Senior Information Technology Officer at Ravi Exchange
Real User
Secure and reliable storage solution providing quick access to data
Pros and Cons
  • "First of all, the solution is very secure. Secondly, the solution is very fast. It is reliable and available all the time."
  • "Firewall rules should be introduced to secure the access date from any virus attacks. Anti-virus should be introduced in the work filtering and document filtering."

What is our primary use case?

We use it to easily access data from the user side into our network. Like, we have some remote sites, and we have the user on the remote site who can easily access all the data as per the permissions and our requirements.

What is most valuable?

First of all, the solution is very secure. Secondly, the solution is very fast. It is reliable and available all the time. In the backup, it allows us to create the rate servers to save our data and use our data in multiples.

What needs improvement?

Firewall rules should be introduced to secure the access date from any virus attacks. Anti-virus should be introduced in the work filtering and document filtering.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure File Storage for three years.

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure File Storage
April 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution because we don't need to care about hardware or electricity. We need a strong internet connection to access our data everywhere, logging in with our password.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. The number of users depends on our requirements. Sometimes it can be ten, sometimes hundred or fifty. I rate it eight out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The technical team is good and responsive.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy from the user's side. They could quickly get access to the data. The deployment takes some time. First, we need to buy the storage and implement the policies per our network design. Whether it will take one week, two weeks, or one month depends on the network design. If we are on-premises, we must buy hardware according to our requirements. For the deployment, we had a technical team consisting of an assistant manager for network, system, or micro administrators. Also, there is a network engineer or system engineer. The solution is deployed on the cloud and on-premises.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay for both yearly and monthly licenses. The yearly one is cheaper than the monthly one.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend the solution to those planning to use it. I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Azure Integration Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Helps to store critical files and link with Kubernetes
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool offers a secure way to access storage. You can also easily share the files securely across Azure."
  • "I have had issues migrating my data to another subscription."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution to store critical files of clients. I also use it to link with Kubernetes. 

What is most valuable?

The tool offers a secure way to access storage. You can also easily share the files securely across Azure. 

What needs improvement?

I have had issues migrating my data to another subscription. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for a couple of years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

My company has less than 50 users for the solution. 

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the product a seven out of ten. 

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure File Storage
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure File Storage. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT consultant at Secoptrial
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Quick to deploy, has good scalability and has no connection issues
Pros and Cons
  • "I like that Microsoft Azure File Storage works fine and is quick to deploy. It's also easy to connect to it, particularly when connecting it with my on-premise file servers."
  • "Microsoft Azure File Storage needs more integrations. In the future, I also want to see GRC added to the portal. If you enroll or sign up for Azure services, your country may not have GRC available in the portal, so you may have to choose a strange country, for example, Kenya, to activate credit."

What is our primary use case?

I used Microsoft Azure File Storage for a project focused on deploying a Windows server and connecting that server to my Active Directory domain. I synchronized the file server with Microsoft Azure File Storage. I then set up and connected the disc storage with storage in the cloud to back up the data. My intent for using the solution was to back up data in the cloud. My company doesn't use Microsoft Azure File Storage, but other organizations, government, and non-government could be using it. The usage of the solution depends on whether an organization can integrate Microsoft Azure File Storage into its environment.

What is most valuable?

I like that Microsoft Azure File Storage works fine and is quick to deploy. It's also easy to connect to it, particularly when connecting it with my on-premise file servers. Microsoft Azure File Storage doesn't give me any connection issues.

What needs improvement?

Microsoft Azure File Storage needs more integrations.

I encountered a problem with the solution: Microsoft said you could directly integrate Azure file share on your PC by enabling that feature in Microsoft Azure File Storage. It worked at first, but then, when I restarted my PC, that feature stopped working. I did that only for research purposes, so I wonder if Microsoft fixed that bug or if that Azure file share integration feature in Microsoft Azure File Storage was designed wrong.

In the future, I also want to see GRC added to the portal to integrate it with Microsoft Azure File Storage and other Azure services. If you enroll or sign up for Azure services, your country may not have GRC available in the portal, so you may have to choose a strange country, for example, Kenya, to activate credit. Having GRC helps many students, enterprises, and users easily access Microsoft Azure File Storage.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure File Storage is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure File Storage has good scalability. Scalability-wise, it's a nine out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

My rating for the technical support for Microsoft Azure File Storage is nine out of ten.

