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Setting Up Front-End and Back-End Applications with Azure Blob Storage Access

This document provides a step-by-step guide to configure Front-End (FE) and Back-End (BE) applications to access Azure Blob Storage using the On-Behalf-Of (OBO) flow.

Prerequisites

• Azure Subscription
• Azure CLI
• Visual Studio or any C# development environment

Steps

1. Register Back-End (BE) Application in Azure AD

1. Register the BE Application:

   • Navigate to "Microsoft Entra ID" > "App registrations".
   • Click on "New registration".
   • Note the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID.

2. Add Client Secret:

   • Go to "Certificates & secrets".
   • Add a new client secret and note it down.

3. Expose API:

   • Go to "Expose an API".
   • Add a new scope, e.g., api://{client_id_be}/user_impersonation.

4. Add API Permissions:

   • Go to "API Permissions".
   • Add delegated and application permissions for https://storage.azure.com/.default.

2. Register Front-End (FE) Application in Azure AD

1. Register the FE Application:

   • Navigate to "Microsoft Entra ID" > "App registrations".
   • Click on "New registration".
   • For this sample we are using mobile and desktop applications.
   • Note the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID.

2. Configure Redirect URI:

   • Go to "Authentication" under the FE application.
   • Add a Redirect URI (e.g., http://localhost).

3. Add API Permissions:

   • Go to "API Permissions".
   • Click on "Add a permission".
   • Select "Microsoft Graph" and add delegated permissions such as user.read.
   • Click on "Add a permission" again.
   • Select "APIs My organization uses" and find the BE application.
   • Add the delegated permission api://{client_id_be}/user_impersonation.

4. Grant Admin Consent:

   • Ensure admin consent is granted for the added permissions.

3. Configure Azure Blob Storage

1. Create a Storage Account:

   • Navigate to "Storage accounts" and create a new storage account.
   • Note the storage account name.

2. Create a Container:

   • Inside the storage account, create a new container.
   • Note the container name.

3. Assign Roles:

   • Go to the storage account.
   • Navigate to "Access Control (IAM)".
   • Click on "Add role assignment".
   • Assign roles like Storage Blob Data Reader or Storage Blob Data Contributor to the appropriate users or service principals.

4. Enable logging in Azure Storage Container:

   • Go to the storage account.
   • Navigate to "Diagnostics settings".
   • Click on the resource to view diagnostic settings.
   • Click on "Add diagnostic setting".
   • Select "StorageAccountLog" and "Blob".
   • Click on "Review + create" and then "Create".
   • This will enable logging for the Azure Storage Container.

4. Implement the Code

This sample uses a console application for demo purposes only. After creating a new application, you have to install these nuget packages.

Azure.Storage.Blobs
Microsoft.Identity.Client

You can get the sample code here.

using Azure.Core;
using Azure.Storage.Blobs;
using Microsoft.Identity.Client;
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

string tenantId = "tenant_id";

// FE
string clientIdFE = "fe_id";
string[] scopesFE = { "user.read", "api://be_id/user_impersonation" };

// BE
string clientIdBE = "be_id";
string clientSecretBE = "be_secret";
string[] scopesBE = new[] { "https://storage.azure.com/.default" };

// BLOB
string storageAccountName = "storage_name";
string containerName = "container_name";
string blobName = "blob_name";

string userAccessToken = await GetUserAccessTokenAsync();
Console.WriteLine($"User Access Token: {userAccessToken}");

string oboToken = await GetOboTokenAsync(userAccessToken);
Console.WriteLine($"OBO Token: {oboToken}");

await AccessBlobStorageAsync(oboToken);

async Task<string> GetUserAccessTokenAsync()
{
    var app = PublicClientApplicationBuilder.Create(clientIdFE)
        .WithAuthority(new Uri($"https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenantId}"))
        .WithRedirectUri("http://localhost")
        .Build();

    var accounts = await app.GetAccountsAsync();
    AuthenticationResult result;

    try
    {
        result = await app.AcquireTokenSilent(scopesFE, accounts.FirstOrDefault())
            .ExecuteAsync();
    }
    catch (MsalUiRequiredException)
    {
        result = await app.AcquireTokenInteractive(scopesFE)
            .ExecuteAsync();
    }

    return result.AccessToken;
}

async Task<string> GetOboTokenAsync(string userAccessToken)
{
    var confidentialClient = ConfidentialClientApplicationBuilder.Create(clientIdBE)
        .WithClientSecret(clientSecretBE)
        .WithAuthority(new Uri($"https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenantId}"))
        .Build();

    var oboResult = await confidentialClient.AcquireTokenOnBehalfOf(scopesBE, new UserAssertion(userAccessToken))
        .ExecuteAsync();

    return oboResult.AccessToken;
}

async Task AccessBlobStorageAsync(string oboToken)
{
    TokenCredential tokenCredential = new ObTokenCredential(oboToken);
    BlobServiceClient blobServiceClient = new BlobServiceClient(new Uri($"https://{storageAccountName}.blob.core.windows.net"), tokenCredential);
    BlobContainerClient containerClient = blobServiceClient.GetBlobContainerClient(containerName);
    BlobClient blobClient = containerClient.GetBlobClient(blobName);

    var response = await blobClient.DownloadAsync();
    using (var stream = response.Value.Content)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Blob content read successfully.");
    }
}

class ObTokenCredential : TokenCredential
{
    private readonly string _token;

    public ObTokenCredential(string token)
    {
        _token = token;
    }

    public override AccessToken GetToken(TokenRequestContext requestContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        return new AccessToken(_token, DateTimeOffset.MaxValue);
    }

    public override ValueTask<AccessToken> GetTokenAsync(TokenRequestContext requestContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        return new ValueTask<AccessToken>(new AccessToken(_token, DateTimeOffset.MaxValue));
    }
}

5. Check OBO and logs

Run the code and check the logs to see all information about who accessed the file.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can configure FE and BE applications to access Azure Blob Storage using the On-Behalf-Of (OBO) flow. Ensure all permissions and configurations are correctly set in Azure AD and the Blob Storage account.

Typos or suggestions?

If you've found a typo, a sentence that could be improved or anything else that should be updated on this blog post, you can access it through a git repository and make a pull request. If you feel comfortable with github, instead of posting a comment, please go directly to https://github.com/campelo/documentation and open a new pull request with your changes.