Storing Scheduled Reports with Microsoft Azure Storage
This feature is replacing the old report storage solution using Report Links.
This page is intended as suggested guidance only - we cannot take responsibility for your Microsoft Azure Storage account as it is a third-party service.
It is possible to export your PICSWeb report files to Microsoft Azure storage, allowing you to access and distribute reports outside of PICSWeb.
Setting Up an Azure Account
Before you can do this, if you have not already, you will need to set up a general Azure account, followed by an Azure Storage account. This process should take no more than 15 minutes.
Creating a new Azure account is explained in this Microsoft Guidance.
While creating your account, take note of the following settings:
We recommend changing the Region to match your location.
The Enable Storage Account Key Access setting must be enabled in order to integrate the storage account with PICSWeb.
The Enable Public Access From All Networks setting must be left selected during the creation process.
Any other settings that you are prompted to configure while setting up the accounts are down to personal preference and will not affect functionality when working with PICSWeb. If you are unsure, we recommend using the default settings.
Once you have set these accounts up, you can begin to send report to Azure from PICSWeb, as explained below.
Additional Security in Azure
If you wish, you can restrict the IP addresses used with Azure to restrict access to PICSWeb IP ranges only. To do this, open Azure, enter Storage Accounts into the search bar and select your storage account. In the navigation menu for your account, go to the Networking page and select Enabled from selected virtual networks and IP addresses from the Public network access menu.
The following addresses are required for PICSWeb to communicate with Azure:
31.28.78.36
31.28.78.37
146.101.18.36
146.101.18.37
After this, enter the required IP addresses into the Firewall section and select Save to finish.
Using PICSWeb Reports with Azure
Firstly, you will need to copy one of your Access Key Connection Strings from Azure.
Once you have obtained this key, open PICSWeb and go to Integrations > Azure File Storage from the side menu.
In here, open the Settings window, switch on Integration Enabled and paste in your New Access Key Connection String. Select Save to finish.
Now, when you Run a Report, if you choose a Scheduling Option, an option to Export to Azure will be available.
After running the report, the File ID will be shown and Exported to Azure will be ticked in the Available Reports tab.
You can then return to Azure and find the report in the Containers menu.
Opening this container will show the report file. From here, you can send an SAS link out containing the file, as well as various other actions.
Viewing Report Filenames
The names for reports in the container folder will not match those in PICSWeb as they are set by Azure and cannot be changed. However, it is possible to view the filename from PICSWeb reports within azure, which will be used again when the report is downloaded.
To view the filename in the Azure web interface, right-click a file and select Properties. The filename will then be displayed in the CONTENT-DISPOSITION field.
To view the filename in the Storage Explorer desktop app, right-click a file and select Properties. The filename will then be displayed in the ContentDisposition field.