Microsoft Azure File Storage Reviews

Azure files offers several architectural scenarios so you can check and implement different use cases depending on your needs. In brief you can use the Azure Files with a serverless approach or to integrate it with your on premise file servers through Azure File Sync.

We have IT colleagues spread all over the world, so we are trying to define governance rules. We need to manage things at the infrastructure level, and so the Azure File could be a technology to replace or to integrate with our file servers on-premise solution.

We are testing and looking at the pros and cons, and we will decide based on features and the cost that will be present to the infrastructure manager. I think we will start to use Azure Files technology in production in the next year.

Azure Files does not require management of hardware or operating systems.

What we have found good for our company is the part related to the Azure File Sync that could be useful in a disaster recovery environment. If we have to restore all the shared data on-premise, it takes a lot of hours or days. We installed the Azure File Sync on a test on-premise server, and it was quick to synchronize back from Azure to the on-premise server. This is a really nice feature.

To get the best features on tiering, performance and security we must use W2016 and W10 in fact for example Azure File Sync does not support Data Deduplication and cloud tiering on Windows Server 2012 R2.

All data are encrypted in transit and at rest on Azure Files, Defender for Azure Storage is also available at additional cost.

Azure File offers Local and Geo-redundancy, your data can be stored in multiple Azure data centers improving availability and data proximity.

Azure backup is a fully managed service so you don't need to manage an on-premise solution, it is easy to use even though we expected better performance on the restore part, using standard storage we spend from 89 to 96 minutes to restore 341GB.

Keep attention and do not share the storage account key since it can be a security issue. With the storage account key, you can do everything you want on the storage account and on the file shares. It can be useful because this is the only way to work at home with an unmanaged PC from my company, but at the same time, if you share this key to external users, it could be a security issue.

It's a bit tricky to manage the permissions, because you have to set RBAC rights then mount the Azure File Share on your PC/server and then start to manage NTFS permissions locally.

The ability to check the open files would be a nice additional feature. On-premise you can check which files are open. On Azure, I haven't found this part.

Management and Troubleshooting often need Powershell commands.

We have been testing the solution since June 2021, but not in a real production environment. We are only testing macros, permissions, accessibility, backup and so on.

Good

I'm from Italy, but I belong to a server team hosted mainly in France and Germany. We need to manage things at the infrastructure level, and Azure File could be a technology to replace or to integrate with our on-premise solution.

The service can scale to fit almost any need, Azure Files offers four different tiers of storage allowing us to tailor our shares to the performance but obviously the cost will increase.

We have an enterprise agreement with microsoft so I tried to open a couple of requests directly at Microsoft, asking more information about the cost. Their reply was, "We don't have precise information for you, use the Azure Calculator; just start to use the service then check after some time".

Implement the service is quite easy, managing permissions can be tricky when starting from zero on this topic.

For one terabyte of data, we are spending about 150 Euro every month; but we are using the solution at a basic level with standard storage (HDDs and not SDDs).

It has been difficult to understand the real cost besides the solution, In my oppinion costs are not fully transparent.

Microsoft Azure File Storage enables seamless integration with enterprise interfaces like ADF to exchange data with external applications via HTTP protocols. This allows business users to easily transfer files or access files generated from other systems in SaaS or PaaS environments. For instance, you can use specific connectors to directly generate data from Salesforce and store it in Azure Storage. Additionally, Azure File Storage provides endpoints and a comprehensive API for managing data access.

Microsoft Azure File Storage allows business users to connect to storage using Azure Active Directory features for authentication and security. This facilitates storing, transferring, and accessing data securely. It's a valuable feature appreciated for its simplicity and ease of use.

I have been using Microsoft Azure File Storage for three years.

The product is stable. I rank Microsoft Azure as number one, AWS as number two, and IBM Cloud as number three.

500 users are using this solution.

I rate the solution’s scalability a nine out of ten.

The deployment is simple.

Microsoft Azure File Storage is a paid service, like most cloud services. Various payment plans are available, including pay-as-you-go and reserved instances for lower costs. You should reserve resources in advance to manage expenses efficiently.

