Azure File Storage

What is Azure File Storage?

Azure File Storage provides cloud file shares that can be accessed and mounted by multiple machines simultaneously — just like a traditional on-premises file server, but fully managed in Azure. No hardware to provision, no OS to patch, no storage to manage.

Key Features

• Fully managed — no file servers to maintain
• Accessible via SMB 3.x and NFS 4.1 protocols
• Multiple machines can mount the same share simultaneously
• Accessible from Azure VMs, on-premises servers, and Windows/Mac/Linux machines
• Up to 100 TB per file share
• Integrated backup via Azure Backup

SMB vs NFS

Creating a File Share

# Create a file share (100 GB quota)
az storage share create \
  --name myfileshare \
  --account-name mystorageaccount2026 \
  --quota 100 \
  --auth-mode login

# List file shares
az storage share list \
  --account-name mystorageaccount2026 \
  --output table \
  --auth-mode login

Mounting on Windows

The Azure Portal provides a ready-to-use PowerShell script for mounting the file share on Windows. Here's how:

1. Go to your Storage Account → File shares → select your share
2. Click Connect
3. Select Windows
4. Choose a drive letter (e.g., Z:)
5. Copy and run the provided PowerShell script on your Windows machine

# The Portal generates this script automatically
$connectTestResult = Test-NetConnection -ComputerName mystorageaccount2026.file.core.windows.net -Port 445
if ($connectTestResult.TcpTestSucceeded) {
    # Mount the share
    cmd.exe /C "cmdkey /add:`"mystorageaccount2026.file.core.windows.net`" /user:`"localhost\mystorageaccount2026`" /pass:`"[storage-account-key]`""
    New-PSDrive -Name Z -PSProvider FileSystem -Root "\\mystorageaccount2026.file.core.windows.net\myfileshare" -Persist
} else {
    Write-Error "Unable to reach storage account — check port 445 is open"
}

Mounting on Linux

# Install CIFS utilities (for SMB)
sudo apt-get install cifs-utils -y

# Create mount point
sudo mkdir /mnt/myfileshare

# Mount the share
sudo mount -t cifs \
  //mystorageaccount2026.file.core.windows.net/myfileshare \
  /mnt/myfileshare \
  -o vers=3.0,username=mystorageaccount2026,password=[storage-account-key],dir_mode=0777,file_mode=0777

# Make it persistent (add to /etc/fstab)
echo "//mystorageaccount2026.file.core.windows.net/myfileshare /mnt/myfileshare cifs nofail,vers=3.0,username=mystorageaccount2026,password=[key],dir_mode=0777,file_mode=0777 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Azure File Sync

Azure File Sync transforms your Windows Server into a cache for an Azure file share. It replicates files between on-premises Windows Server and Azure Files — giving you fast local access with cloud-based centralised storage.

How It Works

1. Install the Azure File Sync agent on your Windows Server
2. Register the server with a Storage Sync Service in Azure
3. Create a sync group linking a server endpoint (on-premises folder) to a cloud endpoint (Azure file share)
4. Files are synchronised bidirectionally
5. With cloud tiering enabled: rarely accessed files are replaced with pointers on the local server, while the full file stays in Azure. When accessed, it's transparently downloaded.

Performance Tiers

Share Snapshots

Azure File shares support point-in-time snapshots — read-only copies of the entire file share at a specific moment. Useful for:

• Recovering accidentally deleted or modified files
• Backing up before major changes
• Compliance and audit requirements

# Create a snapshot
az storage share snapshot \
  --name myfileshare \
  --account-name mystorageaccount2026 \
  --auth-mode login

File Storage vs Blob Storage