I'm a Microsoft Student Ambassador, so I get free access to Microsoft technologies, and if I need support, I can contact other members or Microsoft directly. I can ask the community via Microsoft Teams. I'm an MVP nominee in the Windows Insider program, so I can ask a question and get an answer quickly, so I rated support as nine.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

It was my first time using a public cloud storage service, such as Microsoft Azure File Storage. It was also my first time using Azure to deploy a web application. The other tool I used wasn't in the public cloud storage but in the data visualization niche. That was Microsoft Power BI, which I connected to a database on Azure and an API gateway.

How was the initial setup?

Microsoft Azure File Storage deployment is quick but depends on your connection. A good connection takes one or two clicks, and the deployment time also depends on the data you have in Microsoft Azure File Storage.

If you have more data, then that takes more time. Still, Microsoft has improved the capabilities, quality, and protocol to help enterprises transfer even massive amounts of data many times. I don't have much data, though, just around 500MB.

What about the implementation team?

I deployed Microsoft Azure File Storage. I didn't need a consultant because I referred to the documentation. Microsoft documentation gives information on different services. For example, if you type "Azure cloud services," you'll find various topics on cloud services. If you choose, for example, "file sync," you'll see information on how to start, the steps you need to take, how to integrate, etc. If you face any issue following the steps in the documentation, you can always Google it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing cost for Microsoft Azure File Storage is very low. I viewed my bill from Azure on the portal, and the solution didn't cost much.

Microsoft Azure File Storage has a reasonable price. It's cheap, price-wise.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend Microsoft Azure File Storage to other people.

My Microsoft Azure File Storage rating is a nine on a scale of one to ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Infrastructure Team at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Azure File Sync has good features that are quick to sync to the on-premise file servers
Pros and Cons
  • "It was quick to synchronize back from Azure to the on-premise server."
  • "The storage account key could be a security issue."

What is our primary use case?

Azure files offers several architectural scenarios so you can check and implement different use cases depending on your needs. In brief you can use the Azure Files with a serverless approach or to integrate it with your on premise file servers through Azure File Sync.

We have IT colleagues spread all over the world, so we are trying to define governance rules. We need to manage things at the infrastructure level, and so the Azure File could be a technology to replace or to integrate with our file servers on-premise solution.

How has it helped my organization?

We are testing and looking at the pros and cons, and we will decide based on features and the cost that will be present to the infrastructure manager. I think we will start to use Azure Files technology in production in the next year.

What is most valuable?

Azure Files does not require management of hardware or operating systems.

What we have found good for our company is the part related to the Azure File Sync that could be useful in a disaster recovery environment. If we have to restore all the shared data on-premise, it takes a lot of hours or days. We installed the Azure File Sync on a test on-premise server, and it was quick to synchronize back from Azure to the on-premise server. This is a really nice feature.

To get the best features on tiering, performance and security we must use W2016 and W10 in fact for example Azure File Sync does not support Data Deduplication and cloud tiering on Windows Server 2012 R2.

All data are encrypted in transit and at rest on Azure Files, Defender for Azure Storage is also available at additional cost.

Azure File offers Local and Geo-redundancy, your data can be stored in multiple Azure data centers improving availability and data proximity.

Azure backup is a fully managed service so you don't need to manage an on-premise solution, it is easy to use even though we expected better performance on the restore part, using standard storage we spend from 89 to 96 minutes to restore 341GB.

What needs improvement?

Keep attention and do not share the storage account key since it can be a security issue. With the storage account key, you can do everything you want on the storage account and on the file shares. It can be useful because this is the only way to work at home with an unmanaged PC from my company, but at the same time, if you share this key to external users, it could be a security issue.

It's a bit tricky to manage the permissions, because you have to set RBAC rights then mount the Azure File Share on your PC/server and then start to manage NTFS permissions locally.

The ability to check the open files would be a nice additional feature. On-premise you can check which files are open. On Azure, I haven't found this part.

Management and Troubleshooting often need Powershell commands.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been testing the solution since June 2021, but not in a real production environment. We are only testing macros, permissions, accessibility, backup and so on.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Good

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I'm from Italy, but I belong to a server team hosted mainly in France and Germany. We need to manage things at the infrastructure level, and Azure File could be a technology to replace or to integrate with our on-premise solution.

The service can scale to fit almost any need, Azure Files offers four different tiers of storage allowing us to tailor our shares to the performance but obviously the cost will increase.

How are customer service and support?

We have an enterprise agreement with microsoft so I tried to open a couple of requests directly at Microsoft, asking more information about the cost. Their reply was, "We don't have precise information for you, use the Azure Calculator; just start to use the service then check after some time".

