Azure Files

In the Ultra Transcenders books

AZ-305AZ-104AZ-700SC-500AI-103AZ-900DP-900AZ-802

Each book explains Azure Files in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.

Terms in this definition

• OVER

  Gives a T-SQL window function its window: PARTITION BY, ORDER BY and, if wanted, a ROWS or RANGE frame. Rankings and running totals can then be worked out while every row is kept.

• SMB

  Protocol for Windows file shares, used by Azure Files and supporting authentication based on identity.

• NFS

  Network File System, a file-sharing protocol from the Unix world, available on Azure Files, Azure NetApp Files and Blob Storage (as NFSv3).

• Archive tier

  An offline blob access tier offering the cheapest storage, meant for data that is hardly ever read. Archived blobs must first be rehydrated to the Hot, Cool or Cold tier, which may take as long as 15 hours, before you can read or change them, and ZRS, GZRS and RA-GZRS accounts can't use this tier.

• Encryption

  Scrambling data so it cannot be read without the correct secret key, which is then used to turn it back again. Hashing, by contrast, cannot be reversed.

• Index field attributes

  Settings applied to each field in an Azure AI Search index: searchable for full text, retrievable to return it, filterable for exact-match $filter, sortable, facetable for counts, and key for the unique document ID.

• Storage account

  The top-level resource in Azure Storage, giving a unique namespace for table, queue, file and blob data. Location, performance and kind are set when it is created and cannot change.

Related terms

• ACL

  List of permissions set on a file or folder; examples include the POSIX-style lists in ADLS Gen2 and NTFS lists on Azure Files. Attribute conditions cannot be expressed in them.

• Azure ABAC

  Attribute-based conditions added on top of Azure RBAC role assignments, such as granting access only to blobs carrying a certain index tag. Blobs (ADLS Gen2 included) and queues support them; Azure Files and Tables do not.

• Azure Backup always-on soft delete

  Setting on Recovery Services and Backup vaults that, once enabled, is permanent. Deleted backup data stays recoverable for 14 to 180 days (14 by default, first 14 free); blob and Azure Files operational backups aren't covered.

• Backup policy

  Setting in an Azure Backup vault fixing when one type of workload is backed up and for how long. Policies don't extend beyond their vault, so VM and Azure Files policies must be created in each vault separately.

• Backup vault

  Vault type in Azure Backup aimed at newer workloads, for instance managed disks, Azure Blobs, AKS and Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Protecting Azure VMs, Azure Files or MARS backups requires a Recovery Services vault instead.

• Cloud TGT

  Issued by Microsoft Entra ID alongside the PRT when someone signs in to Windows, this ticket for the KERBEROS.MICROSOFTONLINE.COM realm lets a device request service tickets for cloud resources like Azure Files with no domain controller involved.

• Datastore

  A named pointer in the workspace to Blob, Azure Files or ADLS Gen2 storage that keeps the connection details, so code never needs to carry storage keys itself.

• File share

  Created within a storage account, an Azure Files share works like a shared drive on an office network: clients connect to it using NFS or SMB.