the path, which is replaced with the partition key. `HIVE` does not allow wildcards, assumes the path is the table root, and generates Hive-style partitioned directories with Snowflake IDs as filenames and the file format as the extension. Defaults to `WILDCARD`
- `partition_columns_in_data_file` - Only used with `HIVE` partition strategy. Tells ClickHouse whether to expect partition columns to be written in the data file. Defaults `false`.
- `extra_credentials` - Use `client_id` and `tenant_id` for authentication. If extra_credentials are provided, they are given priority over `account_name` and `account_key`.

**Example**

Users can use the Azurite emulator for local Azure Storage development. Further details [here](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-use-azurite?tabs=docker-hub%2Cblob-storage). If using a local instance of Azurite, users may need to substitute `http://localhost:10000` for `http://azurite1:10000` in the commands below, where we assume Azurite is available at host `azurite1`.

```sql
CREATE TABLE test_table (key UInt64, data String)
    ENGINE = AzureBlobStorage('DefaultEndpointsProtocol=http;AccountName=devstoreaccount1;AccountKey=Eby8vdM02xNOcqFlqUwJPLlmEtlCDXJ1OUzFT50uSRZ6IFsuFq2UVErCz4I6tq/K1SZFPTOtr/KBHBeksoGMGw==;BlobEndpoint=http://azurite1:10000/devstoreaccount1/;', 'testcontainer', 'test_table', 'CSV');

INSERT INTO test_table VALUES (1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c');

SELECT * FROM test_table;
```

```text
┌─key──┬─data──┐
│  1   │   a   │
│  2   │   b   │
│  3   │   c   │
└──────┴───────┘
```

## Virtual columns {#virtual-columns}

- `_path` — Path to the file. Type: `LowCardinality(String)`.
- `_file` — Name of the file. Type: `LowCardinality(String)`.
- `_size` — Size of the file in bytes. Type: `Nullable(UInt64)`. If the size is unknown, the value is `NULL`.
- `_time` — Last modified time of the file. Type: `Nullable(DateTime)`. If the time is unknown, the value is `NULL`.

## Authentication {#authentication}

Currently there are 3 ways to authenticate:
- `Managed Identity` - Can be used by providing an `endpoint`, `connection_string` or `storage_account_url`.
- `SAS Token` - Can be used by providing an `endpoint`, `connection_string` or `storage_account_url`. It is identified by presence of '?' in the url. See [azureBlobStorage](/sql-reference/table-functions/azureBlobStorage#using-shared-access-signatures-sas-sas-tokens) for examples.
- `Workload Identity` - Can be used by providing an `endpoint` or `storage_account_url`. If `use_workload_identity` parameter is set in config, ([workload identity](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-cpp/tree/main/sdk/identity/azure-identity#authenticate-azure-hosted-applications)) is used for authentication.

### Data cache {#data-cache}

`Azure` table engine supports data caching on local disk.
See filesystem cache configuration options and usage in this [section](/operations/storing-data.md/#using-local-cache).
Caching is made depending on the path and ETag of the storage object, so clickhouse will not read a stale cache version.

To enable caching use a setting `filesystem_cache_name = '<name>'` and `enable_filesystem_cache = 1`.

```sql
SELECT *
FROM azureBlobStorage('DefaultEndpointsProtocol=http;AccountName=devstoreaccount1;AccountKey=Eby8vdM02xNOcqFlqUwJPLlmEtlCDXJ1OUzFT50uSRZ6IFsuFq2UVErCz4I6tq/K1SZFPTOtr/KBHBeksoGMGw==;BlobEndpoint=http://azurite1:10000/devstoreaccount1/;', 'testcontainer', 'test_table', 'CSV')
SETTINGS filesystem_cache_name = 'cache_for_azure', enable_filesystem_cache = 1;
```

1. add the following section to clickhouse configuration file:

```xml
<clickhouse>
    <filesystem_caches>
        <cache_for_azure>
            <path>path to cache directory</path>
            <max_size>10Gi</max_size>
        </cache_for_azure>
    </filesystem_caches>
</clickhouse>
```

2. reuse cache configuration (and therefore cache storage) from clickhouse `storage_configuration` section, [described here](/operations/storing-data.md/#using-local-cache)

### PARTITION BY {#partition-by}

`PARTITION BY` — Optional. In most cases you don't need a partition key, and if it is needed you generally don't need a partition key more granular than by month. Partitioning does not speed up queries (in contrast to the ORDER BY expression). You should never use too granular partitioning. Don't partition your data by client identifiers or names (instead, make client identifier or name the first column in the ORDER BY expression).

For partitioning by month, use the `toYYYYMM(date_column)` expression, where `date_column` is a column with a date of the type [Date](/sql-reference/data-types/date.md). The partition names here have the `"YYYYMM"` format.

#### Partition strategy {#partition-strategy}

`WILDCARD` (default): Replaces the `{_partition_id}` wildcard in the file path with the actual partition key. Reading is not supported.

`HIVE` implements hive style partitioning for reads & writes. Reading is implemented using a recursive glob pattern. Writing generates files using the following format: `<prefix>/<key1=val1/key2=val2...>/<snowflakeid>.<toLower(file_format)>`.

Note: When using `HIVE` partition strategy, the `use_hive_partitioning` setting has no effect.

Example of `HIVE` partition strategy:

```sql
arthur :) create table azure_table (year UInt16, country String, counter UInt8) ENGINE=AzureBlobStorage(account_name='devstoreaccount1', account_key='Eby8vdM02xNOcqFlqUwJPLlmEtlCDXJ1OUzFT50uSRZ6IFsuFq2UVErCz4I6tq/K1SZFPTOtr/KBHBeksoGMGw==', storage_account_url = 'http://localhost:30000/devstoreaccount1', container='cont', blob_path='hive_partitioned', format='Parquet', compression='auto', partition_strategy='hive') PARTITION BY (year, country);

arthur :) insert into azure_table values (2020, 'Russia', 1), (2021, 'Brazil', 2);

arthur :) select _path, * from azure_table;

   ┌─_path──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─year─┬─country─┬─counter─┐
1. │ cont/hive_partitioned/year=2020/country=Russia/7351305360873664512.parquet │ 2020 │ Russia  │       1 │
2. │ cont/hive_partitioned/year=2021/country=Brazil/7351305360894636032.parquet │ 2021 │ Brazil  │       2 │
   └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴──────┴─────────┴─────────┘
```

## See also {#see-also}

[Azure Blob Storage Table Function](/sql-reference/table-functions/azureBlobStorage)
