Azure Files fundamentals

100 XP
  • 4 minutes

Azure Files offers fully managed file shares in the cloud that are accessible via the industry standard Server Message Block and Network File System protocols. Azure file shares can be mounted concurrently by cloud or on-premises deployments of Windows, Linux, and macOS. Applications running in Azure virtual machines or cloud services can mount a file storage share to access file data, just as a desktop application would mount a typical SMB share. Any number of Azure virtual machines or roles can mount and access the file storage share simultaneously. Typical usage scenarios would be to share files anywhere in the world, diagnostic data, or application data sharing.

Azure Files icon.

Use Azure Files for the following situations:

  • Many on-premises applications use file shares. Azure Files makes it easier to migrate those applications that share data to Azure. If you mount the Azure file share to the same drive letter that the on-premises application uses, the part of your application that accesses the file share should work with minimal changes, if any.
  • Store configuration files on a file share and access them from multiple VMs. Tools and utilities used by multiple developers in a group can be stored on a file share, ensuring that everybody can find them, and that they use the same version.
  • Write data to a file share, and process or analyze the data later. For example, when you handle diagnostic logs, metrics, and crash dumps.

The following illustration shows Azure Files being used to share data between two geographical locations. Azure Files ensures the data is encrypted at rest, and the SMB protocol ensures the data is encrypted in transit.

Diagram that shows the file sharing capabilities of Azure Files between a Western US Azure file share and a European Azure file share, each with their own SMB users.

One thing that distinguishes Azure Files from files on a corporate file share is that you can access the files from anywhere in the world, by using a URL that points to the file. You can also use Shared Access Signature (SAS) tokens to allow access to a private asset for a specific amount of time.

Here's an example of a service SAS URI, showing the resource URI and the SAS token:

Screenshot of components of a service SAS URI.

Next unit: Understand Blob access tiers

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