Accidental or erroneous deletion of data can be a nightmare for any organization. In the world of Azure Storage, however, there is a solution to this problem – soft delete. By enabling soft delete features in Azure Storage, you can prevent the total loss of data and restore containers and their contents to a previous state.

Enabling Soft Delete

Enabling soft delete is a straightforward process. When creating a new storage account, you will find the option to enable soft delete for containers in the data protection tab. By default, the retention period is set to 7 days, but you can adjust this value as needed, with a maximum allowed value of 365 days.

If you already have an existing storage account, you can view and modify the soft delete properties settings in the Overview blade. If the option is disabled, simply click on the “Disabled” link to enable it. Once enabled, you can set the retention period and save the changes.

Deleting and Restoring Containers

Once soft delete is enabled, you can proceed with deleting containers. To delete a container, select the checkbox next to its name and click on the delete button. It’s important to note that certain conditions, such as delete locks, role-based access control (RBAC) restrictions, or an applied immutable policy, may prevent the deletion. However, you can override these conditions by using the appropriate settings.

After successfully deleting a container, you will receive a notification confirmation. To view the deleted container, click on the “show deleted containers” slide button. The status of the deleted container will change from “Active” to “Deleted”.

To restore a deleted container, right-click on its name and choose the “undelete” option. In the undelete container blade, you will notice that the container name cannot be changed and must be restored with its original name. If the name is already in use by another container, you will not be able to restore the deleted container.

After successfully undeleting a container, you will receive a notification confirming the restoration. The status of the container will change from “Deleted” to “Active”.

Conclusion

Enabling soft delete in an Azure storage container is a crucial step in preventing accidental data deletion. By taking advantage of this feature, you can protect your data from permanent loss and restore containers to their previous state. It’s important to note that Microsoft does not charge extra for enabling soft delete, and data in soft delete containers is billed at the same rate as active data.