MultiCloud Classroom notes 16/Apr/2026

Azure File Storage

Overview

Azure offers four managed file storage services, each designed for different workloads and performance requirements.

Service Best For Protocol Latency
Azure Files General cloud file shares SMB, NFS, REST Low (ms)
Azure File Sync Hybrid on-prem + cloud SMB (local) Local cache speed
Azure NetApp Files Enterprise NAS, SAP HANA NFS, SMB Sub-millisecond
Azure Managed Lustre HPC, AI/ML training Lustre (POSIX) Sub-millisecond

Azure Files

A fully managed cloud file share service accessible via SMB, NFS, and REST protocols.

a. Classic File Share (Standard)

HDD-backed storage with three cost tiers:

  • Transaction Optimized — high transaction workloads
  • Hot — frequently accessed files
  • Cool — backup and archival

Key specs:

  • Max share size: 100 TiB
  • Max IOPS: 10,000
  • Storage type: HDD
  • Protocols: SMB 2.1/3.x, NFS 4.1, REST

Use cases:

  • Lift-and-shift of legacy applications
  • Shared configuration files for containerized apps
  • Dev/test environments
  • Home directories for users

b. Premium File Share

SSD-backed storage with provisioned billing:

  • Max share size: 100 TiB
  • Max IOPS: 100,000
  • Storage type: SSD
  • Protocols: SMB 3.x, NFS 4.1

Use cases:

  • Latency-sensitive databases
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
  • High-performance applications

Common Features (Both Share Types)

Feature Details
Authentication AD DS, Azure AD DS, Azure AD Kerberos, storage key
Encryption at rest AES-256
Encryption in transit SMB 3.x
Snapshots Point-in-time read-only copies
Soft delete Protect shares from accidental deletion

CLI — Create a File Share

# Create storage account
az storage account create \
  --name mystorageaccount \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --location eastus \
  --sku Standard_LRS \
  --kind StorageV2

# Get storage key
KEY=$(az storage account keys list \
  --account-name mystorageaccount \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --query "[0].value" -o tsv)

# Create standard file share
az storage share create \
  --name myfileshare \
  --account-name mystorageaccount \
  --account-key "$KEY" \
  --quota 100

# Create premium file share
az storage share-rm create \
  --name premiumshare \
  --storage-account mystorageaccount \
  --enabled-protocol SMB \
  --quota 100

Azure File Sync

Extends Azure Files by caching file shares on Windows Servers on-premises — a hybrid bridge between cloud and local.

Architecture

On-Premises                          Azure Cloud
┌──────────────┐    Sync        ┌──────────────────┐
│Windows Server│◄──────────────►│  Azure File Share │
│  (hot data)  │                │  (full dataset)   │
└──────────────┘                └──────────────────┘
  Local cache only

Key Components

Component Description
Storage Sync Service Top-level Azure resource
Sync Group Defines topology (1 cloud + N server endpoints)
Registered Server Windows Server enrolled in sync
Server Endpoint A local path on the Windows Server
Cloud Endpoint The Azure File Share
Cloud Tiering Stubs cold files locally; recalls on demand

Cloud Tiering

  • Rarely accessed files replaced by lightweight pointer stubs on the server
  • Files recalled transparently when a user opens them
  • Full directory namespace remains visible even for stubbed files
  • Configurable by free space policy or date policy

Use Cases

  • Modernize file servers without changing user workflows
  • Multi-site file share replication (branch offices)
  • Backup and disaster recovery for on-prem file servers
  • Branch office caching of centralized data

CLI — Setup File Sync

# Create Storage Sync Service
az storagesync create \
  --name myStorageSyncService \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --location eastus

# Create Sync Group
az storagesync sync-group create \
  --storage-sync-service myStorageSyncService \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --name mySyncGroup

# Create Cloud Endpoint
az storagesync sync-group cloud-endpoint create \
  --storage-sync-service myStorageSyncService \
  --sync-group-name mySyncGroup \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --name myCloudEndpoint \
  --storage-account-resource-id /subscriptions/.../storageAccounts/mystorageaccount \
  --azure-file-share-name myfileshare

Azure NetApp Files (ANF)

An enterprise-grade, high-performance NAS service built on NetApp ONTAP technology, fully managed by Azure. Runs on bare-metal NetApp hardware — not emulated.

