Azure Data Factory - Creating A Data Lake Store Account With Visual Studio 2015 - Part One

Introduction

In this article, we will be dealing with Microsoft Azure’s Data Factory by creating an account in Microsoft Azure with help of Visual Studio 2015. In my previous article, we were working on Microsoft Azure Portal directly but here, we will be moving on with Visual Studio 2015.

Note - If you wish to learn about Azure Data Factory for creating pipelines, datasets, linked services, etc. from Microsoft Azure Portal, follow the below links.

• Security Roles on Files for Azure Data Lake Store
• Security Roles on Files for Azure Data Lake Store.
• Creating Linked Services in Azure Data Factory.
• Creating Input and Output Datasets in Azure Data Factory.
• Creating a pipeline in Azure Data Factory and monitoring it from Azure Portal.

Requirements

1. Microsoft Azure Subscription - Click here to get a free temporary account.
2. Visual Studio 2015 installed on your machine - Click here to download it.

Check your Visual Studio to see whether it holds the following points -

• Open Visual Studio 2015 on your machine and follow the commands
  
  Tools - Extensions and Updates - Online - Visual Studio Gallery - Microsoft Azure Data Factory Tools for Visual Studio 2015.

Make sure that the tool for Azure Data Factory has been downloaded on your Visual Studio. This should indicate with a green color tick mark. If you're not downloading it, click on "Close" after downloading it.

Check the below images for reference.





Follow the below steps now to create a new project for Azure Data Factory in Visual Studio 2015 and to sign in with your Azure Account in Visual Studio 2015, followed by creating a linked service here.

Step 1

Click on File - New Project - DataFactory - Empty Data Factory Project - Name your project - "OK".



This will let us to create the Data Factory project.

Here goes the project created.



Step 2

Sign in with your Microsoft Azure Account on this Visual Studio 2015 with help of Cloud Explorer. Follow the below commands to do it.

View - Cloud Explorer.



Click on "Add an Account".



Sign in with your Microsoft Azure account over here.



Here goes your Microsoft Azure account signed in. Click on "Apply" now.



And now, all has been set for the Cloud Explorer on your Visual Studio 2015.



Step 3

Now, we will be creating a Linked Service in Azure Data Factory from DataFactory app in Visual Studio 2015. In the Solution Explorer of Visual Studio 2015, right click on Linked Services and add a new item.

Right click on Linked Services - Add - New Item.



Select "Azure Storage Linked Service" from Linked Services blade and click on "Add".



Step 4

Let's create a new Storage Account now to connect it to the Azure Storage Linked Service.

Click on View - Server Explorer.



Right click on Storage - Create Storage Account.



Fill in the below details.

• Select the subscription for your Azure account.
• Name for the Storage Account.
• Data Center Region for the Storage Account to be created.
• Select the Replication type.
• Click on "Create".

Go to Azure portal and copy the connection string from "Access Policies".



Replace the Storage Account name and connection string from the below code in "AzureStorageLinkedService1.json".

{
    "$schema": "http://datafactories.schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-08-01/Microsoft.DataFactory.LinkedService.json",
    "name": "AzureStorageLinkedService1",
    "properties": {
        "type": "AzureStorage",
        "typeProperties": {
            "connectionString": "DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=<accountname>;AccountKey=<accountkey>"
        }
    }
}

Once the Storage name and Connection String is copied, click on "Save".