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Storage
field-manual-complete
Azure Files
Azure Files provides managed SMB and NFS file shares in Azure for applications, users, containers, and virtual machines that still need file-system access.
Managed file shares
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure file shares, Azure managed file shares, cloud file shares
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Storage
premium
Azure Files backup
Azure Files backup protects Azure file shares using Azure Backup policies, recovery points, snapshots, and supported vaulted backup options. It helps backup and platform teams recover shared file data after accidental deletion, ransomware, or operator mistakes without managing separate backup servers or unreviewed snapshot scripts. You see it when business file shares need retention, recovery testing, policy enforcement, ransomware recovery, or evidence for data protection audits. It still needs ownership, network design, monitoring, and recovery planning. Operators need repeatable evidence for deployment, protection, troubleshooting, and reviews, not screenshots or tribal knowledge.
Backup and recovery
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Azure file share backup, Azure Backup for Azure Files
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Storage
premium
Azure Files NFS
Azure Files NFS is the Azure Files capability for mounting managed file shares from Linux clients using the NFS protocol. It helps Linux, analytics, and platform teams run shared-file workloads without building their own NFS servers without maintaining NAS hardware or custom Linux file servers. You see it when Linux applications need shared storage, analytics jobs need common paths, or teams want managed NFS access with Azure storage operations. It still needs ownership, network design, monitoring, and recovery planning. Operators need repeatable evidence for deployment, protection, troubleshooting, and reviews, not screenshots or tribal knowledge.
NFS file shares
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: NFS Azure file shares, Azure Files NFS protocol
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Storage
premium
Azure Files NFS share
Azure Files NFS share is a specific Azure file share created for NFS access rather than SMB access. It helps Linux application owners and storage teams give workloads a managed shared POSIX-style file path without operating separate NFS appliances for every project. You see it when research clusters, Linux application farms, container platforms, or data processing systems need one shared path across many clients. It still needs ownership, network design, monitoring, and recovery planning. Operators need repeatable evidence for deployment, protection, troubleshooting, and reviews, not screenshots or tribal knowledge.
NFS file shares
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: NFS file share, NFS Azure file share
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Storage
premium
Azure Files premium share
Azure Files premium share is an Azure Files share backed by premium storage for workloads that need predictable capacity, IOPS, and throughput. It helps application and storage architects give latency-sensitive file workloads managed storage with provisioned performance without guessing whether standard file shares can meet peak demand. You see it when profile containers, engineering tools, build systems, analytics staging, or transactional applications require faster shared file access. It still needs ownership, network design, monitoring, and recovery planning. Operators need repeatable evidence for deployment, protection, troubleshooting, and reviews, not screenshots or tribal knowledge.
Premium file shares
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Premium Azure file share, SSD Azure file share
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Storage
premium
Azure Files private endpoint
Azure Files private endpoint connects Azure file share traffic to a storage account through a private IP address in a virtual network. It helps network, security, and storage teams keep SMB or NFS access on private network paths without exposing file access directly over public endpoints. You see it when regulated workloads need private access, branch users connect through VPN, or applications must mount shares without public storage exposure. It still needs ownership, network design, monitoring, and recovery planning. Operators need repeatable evidence for deployment, protection, troubleshooting, and reviews, not screenshots or tribal knowledge.
Private connectivity
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Private endpoint for Azure Files, Azure Files Private Link
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Storage
premium
Azure Files SMB
Azure Files SMB is the Azure Files capability for mounting managed file shares through the Server Message Block protocol. It helps Windows, app, and infrastructure teams move familiar mapped-drive and application share patterns to Azure without running and patching Windows file servers for common shared storage. You see it when Windows users need mapped drives, apps expect UNC paths, profile containers need shared storage, or branch offices need cloud-backed shares. It still needs ownership, network design, monitoring, and recovery planning. Operators need repeatable evidence for deployment, protection, troubleshooting, and reviews, not screenshots or tribal knowledge.
SMB file shares
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: SMB Azure file shares, Azure Files SMB protocol
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Storage
premium
Azure Files SMB share
Azure Files SMB share is a specific Azure file share exposed through SMB for users, Windows applications, or services that need a shared UNC path. It helps application owners and desktop teams provide a managed mapped-drive style location without building another Windows Server just for one share. You see it when department folders, Windows application data, FSLogix profiles, installation repositories, or shared reports need cloud-backed SMB access. It still needs ownership, network design, monitoring, and recovery planning. Operators need repeatable evidence for deployment, protection, troubleshooting, and reviews, not screenshots or tribal knowledge.