Architecture

NetApp Account
└── Capacity Pool (e.g., 4 TiB, Ultra tier)
     ├── Volume 1 — NFS v4.1 — 1 TiB
     ├── Volume 2 — SMB 3.x — 500 GiB
     └── Volume 3 — Dual protocol — 2 TiB

Performance Tiers

Tier Throughput per TiB Use Case
Standard 16 MiB/s General workloads, file archiving
Premium 64 MiB/s Databases, ERP, Oracle
Ultra 128 MiB/s SAP HANA, HPC, VDI at scale

Key Features

  • Protocols: NFS v3/v4.1, SMB 3.x, dual-protocol (both simultaneously)
  • Latency: Sub-millisecond on bare-metal hardware
  • Snapshots: Instant point-in-time copies (space-efficient)
  • SnapMirror: Cross-region volume replication
  • Volume cloning: Instant writable clones for dev/test
  • SAP HANA certified: Meets SAP performance requirements

Use Cases

  • SAP HANA and SAP S/4HANA workloads
  • High-performance databases (Oracle, SQL Server)
  • HPC simulations and rendering
  • VDI at scale (persistent desktops)
  • Analytics pipelines requiring fast NFS

CLI — Create a NetApp Volume

# Create NetApp account
az netappfiles account create \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --location eastus \
  --name myNetAppAccount

# Create capacity pool
az netappfiles pool create \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --location eastus \
  --account-name myNetAppAccount \
  --name myPool \
  --size 4 \
  --service-level Ultra

# Create volume
az netappfiles volume create \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --location eastus \
  --account-name myNetAppAccount \
  --pool-name myPool \
  --name myVolume \
  --service-level Ultra \
  --usage-threshold 1099511627776 \
  --protocol-types NFSv3 \
  --vnet myVNet \
  --subnet mySubnet \
  --file-path myvolumepath

Azure Managed Lustre

A fully managed parallel file system based on open-source Lustre — purpose-built for massive-scale HPC and AI/ML workloads.

How Lustre Works

Lustre distributes data across many Object Storage Targets (OSTs) simultaneously. Hundreds of compute nodes can read and write in parallel, so aggregate throughput scales with the number of OSTs.

Architecture

GPU / HPC Cluster (clients)
        │ Lustre client (POSIX)
        ▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│   Managed Lustre File System   │
│   (parallel OSTs)             │
└──────────────┬────────────────┘
               │ import / export
               ▼
       Azure Blob Storage

Key Features

  • Throughput: Scales from 500 MB/s up to tens of GB/s
  • Protocol: Native Lustre client (POSIX-compliant)
  • Blob integration: Import data from Blob before job; export results after
  • Ephemeral by design: Spin up for a job, tear down after
  • POSIX compliant: Existing HPC apps work with zero code changes
  • Min size: 48 TiB (increments of 48 TiB)

SKUs

SKU MB/s per TiB
AMLFS-Durable-Premium-40 40
AMLFS-Durable-Premium-125 125
AMLFS-Durable-Premium-250 250
AMLFS-Durable-Premium-500 500

Use Cases

  • AI/ML model training (fast checkpoint reads/writes for GPU clusters)
  • Genomics and life sciences data processing
  • Seismic processing (oil and gas simulations)
  • CFD/FEA simulations (aerospace, automotive HPC)
  • Rendering farms (visual effects pipelines)

CLI — Create Managed Lustre

az amlfs create \
  --name myLustreFS \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --location eastus \
  --sku AMLFS-Durable-Premium-250 \
  --storage-capacity-tib 48 \
  --subnet-id /subscriptions/.../subnets/mySubnet \
  --maintenance-window \
    dayOfWeek=Saturday timeOfDayUtc=22:00

Side-by-Side Comparison

Azure Files File Sync NetApp Files Managed Lustre
Best for General file shares Hybrid on-prem+cloud Enterprise NAS / SAP HPC / AI-ML
Protocol SMB, NFS, REST SMB NFS, SMB Lustre (POSIX)
Latency Low (ms) Local cache speed Sub-ms Sub-ms
Max throughput ~10 GB/s Server-limited ~4.5 GB/s/vol Tens of GB/s
On-prem integration Mount as drive Native agent sync Via VNet Cloud-native
Managed Fully Agent-based Fully Fully
Min size 1 GiB N/A 4 TiB (pool) 48 TiB
Cost tier Low Low + server cost High Medium

Quick Decision Guide

Need a simple cloud file share (SMB/NFS)?
  └── Azure Files — Standard (classic share)

Need low-latency SSD-backed share for apps?
  └── Azure Files — Premium

Still using on-prem Windows file servers?
  └── Azure File Sync (hybrid caching)

Running SAP HANA, Oracle, or enterprise NAS?
  └── Azure NetApp Files

Training AI/ML models or running HPC jobs?
  └── Azure Managed Lustre

cli cmd


az group create --name democli --location eastus

az storage account create -n democli2205 -g democli -l eastus --sku Standard_LRS

az storage container create --name democontainer --account-name democli2205  --auth-mode login


az storage blob upload --account-name democli2205 --container-name democontainer --name myfolder/myfile.txt --file /path/to/local/file.txt --auth-mode login


https://democli2205.blob.core.windows.net/democontainer/demo/azure_Storage_over_view.png?<SAStoken>

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