Cloud providers like Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, and AWS often offer similar services, although they may present them differently. For instance, Azure Blob Storage is different from Azure File Storage. While the core functionalities may align, pricing, features, and performance differences exist among these services.

Microsoft Azure File Storage is a useful feature. I haven't encountered any issues with its connectors or integration into enterprise systems. While I've recently faced challenges with other technologies, Microsoft provides reliable services. 

Microsoft Azure File Storage provides robust security features to protect data at rest and in transit. While it utilizes TLS certificates for secure file transfer, additional security measures can be implemented through custom encryption algorithms or encryption methods. This allows for tailored security solutions to meet the specific needs of enterprise companies, ensuring data remains protected during storage and transit.

We recommend Microsoft Azure File Storage because it offers secure access to your data from anywhere. Cloud providers prioritize security, which is crucial for all companies today. Securing data in transit and at rest is a significant challenge, and Azure provides robust solutions. Additionally, the cloud is the future of computing.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We are transforming our Oracle databases to the data lake because the data volume is increasing daily. We are moving from classic Azure to modernize our architecture in that scenario.

The product can integrate with all platforms. My team also does data visualization, and Power BI can directly connect with those nodes. We can very conveniently connect with multiple tools for our database. The benefit here is that by utilizing the same storage application, my application is linked with their application through the same server. This setup provides real analytics and data for a holistic purpose, which is advantageous.

The tool needs to add more controls and enhance Power BI. For instance, I'm just suggesting the visualization layer. Power BI can increase visualization as much as possible, and the product can add more controls to the data flows. 

I have been working with the product for seven to eight months. 

I rate the tool's stability an eight out of ten.

My company has 20-23 users. 

As of now, support seems to be understanding the situation well. If there are any questions about the intro, they're handled separately. We've hired a vendor to provide support in India, and they should be able to provide the necessary assistance. However, if the issue surpasses their capabilities, it's escalated to the US panel or the core development team, which usually takes longer.

Our vendor helps with the deployment process.

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. 

In my company, we use Microsoft Azure File Storage for the backup of our data since we have opted for an on-premises deployment model. We also use it to keep another copy of the data.

Microsoft Azure File Storage is not that easy to use. We had a few concerns regarding the communication between Microsoft's on-premises and cloud versions, which we feel is because of the geolocation differences between our business and the data centers of Microsoft. The product should be easier to use.

Since the initial setup phase of Microsoft Azure File Storage was not easy, it should be made easier by getting Microsoft to pay closer attention to the Middle East region.

I have been using Microsoft Azure File Storage for four years. I use the solution's latest version.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten since my company did face some communication issues between Microsoft's on-premises and cloud versions.

It is a scalable product since it is a cloud solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

The IT personnel in our company use the solution.

My company has managers, admins, engineers, and developers as technical staff for the solution.

It is regularly used in my company.

The solution's technical support is good.

The initial setup phase of Microsoft Azure File Storage was not easy.

The deployment process was completed in two weeks.

Our company uses the help of consultants during the installation. We can also call the resellers to help us with the installation.

My company has experienced a return on investment for our business use cases.

The licensing cost for Microsoft Azure File Storage comes with an agreement from Microsoft.

I would tell those planning to buy the solution to put in the effort to understand Microsoft's strategy before they go for a cloud solution or cloud storage. The product's potential users need to find the risks of going to a cloud solution and the return on their investment. They also need to compare the on-premises and the cloud solution offered by Microsoft Azure File Storage.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

We are using Microsoft Azure File Storage for file access.

The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure File Storage is the cloud file storage capability.

The support could improve.

I have been using Microsoft Azure File Storage for approximately six years.

We looked into the stability before we chose this solution and it has great stability.

I rate the stability of Microsoft Azure File Storage a nine out of ten.

We have less than 500 people using the solution.

I rate the scalability of Microsoft Azure File Storage an eight out of ten.

The support needs to improve. When we contacted support we received different answers to resolute our issue which was not helpful.

I rate the support from Microsoft Azure File Storage a three out of ten.

Negative

The majority of people are primarily using the Microsoft ecosystem. If I were not part of that ecosystem today, I would undoubtedly require an alternative to Microsoft Azure File Storage. In fact, I would likely opt for either Google or AWS instead.

