Azure Files Documentation

Azure Files: Fully Managed Cloud File Shares

Azure Files offers the industry's first fully managed cloud file share service. Azure Files shares can be accessed via the industry-standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and the Network File System (NFS) protocol. This means you can lift and shift your applications that rely on file shares to Azure without significant code changes. Azure Files is designed for a wide range of enterprise workloads, from shared application settings and content repositories to diagnostic logs and development/testing environments.

Key Features:

Managed Service: No need to deploy, manage, or patch file servers.
SMB & NFS Support: Access your file shares from Windows, Linux, and macOS clients.
Performance Tiers: Choose between Standard and Premium performance for your workload needs.
Redundancy Options: Select LRS, ZRS, GRS, or RA-GRS for data durability and availability.
Hybrid Scenarios: Integrate with on-premises environments using Azure File Sync.
Security: Supports Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Domain Services integration and RBAC for access control.

Getting Started with Azure Files

To get started, you'll need an Azure Storage account. You can create one via the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell.

Using Azure CLI:

az storage account create \
    --name mystorageaccount \
    --resource-group myresourcegroup \
    --location westus \
    --sku Standard_LRS \
    --kind StorageV2

Once you have a storage account, you can create a file share:

az storage share create \
    --name myshare \
    --account-name mystorageaccount \
    --account-key YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY

Accessing Azure Files

Azure Files supports mounting via SMB and NFS. The exact steps vary by operating system.

Mounting via SMB (Windows):

You can mount an Azure File share using the net use command:

net use Z: \\mystorageaccount.file.core.windows.net\myshare /u:Azure\mystorageaccount YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY

Mounting via SMB (Linux):

Install the necessary package (e.g., cifs-utils on Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install cifs-utils
                sudo mount -t cifs //mystorageaccount.file.core.windows.net/myshare /mnt/myshare -o vers=3.0,username=mystorageaccount,password=YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_KEY,dir_mode=0777,file_mode=0777,serverino

Learn More

Explore the following resources for more in-depth information: