A Shared Access Signature, or SAS, lets the admin of an Azure subscription grant temporary access to a storage account without having to provide Azure subscription credentials.
To illustrate this scenario, let’s say that UserA is an admin of an Azure subscription, and UserA wants to allow UserB to access a storage account for a limited time with certain permissions:
- UserA generates a SAS connection string for a specific time period and with the desired permissions.
- UserA shares the SAS with the person (UserB, in this example) who wants access to the storage account.
- UserB uses Storage Explorer to attach to the account that belongs to UserA by using the supplied SAS.
Generate a SAS query string for the account you want to share
In Storage Explorer, right-click the storage account you want share, and then select Get Shared Access Signature….
In the Generate Shared Access Signature dialog box, specify the time frame and permissions that you want for the account, and then click the Create button.
Next to the Connection String text box, select Copy to copy it to your clipboard, and then click Close.
Attach to a storage account by using a SAS Connection String
In Storage Explorer, open the Connect Dialog.
Choose Use a connection string. Click the Next button.
Paste your connection string into the Connection string: field. Click the Next button.
In the Connection Summary dialog box, verify the information. To make changes, select Back, and then enter the settings you want.
Select Connect.
After the storage account has successfully been attached, the storage account is displayed with (SAS) appended to its name.
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