Mike: Welcome folks.
Let's dive into File Storage.
There are several main components
to file storage in Azure.
The first is the Azure Files service.
Second is the Azure File Sync service.
And finally, we have Azure NetApp Files.
Let's start with Azure Files.
Azure Files are managed file shares
hosted in Azure storage accounts.
They support SMB 2.1, SMB 3.0,
and NFS 4.1 protocols, which makes them compatible
with Windows, Linux, and macOS clients.
They're also accessible via the Azure portal,
PowerShell, Azure CLI,
or even using REST APIs,
making it very flexible to access your data
and interact with your data when it's stored in Azure Files.
Azure file shares come in two performance tiers,
Premium and Standard.
Premium offers higher performance
and scalability for demanding workloads.
You can also choose from various redundancy options,
such as, as you can imagine, LRS, ZRS and GRS,
based on your durability
and availability requirements.
And finally, inheriting from storage accounts in general,
Azure Files also support snapshots
for point-in-time recovery.
Azure File Sync allows you
to centralize your on-premises file shares in Azure Files
while caching frequently-accessed data locally.
This enables you to synchronize files
across multiple servers and locations,
providing a hybrid file storage solution.
It's important to understand the File Sync architecture
and its components, so that you understand
how the caching into your local on-premises
works and what its advantages and disadvantages might be.
So for Azure File Sync Deployment,
it looks a little bit like this.
You need to install the Storage Sync Service
and agents on your on-premises servers.
Then register the servers, create your sync groups,
and configure features like cloud tiering
and offline data transfer.
Microsoft does have a document,
so ensure that you follow the best practices for deployment
and configuration, but Azure File Sync
is an excellent example of how you can leverage the benefits
of the storage technologies in the cloud
while also giving your users
the benefit of local performance
that they may be used to
when you were using a massive, on-premises storage solution.
Azure NetApp Files is a high-performance
file storage service designed for demanding workloads
that require sub-millisecond latency and high throughput.
It supports NFS, SMB, and dual-protocol access
and consider using Azure NetApp Files
when you need even higher performance
than what Azure Files Premium tier offers.
And there are cases out there
where it makes sense.
With SAP and Oracle workloads,
often an Azure NetApp Files solution
is the best way to go.
High-performance computing,
and VDI and collaboration platforms.
It's essential to understand these target scenarios
and the benefits Azure NetApp Files provides
in terms of performance, scalability, and protocol support.
So especially on the exam,
look for these types of scenarios
as a hint to Azure NetApp Files
possibly being the solution you're looking for.
Security is crucial for file storage.
Azure Files and NetApp Files support your SMB
and NFS authentication and authorization.
You can also use RBAC for share-level access control
and encryption at rest and in transit
are part of the course for all of this.
The important thing to remember
is that because Azure Files
and NetApp Files both support
all of these different types of security
and access control features,
that you ensure they are enabled
and implemented in a way
that is both convenient for your users,
but also meets all of your security requirements.
For backup and disaster recovery.
Azure Files integrates with Azure Backup.
You can also use cross-region replication
with GRS and RA-GRS
and you can use Azure NetApp Files,
supporting cross-region replication
and SnapMirror for data protection.
So know what types of DR you need
and which services offer which specific solutions,
so that you know that you're implementing the ones you need.
Let's look at a scenario that brings
these concepts together.
We have a customer who wants
to migrate their on-premises file servers to Azure,
but they require sub-millisecond latency
for database files and need to retain
file share snapshots for 90 days.
To meet these requirements,
we can use Azure file Sync
to migrate the on-premises shares to Azure Files,
while also using Azure NetApp Files
for the low-latency database files.
Then we'd configure Azure file snapshots
with a 90-day retention policy
and use an RA-GRS or Z GRS for disaster recovery.
This here demonstrates how we combine
the Azure Files and NetApp Files services
to design a comprehensive file storage solution.
I hope this helped to bring everything together
and I hope to see you in the next lesson.