SMB file shares
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: SMB file share, SMB Azure file share
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Storage
premium
Kerberos authentication for Azure Files
Kerberos authentication for Azure Files is the identity-based SMB authentication option that lets Azure file shares use Kerberos with a supported directory identity source instead of only storage keys or SAS.
Azure Files
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Files Kerberos, Microsoft Entra Kerberos for Azure Files, identity-based authentication for Azure Files, SMB Kerberos Azure Files
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Private endpoint for Azure Files
A private endpoint for Azure Files is the private network path to file shares in a storage account. Instead of mounting or accessing the share through the public file endpoint, clients in approved networks reach a private IP tied to the file service. The share, authentication model, and storage account still matter; the endpoint only changes network reachability. It is especially important for SMB access from Azure workloads, virtual desktops, build systems, and hybrid clients connected through VPN or ExpressRoute.
Azure Files
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
Azure file share
An Azure file share is a managed cloud share hosted by Azure Files. It behaves like a network file share, but Microsoft runs the storage service instead of your team maintaining file servers, disks, operating systems, and failover.
Files, queues, and tables
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Files share
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Storage
premium
Azure HPC Cache
Azure HPC Cache was a managed Azure file-caching service for HPC workloads; Microsoft retired the service on September 30, 2025, so current work should focus on migration or historical inventory.
Retired HPC caching
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: HPC Cache, Azure Storage Cache
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Storage
premium
Azure Managed Lustre
Azure Managed Lustre is a managed parallel file system for high-performance computing and AI workloads that need scalable, low-latency file storage in Azure.
Parallel file systems
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Managed Lustre, Azure Managed Lustre File System, AMLFS
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Storage
premium
Azure Container Storage
A cloud-based volume management, deployment, and orchestration service built natively for containers and integrated with Kubernetes persistent volumes.
Container storage
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: ACS for containers
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Storage
premium
Azure Data Box
An Azure service that transfers large amounts of data to or from Azure by shipping secure, managed storage devices for offline migration.
Data transfer
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Data Box
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Storage
premium
Azure File Sync
Azure File Sync syncs Azure file shares with Windows Server file servers so users keep familiar local access while data is centralized in Azure Files. It helps infrastructure teams modernize branch and data center file services without forcing every user and application to change paths on day one. You see it when Windows file server migrations, branch caching, cloud tiering, disaster recovery staging, or phased moves to Azure Files. It still needs ownership, network design, monitoring, and recovery planning. Operators need repeatable evidence for deployment, protection, troubleshooting, and reviews, not screenshots or tribal knowledge.
Hybrid file services
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: File Sync, Storage Sync Service
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Storage
premium
Azure Storage Mover
Azure Storage Mover is a fully managed migration service that helps move files and folders from on-premises or AWS S3 sources to Azure Storage while minimizing workload downtime.
Storage migration
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
Local filesystem
Microsoft Learn describes App Service file access as a managed sandbox with persistent and temporary filesystem locations for deployed content, logs, and runtime operations. Apps can read and write allowed paths, but storage behavior differs by platform, plan, and deployment method.
Storage
advanced
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
File service endpoint
A File service endpoint is the Azure Storage endpoint used by clients and services to access Azure Files shares in a storage account through supported protocols and network paths. Teams use it to connect applications, users, file sync agents, and automation to Azure file shares through the correct public endpoint, private endpoint, or virtual network service endpoint path. It is not a file share itself, a private endpoint by itself, a DNS record alone, authorization proof, or a guarantee that SMB, NFS, FileREST, firewall, and identity settings all match.
Azure Files
intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: Azure Files endpoint, storage file endpoint, file endpoint, Azure Storage file service endpoint
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Containers
premium
Kubernetes Persistent Volume
A Kubernetes Persistent Volume is cluster storage provisioned for pods and bound through persistent volume claims so data can outlive individual pod restarts, rescheduling, or replacements.
Kubernetes storage
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Containers
premium
Kubernetes StorageClass
A Kubernetes StorageClass defines how persistent storage is dynamically provisioned for persistent volume claims, including the driver, performance tier, reclaim policy, and binding behavior.
Kubernetes storage
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
Large file share
Migrate a file server or NAS volume that has grown beyond small-share limits without splitting every application path immediately.; Set a quota large enough for migration staging while still preserving cost ownership and
Storage platform
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Large file share, large file share
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Web
premium
local.settings.json
Microsoft Learn describes local.settings.json as the Azure Functions local settings file that stores app settings and tool settings for local development. Values in this file are used only locally and must be added separately to the function app in Azure.
