Azure Files Overview

Azure Files offers the world's first cloud platform file share service that is accessible via the industry-standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and the Network File System (NFS) protocol. This means you can mount a fully managed cloud file share from Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems.

Key Benefit: Azure Files provides fully managed file shares that are highly available and can be accessed from multiple clients simultaneously, simplifying lift-and-shift scenarios for legacy applications that rely on file shares.

Core Concepts

File Shares

File shares are the primary resource in Azure Files. They are directories that can be accessed using SMB or NFS protocols. You can create file shares within an Azure Storage account.

Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol

Azure Files supports SMB 3.0, enabling common Windows file sharing scenarios. This allows applications to store and access data in the cloud just as they would with an on-premises file share.

Network File System (NFS) Protocol

Azure Files also supports NFS 4.1, providing a Linux-native way to access cloud file shares. This is ideal for Linux-based workloads and containerized applications.

Azure File Sync

Azure File Sync is a feature that allows you to centralize your organization's file shares in Azure Files, while keeping the flexibility, performance, and compatibility of an on-premises file server. It enables multi-site synchronization and cloud tiering, allowing frequently accessed data to remain on-premises for fast local access, while less frequently accessed data is tiered to Azure Files.

Use Cases

Lift and Shift Applications: Migrate applications that require traditional file shares to the cloud without costly re-architecture.
Shared Configuration Files: Provide a central location for applications to access shared configuration settings.
Development and Testing: Use Azure Files as a shared storage for development tools, SDKs, and build outputs.
Containerized Workloads: Mount Azure Files shares as persistent volumes for containers running on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) or other orchestrators.
Disaster Recovery: Store critical application data in a highly available and durable cloud service.

Performance Tiers

Azure Files offers different performance tiers to meet varying workload demands:

Standard: Uses HDDs for cost-effective storage, suitable for general-purpose file sharing.
Premium: Uses SSDs for high performance and low latency, ideal for performance-sensitive workloads like database files, web servers, and ERP systems.

Security Features

Azure Files provides robust security options:

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Domain Services integration: For SMB, enabling Kerberos authentication.
Azure AD Kerberos authentication for Linux: For NFS, providing identity-based access.
Shared Key authorization: Standard storage account access.
Network security: Support for private endpoints and service endpoints.

Important: When migrating file shares, ensure your application's protocol requirements (SMB version, NFS version) are compatible with Azure Files.

Getting Started

To start using Azure Files, you will need an Azure subscription and a storage account. You can then create a file share within your storage account and mount it to your clients using SMB or NFS. For detailed instructions, please refer to the Quickstart guide.