The initial setup of Microsoft Azure File Storage is simple. Someone with basic technical knowledge can handle the task.

We did the deployment of the solution ourselves.

The price of Microsoft Azure File Storage is expensive, we do not know exactly how the price is calculated.

I rate the price of Microsoft Azure File Storage five out of ten.

We use four people for the maintenance of the solution.

I rate Microsoft Azure File Storage an eight out of ten.

We primarily use the solution in the IoT environment to gather information from devices in file form using FTP protocol and SDP to move the files from the clients to the cloud. Naturally, we kept those files in the file system that we moved for various internal reasons into a database. Due to physical and preconceived infrastructure reasons, we moved the installation into the data of up to a week. This is to block storage for analytics and data warehousing.

The solution used a standard file system. It is very easy to use SSTP and some traditional code to move the data into a database because we can easily use the permissions and we don't have any integration or conversion issues.

The integration of the site storage with SQL was not completely seamless. We had to do some extra steps as there was no immediate support for file storage, only for block storage. For whatever reason, since we were working with a managed service and a secure service, most of the connections we made were not very successful. We had to do some networking. The integration has room for improvement.

In our process, we use the entire system just as an intermediate. An ideal solution is to gather the information from the endpoint and then move it into a database or sign-up. With that, we can do some analytics. In the future, it would be nice if there was a tight progression between the five storage and the analytical tools. For example, if we are working with Power BI, it would be very helpful if we could point to the signer, SQL environment, global environment, or file system environment and have them be completely synchronous.

I have been using the solution for two years.

The stability is good except for a few occasions when we had issues with the SQL.

The solution is scalable.

We have 100 people using the solution in our organization.

The technical support is good.

The initial setup is straightforward.

I give the pricing of the solution a seven out of ten.

I give the solution a seven out of ten.

I used Microsoft Azure File Storage for a project focused on deploying a Windows server and connecting that server to my Active Directory domain. I synchronized the file server with Microsoft Azure File Storage. I then set up and connected the disc storage with storage in the cloud to back up the data. My intent for using the solution was to back up data in the cloud. My company doesn't use Microsoft Azure File Storage, but other organizations, government, and non-government could be using it. The usage of the solution depends on whether an organization can integrate Microsoft Azure File Storage into its environment.

I like that Microsoft Azure File Storage works fine and is quick to deploy. It's also easy to connect to it, particularly when connecting it with my on-premise file servers. Microsoft Azure File Storage doesn't give me any connection issues.

Microsoft Azure File Storage needs more integrations.

I encountered a problem with the solution: Microsoft said you could directly integrate Azure file share on your PC by enabling that feature in Microsoft Azure File Storage. It worked at first, but then, when I restarted my PC, that feature stopped working. I did that only for research purposes, so I wonder if Microsoft fixed that bug or if that Azure file share integration feature in Microsoft Azure File Storage was designed wrong.

In the future, I also want to see GRC added to the portal to integrate it with Microsoft Azure File Storage and other Azure services. If you enroll or sign up for Azure services, your country may not have GRC available in the portal, so you may have to choose a strange country, for example, Kenya, to activate credit. Having GRC helps many students, enterprises, and users easily access Microsoft Azure File Storage.

Microsoft Azure File Storage is a stable solution.

Microsoft Azure File Storage has good scalability. Scalability-wise, it's a nine out of ten.

My rating for the technical support for Microsoft Azure File Storage is nine out of ten.

I'm a Microsoft Student Ambassador, so I get free access to Microsoft technologies, and if I need support, I can contact other members or Microsoft directly. I can ask the community via Microsoft Teams. I'm an MVP nominee in the Windows Insider program, so I can ask a question and get an answer quickly, so I rated support as nine.

Positive

It was my first time using a public cloud storage service, such as Microsoft Azure File Storage. It was also my first time using Azure to deploy a web application. The other tool I used wasn't in the public cloud storage but in the data visualization niche. That was Microsoft Power BI, which I connected to a database on Azure and an API gateway.

Microsoft Azure File Storage deployment is quick but depends on your connection. A good connection takes one or two clicks, and the deployment time also depends on the data you have in Microsoft Azure File Storage.

