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Azure NetApp Files - Enterprise file storage, powered by NetApp

I have consciously chosen this title. Azure NetApp Files (ANF) is becoming increasingly important and therefore I would like to go into a little more detail with this article. ANF is an enterprise-class, high-performance and metered file storange service.

Today, 80% of enterprise data is stored in files – and even so-called native cloud applications often use files to structure the information that is stored in the cloud. So whether you’re moving enterprise applications and workloads to the cloud, or you want to accelerate many cloud applications, a high-performance, fully managed file service in the cloud is critical. Azure NetApp Files offer a fully managed service, built on NetApp technology, running in the cloud. These services support SMB, NFSv3, and NFSv4 protocols, and they allow full data mobility between any endpoint for hybrid and multi-cloud flexibility. Experience NetApp’s data management capabilities and the cloud’s unlimited availability and scalability, without any of the administrative tasks and overhead.

  • Key Features
    • Azure NetApp Files supports multiple protocol and enables lift and shift migration from On-prem to Azure
    • Multiple performance tiers for your workload requirements
    • Simple integration with other Azure Services
    • Manage with Azure Portal, CLI, Powershel or REST API
    • Three performance tiers (Standard, Premium and Ultra)
    • Integrate with Azure Active Directory for Role-Based-Access
    • Cross-Region Replication within Azure Region Pairs
    • Complies with leading industry certifications, with 99,99 % availability
  • Since Microsoft announced general availability of Azure NetApp Files a year ago, some of the key use cases that have emerged include:
    • Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) (and in the future in combinition with Microsoft Azure Stack Hub - Announcement on Build 2020)
    • SAP
    • High-performance computing (HPC)
  • But in my opinion there are also Use Cases like this:
    • Azure NetApp Files with Oracle
    • Azure NetApp Files with Azure Kubernetes Service (also in combinition with Microsoft Azure Stack Hub)

and many more on the Microsoft's Website (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-netapp-files/azure-netapp-files-solution-architectures).

Conclusion
An all-round successfull service, I think, to run the usual workloads in the cloud.

More on this in the future.