azure blob storage "No valid combination of account information found"

Question

I have an MVC4 project that I am running using Azure websites preview.

My problem is that I cant upload a blob into my blob storage container when I have deployed my website to azure, however the upload works fine when I'm debugging locally.

This is the exception and stack trace I get when deployed and I try to upload to a container:

No valid combination of account information found. at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage.CloudStorageAccount.b__0(String err) at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage.CloudStorageAccount.TryParse(String s, CloudStorageAccount& accountInformation, Action`1 error) at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage.CloudStorageAccount.Parse(String connectionString) at MyProj.Controllers.ImageController.Upload(ImageViewModel model)

Specifically as per the stack trace it is the .Parse method which is failing.

The code I am using to connect to the blob storage is straight from the azure how-to documentation:

string connectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["StorageConnectionString"].ConnectionString;
CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(connectionString);
CloudBlobClient blobClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient();

Once again, this works fine when I running locally on my dev box, I can upload successfully with no problems. However it gives me this error when deployed and I attempt to do exactly the same thing.

I'm guessing my storageConnectionString is being messed with during the web deploy publish process but I'm unsure about how to resolve this?

Marchpane

Store your storage connection string in AppSettings, not in ConnectionStrings section. And, pasting here the actual connection string will help us help you (you may put *** for the account key). – Apperception

Okay, I've moved the connection string into AppSettings and this is working fine now. Bizarre! Thanks for the help :) – Marchpane

So, @Apperception - how's about reposting as an answer, so oTomo can mark as such... :) – Stabler

It's kinda strange that this fixes the error. In the end CloudStorageAccount.Parse is called with the same connection string so it should work all the same... – Gluey

Answer 1

Store your storage connection string in AppSettings, not in ConnectionStrings section. And, pasting here the actual connection string will help us help you (you may put * for the account key).

Apperception

I tried this but still get the "no valid combination of account information found" error. My connection string key/value is key="StorageConnectionString" value="DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=***;AccountKey=***;BlobEndpoint=customEndpoint". var storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["StorageConnectionString"]); – Eurypterid

Why would this make any difference? In the end it's just a string, and ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["StorageConnectionString"].ConnectionString works just fine for me... Needless to say, saving this as a connection string makes more sense. – Kyanite

Yes, Ohad, probably. But not in 2012, when the Connection Strings provider of the COnfiguration Manager had no idea of Azure Storage Connection Strings, and when the question was posted and answered .... – Apperception

Check also for start and end quotes. – Apograph

Answer 2

Be sure that

1) You are using the proper protocol for diagnostics (double click the role -> configuration tab -> select the configuration -> under "Diagnostics", click the ellipsis -> try to click OK...if it gives error that you must use https, change the connection strings to https)

and

2) No white spaces allowed...i.e. UseDevelopmentStorage=true;DevelopmentStorageProxyUri=https://127.0.0.1 instead of UseDevelopmentStorage=true; DevelopmentStorageProxyUri=https://127.0.0.1

(note space after the semi-colon)

Check for https and white space in all connection strings on the Settings tab

---EDIT----

Putting "https" in actually screwed everything up for us. Worker role would throw an exception ("Handshack failed due to an unexpected packet format.") and then cycle between unknown and destroyed. Removed the "s" in "https" and made sure there were no white spaces and voila.

Frasier

NOTE: This was only happening for devs using Compute Emulator 2.0 or greater. – Frasier

Adding the DevelopmentStorageProxyUri to the connection string got me connected. – Watereddown

I had spaces between the " = true" - I think VS introduced them when I copied and pasted before wrapping in speech marks, and I didnt notice! – Dimetric

Removing the white spaces did it for me. Thanks! Good tutorial: codeproject.com/Articles/490178/… – Kermie

I didn't know a space would be a problem!! removing spaces had solved the problem. Thanks! – Culminate

https was the problem, ! – Unprovided

Re-iterating the importance of whitespace: I just ran into the same problem because my connection string had a \r\n at the end. Run .Trim() on the string read from your source. – Statuette

Work for me. Trim the connection string – Behaviorism

I had True instead of true. It's case sensitive as well. – Distribute

No white spaces allowed, fixed the issue for me. tks. – Windhover

Answer 3

Another way of getting the CloadStorageAccount instance is doing this

StorageCredentials credentials = new StorageCredentials(accountName, accountKey);
CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = new CloudStorageAccount(credentials, true);

This should help anyone that has this parsing problem.