How was the initial setup?

Implement the service is quite easy, managing permissions can be tricky when starting from zero on this topic.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

For one terabyte of data, we are spending about 150 Euro every month; but we are using the solution at a basic level with standard storage (HDDs and not SDDs).

It has been difficult to understand the real cost besides the solution, In my oppinion costs are not fully transparent.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Bienz Robert - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at CloudCAB
Real User
Top 10
Provides excellent storage features and can be deployed easily and quickly
Pros and Cons
  • "The immutable storage features are valuable."
  • "It’s a challenge to find the right support person."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for migrating local file servers and for file storage of on-premise systems.

What is most valuable?

The immutable storage features are valuable. It works very well.

What needs improvement?

It’s a challenge to find the right support person. The technical support must be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s scalability an eight out of ten. Our customers are not very large companies. The product is suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.

How are customer service and support?

If we are in the right queue, the support is very good. If we have the right support person, the support is quite good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy, straightforward, and quick.

What about the implementation team?

I did the deployment myself. I have deployed the tool as a consultant for other companies.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product must improve its price.

What other advice do I have?

I am a service provider for Microsoft. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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PeerSpot user
Souai Amani - PeerSpot reviewer
Data engineer at Esprit
Real User
Top 10
A highly expandable solution that can be managed effortlessly
Pros and Cons
  • "It's a stable product."
  • "The solution is not user-friendly."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Azure File Storage has multiple functionalities, and you can use it as a source, but you may face some problems when contributing something in Azure. This is hard to do. The configuration in Azure doesn't help. This is okay, and it's not a big problem since I am not too aware of Azure resources. That's why I might have faced problems at first.

What needs improvement?

The solution is not user-friendly.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure File Storage for a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can be expanded because one can manage and install huge amounts of data in Azure. Those using the solution in my organization are using it for DevOps. We have around 20 users using the solution in my company.

How are customer service and support?

I never faced any issues that prompted me to contact technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The solution is deployed on the cloud.

What other advice do I have?

To those looking into using the solution, I recommend getting Azure documentation. This will help you to configure the solution with other tools.

Owing to the fact that some features might get added in the future after sending my notes to Azure, I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
IT Analyst at EVAPCO
Real User
Top 20
Fast, secure, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "It was easy to set up."
  • "It's not very intuitive."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use the solution for my backup files. It's for copies. I use it as a backup that connects with the cloud and one account of Microsoft.

What is most valuable?

The solution is very secure.

It's very fast and connects quickly between my files and the cloud. 

It was easy to set up. 

The solution is stable. 

I find the product to be scalable. 

What needs improvement?

Next year, I will likely change my equipment to update everything. That would be better. 

It's not very intuitive. I'd like the screen to be more user-friendly. The usability is not good. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable product. I haven't dealt with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It is reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution scales well. It's not a problem.

We have around 50 people using the solution. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support has been good. It's very fast. I've been happy with it. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup itself is straightforward. It's not difficult to implement. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm not sure of the exact pricing. I'd have to look at the sales documentation to refresh my memory. 

What other advice do I have?

We're a Microsoft reseller. 

I am not sure if I am using the latest version of the solution. 

I'd recommend the solution to others. 

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Devi Vara Prasad Dommeti - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Engeener at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 5
Easy to deploy solution with application integration functionality
Pros and Cons
  • "Implementing Microsoft Azure has meant that we are using the same solution as our customers who use Azure Public Cloud. This allows us to integrate our application, as well as provide the solution to them."
  • "It would be helpful if we could remove data that we don't frequently access to reduce the cost of the storage."

What is our primary use case?

We use Azure File storage to both store and analyze our data. We also provide our customers with data storage and analysis facilities using this solution.

How has it helped my organization?

Implementing Microsoft Azure has meant that we are using the same solution as our customers who use Azure Public Cloud. This allows us to integrate our application, as well as provide the solution to them.

Through this solution, we are also able to visually represent data for our customers, and give them clear metrics using their data.

What needs improvement?

It would be helpful if we could remove data that we don't frequently access to reduce the cost of the storage.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for the last two and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have found it to be stable during the time we have used it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

The support team is responsive because we are one of their premium customers. They will generally respond to our requests for support within five to ten minutes, but we pay for this level of service.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The public cloud service makes the initial setup easy and straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend that new users begin with an on-premises, private cloud setup, as mistakes on the public cloud are costly to rectify. Once they are familiar with the solution, they can then move to public cloud hosting. I rate this solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure File Storage Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure File Storage Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.