If you have more data, then that takes more time. Still, Microsoft has improved the capabilities, quality, and protocol to help enterprises transfer even massive amounts of data many times. I don't have much data, though, just around 500MB.

I deployed Microsoft Azure File Storage. I didn't need a consultant because I referred to the documentation. Microsoft documentation gives information on different services. For example, if you type "Azure cloud services," you'll find various topics on cloud services. If you choose, for example, "file sync," you'll see information on how to start, the steps you need to take, how to integrate, etc. If you face any issue following the steps in the documentation, you can always Google it.

The licensing cost for Microsoft Azure File Storage is very low. I viewed my bill from Azure on the portal, and the solution didn't cost much.

Microsoft Azure File Storage has a reasonable price. It's cheap, price-wise.

I recommend Microsoft Azure File Storage to other people.

My Microsoft Azure File Storage rating is a nine on a scale of one to ten.

I generally help customers use Microsoft Azure File Storage primarily for a lot of purposes, including the storage of files and enhancing storage security. There are private endpoints and private DNS resolver, which is basically a private endpoint resolver that resolves the IP address of the private endpoints internally. It is then further mapped within the application. It also has short file storage which accesses the storage according to the minimum privilege and rights assigned to that storage. It has networking facilities and firewall options to safeguard public data. It also has a SaaS token that can be generated around the storage and shared storage which enables customers to share their files through Azure File Storage. 

Flexible stroage in the cloud is very use and can be cheap and programmaticlay deployed

There are various features attached to the solution, including firewall options to safeguard it. The profile management option is another valuable feature that allows us to manage the profiles and secure them. It allows the user to understand what configuration has been made to the  Azure virtual desktop. Blob Table Container Tables Queues Elastic San & Azure NetApp Files are also lots of other features that can be explored.

There is always going to be room for improvement. Certain use cases will evolve where file storage is used with visual ID and group mapping. As long as the dynamic mapping is working seamlessly, there aren’t any changes needed in Microsoft Azure File Storage. As of now, I've got no such recommendations.

Importing and exporting data needs to have a bit more documentation. Recently, Microsoft has actually stepped up and provided some training about securing data but they need to have a solution in case the data needs to be migrated. They need to include a service to securely transfer the data through Microsoft and encrypt it.

I have been working with Microsoft Azure File Storage for a couple of years.

It is very rare to get an outage in Azure. If there are any issues, the data is replicated into the DR region, allowing you to access it depending on the skew that is actually applied. 

Microsoft Azure File Storage can scale well because of its dynamic nature. It's quite scalable because of a file agent that is set on-premise and helps to scale out pretty much really. Azure can create large storage accounts and manage that, replicating the data securely.

Medium to large enterprises can mostly use file storage because they have a lot of data and Microsoft's features are evolving every day, making it a fit match.

I have direct experience with customer service at Microsoft. Usually, it involved raising a ticket. However, we as consultants are expected to fix the client’s problems first, and if there is a bug, then we raise the ticket. My experience with customer support is pretty good. They've always responded very quickly, and I never had to follow up with them. 

Positive

Net App

The setup is easy and easily doable. As long as the steps recommended by Microsoft are applied, it is not very complex. 

Usually, it is our customers who implement the solution. In most cases, they don’t require assistance if they follow the guidelines laid by Microsoft. However, in case there is any kind of assistance required, we help them to set it up. Usually, it is deployed on the cloud, but there are multiple ways to mimic the deployment and in some cases, they require it.

The pricing is usually dependent on your storage requirements. Overall, I believe Microsoft Azure File Storage's price is reasonable. 

On Premises San Storage

As long as one knows how to implement and secure it, Microsoft Azure File Storage can be used efficiently. There aren’t any particular recommendations, because a lot of it is already in place.

Microsoft has been implementing these scenarios but they can work a bit more around the SaaS token scenario. If they can simplify that, it can be great as not enough people use the SaaS tokens. I think this needs to be explained on an engineering level. If they include it, customers can use and choose this facility.

Overall, I would rate Microsoft Azure File Storage an eight out of ten.