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--- title: Configure a lifecycle management policy titleSuffix: Azure Blob Storage description: Configure a lifecycle management policy to automatically move data between hot, cool, cold, and archive tiers during the data lifecycle. author: normesta ms.author: normesta ms.date: 06/13/2025 ms.service: azure-blob-storage ms.topic: concept-article ms.reviewer: yzheng ms.custom: devx-track-azurepowershell, devx-track-azurecli, copilot-scenario-highlight ms.devlang: azurecli # Customer intent: "As a cloud storage administrator, I want to configure lifecycle management policies for blob storage, so that I can automatically transition or delete data based on access patterns to optimize storage costs and improve data management." --- # Configure a lifecycle management policy This article shows you how to create or manage an Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management policy. You can use lifecycle management policies to transition blobs to cost-efficient access tiers based on their use patterns or delete them entirely at the end of their lifecycle. To learn more, see [Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management overview](lifecycle-management-overview.md). > [!NOTE] > A lifecycle management policy must be read or written in full. Partial updates are not supported. > [!TIP] > You can use Azure Copilot to help author lifecycle management policies. For more information, see [Manage and migrate storage accounts using Azure Copilot](/azure/copilot/improve-storage-accounts#reduce-storage-costs). ## Create or manage a policy ### [Portal](#tab/azure-portal) 1. In the Azure portal, navigate to your storage account. 2. Under **Data management**, select **Lifecycle Management** to view or change lifecycle management policies. 3. Select the **List View** tab. 4. Select **Add a rule** and name your rule on the **Details** form. You can also set the **Rule scope**, **Blob type**, and **Blob subtype** values. The following example sets the scope to filter blobs. This causes the **Filter set** tab to be added. :::image type="content" source="media/lifecycle-management-policy-configure/lifecycle-management-details.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the lifecycle management add a rule details page in Azure portal"::: 5. Select **Base blobs** to set the conditions for your rule. In the following example, blobs are moved to cool storage if they haven't been modified for 30 days. :::image type="content" source="media/lifecycle-management-policy-configure/lifecycle-management-base-blobs.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the lifecycle management base blobs page in Azure portal"::: The **Last accessed** option is available only if you have enabled access time tracking and you've selected **Block blobs** as the blob type. See [Enable access time tracking](#enable-access-time-tracking). 6. If you selected **Limit blobs with filters** on the **Details** page, select **Filter set** to add an optional filter. The following example filters on blobs whose name begins with *log* in a container called *sample-container*. :::image type="content" source="media/lifecycle-management-policy-configure/lifecycle-management-filter-set.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the lifecycle management filter set page in Azure portal"::: If you encounter unexpected results, see the following FAQ entry: [The blob prefix match string didn't apply the policy to the expected blobs](storage-blob-faq.yml#the-blob-prefix-match-string-didn-t-apply-the-policy-to-the-expected-blobs). 7. Select **Add** to add the new policy. #### Manage a policy by using the code view. You can also define a policy by adding JSON code directly in the **Code View** tab. The following screenshot shows JSON in the **Code View** tab. This JSON defines a lifecycle policy that moves a block blob whose name begins with *log* to the cool tier if it has been more than 30 days since the blob was modified. > [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] >  ### [PowerShell](#tab/azure-powershell) To add a lifecycle management policy with PowerShell, use these commands: - Call the [Add-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyAction](/powershell/module/az.storage/add-azstorageaccountmanagementpolicyaction) command to define the actions that comprise a rule. - Call the [New-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyFilter](/powershell/module/az.storage/new-azstorageaccountmanagementpolicyfilter) command to specify one or more filters for a rule. - Call the [New-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyRule](/powershell/module/az.storage/new-azstorageaccountmanagementpolicyrule) command to create a policy rule that includes actions and optional filters. - Call the [Set-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicy](/powershell/module/az.storage/set-azstorageaccountmanagementpolicy) command to create the policy on the storage account. The following example shows how to use each of these commands to create a lifecycle policy. Remember to replace placeholder values in angle brackets with your own values: ```powershell # Initialize the following variables with your values. $rgName = "<resource-group>" $accountName = "<storage-account>" # Create a new action object. $action = Add-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyAction -BaseBlobAction Delete ` -daysAfterModificationGreaterThan 180 Add-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyAction -InputObject $action ` -BaseBlobAction TierToArchive ` -daysAfterModificationGreaterThan 90 Add-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyAction -InputObject $action ` -BaseBlobAction TierToCool ` -daysAfterModificationGreaterThan 30 Add-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyAction -InputObject $action ` -SnapshotAction Delete ` -daysAfterCreationGreaterThan 90 Add-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyAction -InputObject $action ` -BlobVersionAction TierToArchive ` -daysAfterCreationGreaterThan 90 # Create a new filter object. $filter = New-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyFilter -PrefixMatch ab,cd ` -BlobType blockBlob # Create a new rule object. $rule1 = New-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicyRule -Name sample-rule ` -Action $action ` -Filter $filter # Create the policy. Set-AzStorageAccountManagementPolicy -ResourceGroupName $rgName ` -StorageAccountName $accountName ` -Rule $rule1 ``` ### [Azure CLI](#tab/azure-cli) To add a lifecycle management policy with Azure CLI, write the policy to a JSON file, then call the [az storage account management-policy create](/cli/azure/storage/account/management-policy#az-storage-account-management-policy-create) command to create the policy. The following example shows how to use each of these commands to create a lifecycle policy. Remember to replace placeholder values in angle brackets with your own values: ```azurecli az storage account management-policy create \ --account-name <storage-account> \ --policy @policy.json \ --resource-group <resource-group> ``` ### [Template](#tab/template) To define a lifecycle management policy with an Azure Resource Manager template, include the **Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/managementPolicies** object in your template. For configuration details, see [Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/managementPolicies 2021-02-01 - Bicep & ARM template reference](/azure/templates/microsoft.storage/2021-02-01/storageaccounts/managementpolicies?tabs=json). The **Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/managementPolicies** object is available in the Azure Storage Resource Provider REST API for versions 2018-11-01 and later. --- <a id="optionally-enable-access-time-tracking"></a> ## Enable access time tracking Enable access tracking if you want to include an action based on the time that the blob was last accessed with a read or write operation. To learn about the behavior of this capability, see [Access time tracking](lifecycle-management-policy-structure.md#access-time-tracking). ### [Portal](#tab/azure-portal) 1. Navigate to your storage account in the Azure portal. 2. In the **Data management** section, select **Lifecycle management**. 3. Check the checkbox "Enable access tracking" > [!div class="mx-imgBorder"] >  ### [PowerShell](#tab/azure-powershell) [!INCLUDE [azure-storage-set-last-access-time-powershell](../../../includes/azure-storage-set-last-access-time-powershell.md)] ### [Azure CLI](#tab/azure-cli) [!INCLUDE [azure-storage-set-last-access-time-azure-cli](../../../includes/azure-storage-set-last-access-time-azure-cli.md)] ### [Template](#tab/template) [!INCLUDE [azure-storage-set-last-access-time-template](../../../includes/azure-storage-set-last-access-time-template.md)] --- ## See also - [Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management overview](lifecycle-management-overview.md) - [Lifecycle management policies that transition blobs between tiers](lifecycle-management-policy-access-tiers.md) - [Lifecycle management policies that delete blobs](lifecycle-management-policy-delete.md) - [Lifecycle management policy monitoring](lifecycle-management-policy-monitor.md) - [Access tiers for blob data](access-tiers-overview.md)