Azure File Storage

Azure File Storage is a fully managed file share service in Microsoft Azure Cloud that enables you to share files within and outside your organization in a managed way. It is more affordable, scalable, and reliable solution than self-managed file shares on-premises.

Steps

To get started with Azure File Storage, follow these steps:

1. Create a storage account in Azure portal
2. Create a file share within your storage account
3. Mount the file share to your client or server using the SMB protocol or REST API
4. Start sharing files securely with your team or application

Examples and Use Cases

Azure File Storage is commonly used in scenarios where you need to share files across multiple instances of a virtual machine or applications. Some of the key examples of Azure File Storage use cases are:

• Share file data across multiple VMs
• Share live data sets for analytics or processing
• Applicable in DevOps and Build/Release process with CI/CD in pipelines.

Important Points

• You can access an Azure file share through REST APIs, Powershell, Traefik, and Azure AD-DS authentication as well as others ease of use methods.
• Keep your shared files secure by utilizing Azure Active Directory Domain Services (Azure AD DS). This provides an additional benefit as your users now have SSO capabilities while accessing the file shares.
• Azure File Storage leverages Azure Encrypted Blob Storage to provide encryption at rest and in transit capabilities.
• Pay only for what you use computing facility.

Summary

Azure File Storage is a cost-effective and versatile solution for sharing files across multiple instances, applications, or users. By leveraging the Azure cloud infrastructure, you can take advantage of its scalability, reliability, and security, ensuring that your file data is safe and secure in transit and at rest.