File share

In the Ultra Transcenders books

DP-900

Each book explains File share in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.

Terms in this definition

• 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.

• Azure Files

  Azure's managed file shares over SMB or NFS. There is no Archive tier, and a single encryption key applies across the whole storage account.

• Share

  In OpenSharing, the container you fill with tables, views, volumes, models and notebooks for recipients. You need CREATE SHARE on the metastore to make one; add a schema and all its assets, including later ones, go with history.

• LIKE

  Compares strings with a pattern that can contain the % and _ wildcards. Because it only understands character patterns, searching big volumes of text this way is much slower than using full-text search.

• CONNECT

  In SQL Server, the right to open a connection to a database. Fabric's equivalent is Read permission on an item, which allows connecting to a warehouse or SQL endpoint but not querying anything in it.

• NFS

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

• SMB

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

Related terms

• Azure File Sync

  Agent installed on Windows Server on premises that keeps a local cache of an Azure file share, syncing changes both ways and tiering cold files to the cloud.

• Default share-level permission

  Account-wide option granting one SMB share role to all authenticated identities on every file share, so individual users don't need their own assignments.

• Failover cluster instance

  High-availability option for SQL Server that requires storage shared between nodes, a premium file share for example.

• Previous Versions

  Lists older copies of a file in Explorer, drawn from VSS shadow copies or, where an Azure file share is mounted, its share snapshots.

• Proactive recall

  With this option, any file created or edited in the Azure file share is downloaded straight away to the server endpoints you pick, which raises egress costs. Part of Azure File Sync.

• Robocopy

  File-copy utility for Windows over SMB, used to move data onto an Azure file share that has been mounted. It cannot authenticate with a SAS or work with blob containers.

• Share-level permissions

  Role assignments made with Azure RBAC on an Azure file share. They govern which identities get in over SMB, and are evaluated ahead of NTFS permissions.

• Share snapshot

  Captures a whole Azure file share at one point in time as a copy that can't be changed; on Windows, users browse it through Previous Versions.