Serving Files In Azure

A technical discussion on the various options for providing SMB based File Services within Azure. Many lift and shift operations into Azure require some sort of file share and the lack of shared storage in Azure can make providing resilient file services an issue. This presentation will cover what options are available and they benefits and problems. This will include Azure Files, Storage Spaces Direct, DFSR and more.

1. 1 st Azure Saturday | Munich, Germany | June 24 th , 2017 AzureSaturday.de | # AzureSaturday | twitter.com/ AzureSaturday Serving Files in Azure SMB File Services in the Cloud Sam Cogan

2. Thanks to our sponsors! Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday

3. Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday Sam Cogan Microsoft Azure MVP & Cloud Architect  samcogan.com  @ samcogan

4. The Challenge Legacy applications requiring SMB shares Azure SLA Requirement for HA Operational Requirement for HA Disaster Recovery No Shared Storage Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday

5. SMB Services In Azure Azure Files Standalone File Server Storage Spaces Direct Storage Replica DFSR Third Party Solutions Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday

6. Azure Files Benefits PaaS Service Highly Available Redundant ( including geographically) Encrypted Cheap SMB 2.1 & 3 Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday Limitations Security Use of Storage Key External Access Performance 5TB Size Limit 1TB File Limit Backup & Recovery Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering within Azure storage providing SMB shares accessible using Windows and Linux.

7. Standalone File Server Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday Benefits 99.9% SLA No performance hit for replication Simple Backup Reduced Cost Simple Management Limitations Single Point of Failure Reduced SLA Maintenance = Downtime Reliance on Backup Single instance of an Azure virtual machine acting as a Windows file server.

8. Storage Spaces Direct Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday New Server 2016 feature for creating a “no shared storage” cluster using storage spaces. Clusters of Disks and Servers Mirror or Parity Two or Three Way Large Server Side Cache ARM Template

9. Storage Spaces Direct Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday Benefits True Active/Active Cluster Instant Failover Highly Available 99.95% SLA Supports Cloud Witness Limitations Limited supported workloads Performance Concerns Additional Cost Backup Limitations Requires Server 2016

10. Storage Replica Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday New Server 2016 feature that allows replication of data from one server (or cluster) to another for DR. Supports synchronous and asynchronous replication. Synchronous and Asynchronous Replication Block Level SMB3 Network Constraints Server or Cluster Replication

11. Storage Replica Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday Benefits Block level replication Choice of sync or async Simpler Backup Can combine with S2D Works with DFSR Namespaces Limitations Intended for DR Failover not automated One to One Replication No access to data on non active node PowerShell Management Only Requires Server 2016

12. DFSR Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday Benefits Multi Server Replication Automated Failover Simple Backup 99.95% SLA Limitations Failover not Instant No replication of open files Performance Prone to issues and maintenance Not Synchronous Difficult to manage Time tested solution for replication of data between multiple nodes.

13. Third Party Tools Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday Benefits Supports Failover Clustering Of the shelf solution Abstracts Azure Storage Layer Limitations Cost Complexity Support Training Third party solutions for providing shared storage or NAS solutions such as SIOS Data Keeper, SoftNAS

14. Decision Tree Azure Files Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday

15. Summary None of the solutions are perfect Future updates may change things Appropriateness will vary by project Pick the solution with the least downsides for you Test! Ensure you understand the limitations and build them into your operations plans Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday

16. Feedback Please provide your feedback: https://form.responster.com/HjqPz9 Thank you! Azure Saturday | June 24th, 2017 | #AzureSaturday