Network connections in Storage Explorer

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Storage Explorer uses your network to make requests to your storage resources and other Azure and Microsoft services.

Hostnames accessed by Storage Explorer

Storage Explorer makes requests to various endpoints while in use. The following list details common hostnames that Storage Explorer makes requests to:

  • ARM endpoints:
    • management.chinacloudapi.cn (Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet)
  • Login endpoints:
    • login.chinacloudapi.cn (Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet)
  • Graph endpoints:
    • graph.chinacloudapi.cn (Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet)
  • Azure Storage endpoints:
    • (blob|file|queue|table|dfs).core.chinacloudapi.cn (Microsoft Azure operated by 21Vianet)
  • Storage Explorer updating: storageexplorerpublish.blob.core.windows.net
  • Microsoft link forwarding:
    • aka.ms
    • go.microsoft.com
  • Any custom domains, private links, or Azure Stack instance-specific endpoints, that your resources are behind
  • Remote emulator hostnames

Proxy sources

Storage Explorer has several options for how/where it can source the information needed to connect to your proxy. To change which option is being used, go to Settings (gear icon on the left vertical toolbar) > Application > Proxy. Once you are at the proxy section of settings, you can select how/where you want Storage Explorer to source your proxy settings:

In some situations, Storage Explorer may automatically change the proxy source and other proxy related settings. To disable this behavior, go to Settings (gear icon on the left vertical toolbar) > Application > Proxy > Auto Manage Proxy Settings. Disabling this setting will prevent Storage Explorer from changing any manually configured proxy settings.

Do not use proxy

When this option is selected, Storage Explorer won't make any attempt to connect to a proxy. Do not use proxy is the default option.

Use environment variables

When this option is selected, Storage Explorer will look for proxy information from specific environment variables. These variables are:

  • HTTP_PROXY
  • HTTPS_PROXY

If both variables are defined, then Storage Explorer will source proxy information from HTTPS_PROXY.

The value of these environment variables must be a url of the format:

(http|https)://(username:password@)<hostname>:<port>

Only the protocol (http|https), and hostname are required. If you have a username, you don't have to supply a password.

Use app proxy settings

When this option is selected, Storage Explorer will use the in app proxy settings. These settings include:

  • Protocol
  • Hostname
  • Port
  • Do/do not use credentials
  • Credentials

All settings other than credentials can be managed from either:

  • Settings (gear icon on the left vertical toolbar) > Application > Proxy > Use credentials.
  • The Proxy Settings dialog (Edit > Configure Proxy).

To set credentials, you must go to the Proxy Settings dialog (Edit > Configure Proxy).

Use system proxy

When this option is selected, Storage Explorer will use your OS proxy settings. More specifically, it will result in network calls being made using the Chromium networking stack. The Chromium networking stack is much more robust than the NodeJS networking stack normally used by Storage Explorer. Here's a snippet from Chromium's documentation on what all it can do:

The Chromium network stack uses the system network settings so that users and administrators can control the network settings of all applications easily. The network settings include:

  • proxy settings
  • SSL/TLS settings
  • certificate revocation check settings
  • certificate and private key stores

If your proxy server requires credentials, and those credentials aren't configured at your OS settings, you'll need to enable usage of and set your credentials within in Storage Explorer. You can toggle use of credentials from either:

  • Settings (gear icon on the left vertical toolbar) > Application > Proxy > Use credentials.
  • The Proxy Settings dialog (Edit > Configure Proxy).

To set credentials, you must go to the Proxy Settings dialog (Edit > Configure Proxy).

Proxy server authentication

If you have configured Storage Explorer to source proxy settings from environment variables or app proxy settings, then only proxy servers that use basic authentication are supported.

If you have configured Storage Explorer to use system proxy, then proxy servers that use any of the following authentication methods are supported:

  • Basic
  • Digest
  • NTLM
  • Negotiate

Which proxy source should I choose?

You should first try using system proxy. After that, app settings is the next best option. The GUI-based experience for configuring the proxy configuration helps reduce the chance of entering your proxy information correctly. However, if you already have proxy environment variables configured, then it might be better to use environment variables.

AzCopy proxy usage

Storage Explorer uses AzCopy for most data transfers operations. AzCopy is written using a different set of technologies than Storage Explorer and therefore has a slightly different set of proxy capabilities.

If Storage Explorer is configured to do not use proxy or to use system proxy, then AzCopy will be told to use its own autodetect proxy features to determine if and how it should make requests to a proxy. If you have configured Storage Explorer to source proxy settings from environment variables or app proxy settings though, then Storage Explorer will tell AzCopy to use the same proxy settings.

If you don't want AzCopy to use proxy no matter what, then you can disable proxy usage by toggling Settings (gear icon on the left vertical toolbar) > Transfers > AzCopy > Disable AzCopy Proxy Usage.

Currently, AzCopy only supports proxy servers that use basic authentication.

SSL certificates

By default, Storage Explorer uses the NodeJS networking stack. NodeJS ships with a predefined list of trusted SSL certificates. Some networking technologies, such as proxy servers or anti-virus software, inject their own SSL certificates into network traffic. These certificates are often not present in NodeJS' certificate list. NodeJS won't trust responses that contain such a certificate. When NodeJS doesn't trust a response, then Storage Explorer will receive an error.

You have multiple options for resolving such errors:

  • Use system proxy as your proxy source.
  • Import a copy of the SSL certificate/s causing the error/s.
  • Disable SSL certificate. (not recommended)

Next steps