Routing preference in which traffic leaves Microsoft's network for a transit ISP at the POP closest to the storage account, reducing networking costs. It is unsupported for Azure File Sync and AD-joined Azure Files.
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Terms in this definition
- Routing preference
Decides whether internet clients reach a storage account's public endpoint over Microsoft's network, the default, or via internet routing. The choice affects the network path and egress charges, not access rights.
- ISP
A company that provides internet connections. Blocking of outbound TCP 445 by many such providers stops SMB traffic from getting through to Azure Files.
- POP
A point at the edge of Microsoft's global network through which traffic enters or exits it.
- 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 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.
- 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.
Related terms
- Microsoft routing
The default network routing choice for a storage account, carrying traffic across Microsoft's own global backbone. Joining Azure Files to AD DS and running Azure File Sync both depend on it, since neither works with internet routing.
- Peering Service
Optimised internet routing between an ISP and Microsoft. It neither assigns private IPs to PaaS resources nor makes access to them private.