SAS for short: the interface typically found on server drives and shared JBOD enclosures; Storage Spaces handles it alongside NVMe and SATA. Don't mix it up with Azure's shared access signatures.
Also called SAS.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Serial Attached SCSI in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- JBOD
Just a bunch of disks: an enclosure that exposes each disk on its own without RAID, the kind standalone Storage Spaces uses.
- General-purpose v1
The older storage account kind (
Storage), which lacks access tiers, Archive and premium file shares and retires on 13 October 2026. Converting to ZRS requires first upgrading to GPv2, a one-way change. - NVMe
Flash Optimized Azure Managed Redis keeps keys and hot values in memory while moving colder values, roughly 80 percent of capacity, onto this high-speed flash storage.
- SATA
A local disk interface, usually slower than NVMe or SAS. vSAN ESA cannot use it since that architecture requires NVMe.
Related terms
- Access keys
Pair of 512-bit keys belonging to a storage account; every account SAS and service SAS is signed with one of them. Once both are regenerated, direct key access and all those SAS tokens stop working.
- AIProjectClient
Starting object of the Microsoft Foundry SDK, constructed from the project endpoint plus a Microsoft Entra credential like DefaultAzureCredential. Because only Entra ID authentication is supported, no project key or SAS exists.
- Azure Storage Explorer
Desktop application for handling data in storage accounts that already exist, such as blobs and their tiers, file shares, tables, queues and SAS URLs; creating a storage account isn't possible from it.
- Blob index tags
Indexed, searchable key-value attributes set on blobs, which lifecycle rules can filter on via
blobIndexMatchand ABAC conditions can use; filtering by them isn't possible with a SAS. - Custom endpoint
Lets your own app push events into, or read events out of, an eventstream. It provides connection details for Kafka, AMQP or Event Hubs protocols, secured with either Entra ID or a SAS key, and can act as a source or a destination.
- Identity-based authentication
SMB access to Azure Files using identities from AD DS, Entra Domain Services or Entra Kerberos. SAS tokens play no part in SMB access.
- IKEDiagnosticLog
A VPN Gateway resource log giving detailed IKE and IPsec negotiation information, including SAs, proposals and PSK failures. Check it first when a tunnel fails to come up or repeatedly drops.
- Logic Apps authorization policy
Setting on a logic app that checks Microsoft Entra OAuth tokens sent to request-based triggers against an issuer and claims. SAS still works alongside it unless you also turn on Disable SAS authentication, which only Consumption offers.