Azure Functions
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
SFTP for Blob Storage
SFTP for Blob Storage is the storage-account feature that exposes blob containers to SFTP clients after hierarchical namespace is enabled. Administrators configure local users, authentication methods, home directories, and permission scopes so external or internal clients can transfer files without custom SFTP infrastructure.
Blob Storage
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Blob Storage SFTP, SFTP for Blob Storage, SFTP landing zone, storage SFTP local user, SFTP-enabled storage account
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Storage
premium
Share snapshot
A share snapshot is a point-in-time copy of an Azure file share. Azure Files supports snapshots for SMB and NFS shares, letting administrators view, restore, or copy previous versions of files while existing snapshots remain until explicitly deleted or managed by policy.
Files, queues, and tables
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Files share snapshot, file share snapshot, share snapshot, Azure file share point-in-time copy, snapshot share
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Storage
premium
Zone-redundant storage
Zone-redundant storage (ZRS) is an Azure Storage redundancy option that copies data synchronously across three or more availability zones in the primary region. It keeps storage resources available for reads and writes if a zone becomes unavailable, while staying within the region for governance-sensitive workloads.
Azure Storage
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: ZRS, ZRS storage, Azure Storage ZRS, zonal storage redundancy
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Storage
premium
AzCopy
AzCopy is the Microsoft command-line utility used to move data into, out of, and between Azure Storage services such as blobs and file shares. In Azure, teams encounter it when storage teams migrate data, seed analytics lakes, copy backups, or synchronize large folders without writing a custom transfer program. The useful question is what behavior
Blob Storage
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: AzCopy v10, Azure Storage AzCopy, azcopy copy, azcopy sync
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Storage
premium
File share
A file share is the named shared folder boundary that people, applications, or servers mount and use for files. In Azure, it usually means an Azure Files share inside a storage account. The share is where directories, documents.
Azure Files
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: File share, file share
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Storage
premium
File share quota
File share quota is the configured capacity limit for an Azure Files share, expressed in GiB and interpreted by the share billing model in Azure.
Azure Files
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: File share quota, file share quota
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Storage
premium
File share snapshot
File share snapshot is a point-in-time copy of an Azure Files share that can help recover earlier versions of files and directories in Azure.
Azure Files
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: File share snapshot, file share snapshot
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Storage
premium
File share soft delete
File share soft delete is a data protection setting that retains deleted Azure file shares for a configured recovery period before permanent deletion in Azure.
Azure Files
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: File share soft delete, file share soft delete
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Storage
premium
NFS 3.0 for Blob Storage
NFS 3.0 for Blob Storage means an Azure Blob Storage protocol option that lets Linux clients mount blob containers through NFS version 3. You see it when teams connect analytics jobs, HPC workloads, migration tools, or Linux applications that expect mounted file paths. Think of it as a storage protocol choice with account, namespace, and network requirements. It matters because the setting changes how teams design, secure, operate, and troubleshoot the workload. Before changing it in production, know the owner, dependency, evidence, expected result, and rollback path.
Blob Storage
advanced
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
NFS file share
Migrate Linux applications that expect NFS paths without standing up and patching a self-managed file server.; Provide AKS pods, batch jobs, or HPC workers with a shared managed file system reachable through private netw
Azure Files
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Azure Files NFS share, NFS Azure file share, NFSv4.1 file share, NFS file share, nfs file share
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Storage
premium
Cloud endpoint
In Azure File Sync, a cloud endpoint is a pointer to an Azure file share; server endpoints synchronize with the cloud endpoint, making the file share the sync hub.
Files, queues, and tables
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Developer Tools
premium
Cloud Shell
Azure Cloud Shell is a browser-based, authenticated, preconfigured shell experience for managing Azure resources with tools such as Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell.
Command line
fundamentals
3 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
Cloud tiering
A storage feature or access model in Files, queues, and tables that helps teams store, protect, move, and govern application or analytics data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Files, queues, and tables
fundamentals
3 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Containers
premium
Container Instances
Azure serverless container compute for running container groups without managing virtual machines or a full orchestrator
Serverless containers
fundamentals
3 commands
Aliases: ACI
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Storage
complete
SMB file share
Microsoft Learn describes an Azure Files SMB file share as a file share in a storage account that applications and users can mount with the Server Message Block protocol. It supports shared file access for Windows and compatible clients while Azure manages storage durability, capacity, snapshots, networking, and access controls.
Azure Files
intermediate
14 commands
Aliases: Azure Files SMB share, SMB share, Azure file share, network file share
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Storage
verified
Protected item
An Azure Backup protected item is a workload, file share, database, or virtual machine already protected by a backup policy in a vault. It carries backup state, policy association, recovery points, container identity, and workload metadata that operators use to monitor protection and restore data.
