A failover cluster role in which every node serves the same SMB shares simultaneously, intended for application workloads like SQL Server database files and Hyper-V virtual machines.
Also called SOFS.
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Each book explains Scale-Out File Server in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Role
How an actor normally or expectedly behaves, or the part a person takes in a process. A single actor may hold more than one role.
- SMB
Protocol for Windows file shares, used by Azure Files and supporting authentication based on identity.
- 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.
- SQL Server
The relational database from Microsoft that organisations host and run themselves, in their own data centres or on VMs. Its engine also sits underneath the Azure SQL services and SQL database in Fabric.
- Schema
The middle part of a Unity Catalog name (
catalog.schema.table), grouping tables, views, volumes, functions and models inside a catalog. A grant on it covers everything in it now and later, and nothing inside can be reached withoutUSE SCHEMA. - Hyper-V
The hypervisor built into Windows. The VMs for the Azure Extended Network appliance require the Hyper-V role, using nested virtualisation, and an external virtual switch for each NIC.
- Virtual machines
Infrastructure-as-a-service compute giving complete control of the operating system, making it a fit for lift-and-shift moves and for software relying on OS-level pieces like COM.
Related terms
- Cluster Shared Volumes
Shared failover cluster storage that all nodes write to simultaneously, typically for Scale-Out File Server or Hyper-V. On SAN-backed storage, ReFS-formatted volumes work in redirected mode.
- File Server for general use
The ordinary kind of clustered file server: its shares are online on just one node at any time, which is how it differs from a Scale-Out File Server.
- Storage Quality of Service
Sets IOPS floors and ceilings for virtual disks kept on Cluster Shared Volumes or a Scale-Out File Server in Windows Server, with central performance monitoring.