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Get to know Azure Files and Azure File Sync

Files Without Borders

Article from ADMIN 83/2024

By Christian Knermann

Azure Files and Azure File Sync are Microsoft's classic file shares for clients on Windows, Linux, and macOS in the cloud. We introduce you to their services and guide you through their setup.

The unabated trend toward cloud-based infrastructures has given rise to many new web applications and services that differ in terms of their architecture from the legacy client-server model. Storage management is no exception, with object storage for virtually unlimited volumes of data on the rise in the form of services that offer compatibility with Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) – or at least similar functionality. Microsoft is also looking to become a serious player in this field, offering blob containers, queues, and tables as storage for cloud-native applications in the Azure cloud.

Azure Files is Microsoft's way of implementing serverless, fully managed file shares in the cloud to integrate clients on Windows, macOS, and Linux over the Server Message Block (SMB) or Network File System (NFS) protocol [1]. (See the "Legacy CIFS, SMB, and NFS" box.) Users can still rely on familiar approaches (e.g., the graphical File Explorer, the command line, PowerShell, and Linux Shell). In a best case scenario, clients and end users will not even notice a difference compared with working on a legacy local file server. Moreover, the service comes with a REST API, referred to as FileREST API in the online documentation, to enable access over HTTPS.

Legacy CIFS, SMB, and NFS

LANs in corporate environments are still inhabited by business-critical applications that adhere to traditional principles and rely on conventional file shares. Windows in particular relies on the SMB/Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol, but macOS and Linux (with the cifs-utils package) also use it.

Microsoft coined the original term "Common Internet File System," and it is still a part of everyday life. On closer inspection, however, CIFS only refers to the first standardization proposal

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