Backup and recovery
intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Blob Storage
Blob Storage is Azure object storage for massive amounts of unstructured data such as documents, images, video, backups, logs, and application files.
Storage
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Blob Storage, blob-storage, blob, blob-container, blob-access-tier, blob-soft-delete, blob-versioning, storage-account, account-sas, private-endpoint-for-storage, azure-files, data-lake-storage-gen2, queue-storage
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Premium file share
A premium file share is a high-performance Azure file share for workloads that still need a shared file system.
Files, queues, and tables
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Private endpoint for Storage
A private endpoint for Storage is the private network entry point to one storage account service, such as Blob, Files, Queue, Table, Data Lake Storage, or static website content.
Storage platform
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Storage Sync Service
A Storage Sync Service is the Azure File Sync management resource that represents registered Windows file servers and sync groups. It coordinates cloud endpoints in Azure file shares, server endpoints on Windows Server, cloud tiering, monitoring, and the trust relationship required to synchronize files safely.
Files, queues, and tables
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Storage Sync Service, Azure File Sync service, storage sync resource, Azure File Sync management service
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Management and Governance
top-250-pre130-priority-upgraded
Instant restore
Instant restore controls how quickly Azure Backup can restore VM disks or files by keeping recent snapshots close to the protected workload. Teams see it in recovery services vaults, vm backup policies. It is not point-in-time restore for databases, cross-region restore, soft delete, backup retention alone, or an unmanaged manual snapshot; confusing them can create slow recovery, unexpected snapshot storage cost. Use the term when reviewing access, monitoring, cost, recovery, or performance. It keeps architects, operators, security reviewers, and support teams focused on the same setting, resource, or behavior.
Azure Backup
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Backup instant restore, instant recovery snapshot, VM instant restore, instant recovery point, Instant restore
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Compute
complete
Shared disk
A managed disk configured for simultaneous attachment to multiple VMs so supported clustered applications can use shared block storage.
Disks and images
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure shared disk, shared managed disk, shared data disk, managed disk maxShares
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Storage
complete
Standard file share
Microsoft Learn describes Azure Files standard file shares as fully managed file shares backed by HDD storage, commonly created in general-purpose storage accounts or classic file share models. They suit general-purpose SMB workloads where cost, access tiers, snapshots, sync, and managed service operations matter more than premium SSD latency.
Azure Files
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: standard-file-share, Standard file share, Azure Files standard share, HDD file share, pay-as-you-go file share, standard Azure Files share
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Storage
complete
Standard storage account
Microsoft Learn describes a standard general-purpose v2 storage account as the recommended account type for most Azure Storage scenarios. It provides a namespace for blobs, Azure Files, queues, tables, and Data Lake Storage capabilities, with standard redundancy choices such as LRS, ZRS, GRS, RA-GRS, GZRS, and RA-GZRS.
Storage accounts
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: standard-storage-account, Standard storage account, standard general-purpose v2 storage account, standard GPv2 storage account, Azure Storage standard account, StorageV2 standard account
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Storage
complete
Storage account
Microsoft Learn describes an Azure storage account as the resource that contains Azure Storage data objects such as blobs, files, queues, and tables. It provides a unique namespace for data accessible over HTTP or HTTPS, with durability, availability, security, and scalability choices.
Storage account
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: storage-account, Storage account, Azure Storage account, general-purpose storage account, GPv2 storage account, storage account resource
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Analytics
premium field-manual
Managed private endpoint
A managed private endpoint is a private endpoint created inside a managed virtual network so a managed service can reach another Azure resource privately. Teams use it when data pipelines or analytics workspaces need private connectivity to storage, databases, or other services. In plain English, it gives operators a named control for reduced public exposure and clearer approval evidence for managed service connectivity instead of leaving the decision hidden in a portal setting, script, or deployment file. Treat it as production-ready only when the owner, dependencies, permission boundary, monitoring signal, and rollback evidence are clear.
Data engineering and analytics
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Managed private endpoint, Azure Data Factory, Data engineering and analytics, Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse Analytics, Data Factory and Synapse networking, Managed virtual networking, private endpoint, linked service, managed virtual network, Managed virtual networks, MPE, managed endpoint for Private Link, Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse managed virtual networks
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Storage
premium
Azure NetApp Files
Azure NetApp Files provides managed enterprise SMB and NFS volumes in Azure for performance-sensitive file workloads.
Backup and recovery
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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