Azure Files Authentication Expands Use Cases

• Azure Files now supports authentication and access control with Active Directory Domain Services or Azure Active Directory Domain Services.
• The change allows the service to replace Windows Server–based file servers and could be useful for Windows Virtual Desktop deployments.
• The devices that access Azure Files shares will determine which method is best to use.

Azure Files offers elastic file shares to support Azure-hosted applications, utility use by Azure administrators, and synchronization of file shares with on-premises locations via File Sync. Support for authentication and access control using Azure Active Directory Domain Services or on-premises Active Directory Domain Services could make Azure Files useful in more scenarios, like storing user profiles for the Azure-hosted Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) service or hosting Azure file shares accessed by remote users via Azure compute resources.

File Shares in Azure

Azure Files provides file shares without a VM file server or preallocated storage such as an Azure Disk, enabling customers to set up and expand file shares quickly and without the additional cost or administrative overhead of maintaining a Windows Server–based file server in an Azure VM. The service is often used to host Server Message Block (SMB) file shares required by an application that has been ported to Azure VMs, minimizing changes to the application. It can also be used by Azure administrators  to store and access tools or system images for management of VMs and other resources in Azure. In addition to a Standard storage tier, the service also offers a high-performance Premium storage tier, incremental snapshots, and storage redundancy.