Hendrix

the class StorageCredentials is now abstract class use the class StorageCredentialsAccountAndKey instead – Contagium

Answer 4

I got this error because missed the prefix BlobEndpoint= before Blob SAS URL:

wrong appsettings.json

{
  "TestBlobWriter": {
    "ConnectionString": "https://test.blob.core.windows.net/test-container?sp=*&st=*&se=*&spr=*&sv=*&sr=*&sig=*",
    "ContainerName": "test-container"
  }
}

correct appsettings.json

{
  "TestBlobWriter": {
    "ConnectionString": "BlobEndpoint=https://test.blob.core.windows.net/test-container?sp=*&st=*&se=*&spr=*&sv=*&sr=*&sig=*",
    "ContainerName": "test-container"
  }
}

Fluctuate

Answer 5

I think, that could not be the cause of the problem as was expressed by Sandino Di Mattia. I had the same one when upgraded the SDK to the 2.0 and turned out that the API's connection string parser tolerates no more whitespaces in the connection string and it was not mentioned anywhere. If this kind of change was intentional, I would call it a nasty move...

Excite

I'm unfortunately seeing this same issue trying to connect to an azure queue. The string is in app settings, and there is no whitespace to be found in the string :( – Krystenkrystin

Answer 6

Be aware, too, that casing in the connection string matters. I experienced this error before when a large merge caused someone to "AccountName" to "Accountname" in my Web.config. Using the correct casing fixed the error.

Solicitor

Answer 7

If you are very sure that, the connection string copied from Azure service is same as you pasted, then please check whether you have given any carriage return / space for the sake of readability, it's also one of the reasons caused that issue which you have experienced. I tried to give +1 for @scottndecker but couldn't since I don't have 15 reputation.

Ghiselin

Answer 8

Don't forget to include the "https://" or "https://" when using the proxyUri. Like:

UseDevelopmentStorage=true;DevelopmentStorageProxyUri=https://127.0.0.1

Grimbal

Answer 9

I got this because I had accidently added a newline character (\r\n) at the end of the string.

Chichi

Answer 10

I also got the same issue, and i found it in the namespace. The CloudStorageAccount class is present in both the namespaces

using Microsoft.WindowsAzure;

using Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage;

So I just removed WindowsAzure namespace and added WindowsAzure.Storage in my code.

Previous Code:

using Microsoft.WindowsAzure;

Fixed Code:

using Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage;

Gunman

Answer 11

I was facing same issue. You need to use Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage name space and make sure there is not an extra space in connection string.

Bootie

Answer 12

I got this error because I used the wrong nuget package, (I am using dot net 4.6.1)

The wrong package was: WindowsAzureStorage.Helper

The correct package is: WindowsAzure.Storage

and make sure you use the namespace: using Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage;

Audio

I don't think the asker got the error from that typo. – Goggles

Answer 13

I encountered this error when I had migrated a storage connection string from app settings literal to a keyvault reference using @Microsoft.KeyVault(SecretUri=https...) I'd created a new function app and had forgotten to turn on system-assigned identity and given the app access to keyvault. Hence, the symptom was an undefined app settings value - a failed storage connection attempt.

Paltry

Answer 14

I will share the solution of my problem. I was thinking that the brackets must stay and enter the information inside them. After removing the brackets, my problem was solved.

From:

string eventHubName = "{Event Hub name}";

To:

string eventHubName = "Event Hub name";

The same goes for: eventHubConnectionString, storageAccountName and storageAccountKey

Crispin

Thank you @SurajRao for the remarks, is this better now? – Crispin

Answer 15

To solve this issue on azure, don't use the default string but use a minimalistic version such as :

<add name="StorageConnection" 
    connectionString="DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=name;AccountKey=yourkey;EndpointSuffix=core.windows.net" />

Without whitespace or line breaks!!

Pulsation