Throttling User Downloads in Azure

Question

I have files that are stored in Azure's blob storage. These files will be downloaded by end users over the Internet. Registered users will be able to download them at high speed via the CDN, whereas I want non-registered users to have their download throttled.

How would I do this in Azure?

Answer 1

There is no way to throttle performance with direct blob access, unless you utilize Shared access signatures with expiration. And with SAS, you'd have to generate those within your app (so, effectively, you'd be able to throttle access based on your app's logic; you wouldn't be able to throttle bandwidth if they're accessing blobs directly, whether with or without SAS).

Without SAS/expiration, you'd need to route blob content through your app, vs direct blob access. And how you implement throttling at that point is up to you and your app logic.