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--- title: About Azure Storage Actions titleSuffix: Azure Storage Actions description: Learn how to perform operations on blobs in Azure Storage accounts based on a set of conditions that you define. services: storage author: normesta ms.service: azure-storage-actions ms.custom: build-2023-metadata-update, references_regions ms.topic: overview ms.date: 05/05/2025 ms.author: normesta --- # What is Azure Storage Actions Azure Storage Actions is a fully managed platform designed to automate data management tasks for Azure Blob Storage and Azure Data Lake Storage. You can use it to perform common data operations on millions of objects across multiple storage accounts without provisioning extra compute capacity and without requiring you to write code. You can use Azure Storage Actions to automate tasks such as moving data to more cost-effective tiers, manage the retention of versions, snapshots or sensitive data sets, rehydrating data from archive storage so that it is available for immediate use, or manage blob index tags and metadata for better organization and data retrieval. > [!IMPORTANT] > Azure Storage Actions is generally available in these [regions](#supported-regions). ## Terms and definitions The resource that you provision to perform data operations is called a _storage task_. A _storage task_ can perform operations on blobs in Azure Storage accounts based on a set of conditions that you define. A storage task contains a set of _conditions_, _operations_. To execute a storage task, you must create and _assignment_. The following table describes each term. | Component | Description | |---|---| | Conditions | A _condition_ a collection of one or more _clauses_. Each clause contains a property, a value, and an operator. When the storage task runs, it uses the operator to compare a property with a value to determine whether a clause is met by the target object. For example, a clause might evaluate whether a `creation-time` property of a blob is greater than five days ago. | | Operations | An operation is the action a storage task performs on each object that meets the defined set of conditions. Deleting a blob is an example of an operation. | | Assignments | An assignment identifies a storage account and a subset of objects to target in that account. It also specifies when the task runs and where execution reports are stored. | ## Composition Start by creating a storage task. To provision a storage task, you must define at least one condition and one operation. The easiest way to compose conditions is by using a visual designer in the Azure portal. You can use a built-in preview capability in that designer to see the impact of your conditions against test data. See [Define storage task conditions and operations](storage-tasks/storage-task-conditions-operations-edit.md). > [!NOTE] > You can also create storage task definitions by using REST, SDKs, PowerShell, Azure CLI, Bicep, Terraform, or ARM templates. See these articles to learn how to define a storage task: - [Create a storage task](storage-tasks/storage-task-create.md) - [Define storage task conditions and operations](storage-tasks/storage-task-conditions-operations-edit.md) - [Storage task conditions](storage-tasks/storage-task-conditions.md) - [Storage task operations](storage-tasks/storage-task-operations.md) ## Execution To use a storage task, you must create a storage task assignment. An assignment identifies a storage account and a subset of objects to target in that account. It also specifies when the task runs and where execution reports are stored. See [Storage task assignment](storage-tasks/storage-task-assignment.md). Tasks run asynchronously according to the schedule that you specify in the assignment. An execution report is created when the run completes. That report itemizes the results of the task run on each object that was targeted by the task. See [Analyze storage task runs](storage-tasks/storage-task-runs.md). The overview page of the task presents metrics and visualizations that summarize how many objects met the task condition, and the result of the operations attempted by the storage task on each object. The charts enable you to quickly drill into a specific execution instance. See [Monitor Azure Storage Actions](storage-tasks/monitor-storage-tasks.md). See these articles to learn how to assign a storage task: - [Create and manage a storage task assignment](storage-tasks/storage-task-assignment-create.md) - [Azure roles for storage task assignments](storage-tasks/storage-task-authorization-roles.md) > [!NOTE] > Storage task assignment can't target general-purpose v1 and legacy Blob Storage accounts because those accounts don't support the latest features. If you have a general-purpose v1 or legacy Blob Storage account, we recommend you to upgrade to [general-purpose v2 accounts](/azure/well-architected/service-guides/storage-accounts/operational-excellence#design-considerations) to use all the latest features. ## Events Azure Storage Actions events allow applications to react to events, such as the completion of a storage task run. It does so without the need for complicated code or expensive and inefficient polling services. Azure Storage Actions events are pushed using [Azure Event Grid](https://azure.microsoft.com/services/event-grid/) to subscribers such as Azure Functions, Azure Logic Apps, or even to your own http listener. Event Grid provides reliable event delivery to your applications through rich retry policies and dead-lettering. Event Grid uses [event subscriptions](../event-grid/concepts.md#event-subscriptions) to route event messages to subscribers. First, subscribe an endpoint to an event. Then, when an event is triggered, the Event Grid service sends data about that event to the endpoint. See the [Azure Storage Actions events schema](../event-grid/event-schema-storage-actions.md?toc=/azure/storage-actions/toc.json) article to view the full list of the events that Azure Storage Actions supports. ## Pricing and billing Pricing is based on the execution of storage task assignments. Each time your storage task assignment executes, you're billed a task execution instance charge. You also incur a charge based on the count of objects scanned and evaluated against the conditions of the storage task. That charge is based on a single price per million objects scanned. The final meter applies to the count of operations performed on objects in the storage account. This charge is also based on a single price per million objects. Meters are applied to each executing instance. If a storage task assignment is scheduled to execute repeatedly, then you're billed for each separate instance. At the end of your billing cycle, the charges for each meter are summed. Your bill or invoice shows a section for all Azure Storage Actions costs. There's a separate line item for each meter. These charges appear in the subscription of the storage account where the task assignment is configured. To learn more about Azure Storage Actions billing meters along with example calculations for common scenarios, see [Plan to manage costs for Azure Storage Actions](storage-actions-plan-manage-costs.md) ## Supported Regions Azure Storage Actions is generally available in the following public cloud regions: - Australia Central - Australia East - Australia Southeast - Brazil South - Brazil Southeast - Canada Central - Canada East - Central India - Central US - East Asia - East US - East US 2 - France Central - Germany North - Germany West Central - Israel Central - Italy North - Japan East - Japan West - Jio India Central - Jio India West - Korea Central - Korea South - Mexico Central - North Central US - North Europe - Norway East - Norway West - South Africa North - South Africa West - South Central US - South India - South East Asia - Spain Central - Sweden Central - Sweden South - Switzerland North - Switzerland West - UAE Central - UAE North - UK South - UK West - West Central US - West Europe - West India - West US - West US 2 - West US 3 ## Next steps - [Quickstart: Create, assign, and run a storage task by using the Azure portal](storage-tasks/storage-task-quickstart-portal.md) - [Known issues with storage tasks](storage-tasks/storage-task-known-issues.md)