I'm planning to migrate an on-premises Windows file server to Azure Files using Storage Mover. The share contains roughly 1.5 TB of departmental data organized into about 60 folders, and it is currently mapped on computers throughout the organization. The goal is to retire the local file server and have users access the data directly from mounted Azure file shares. We already have site-to-site connectivity between our locations and Azure. For this workload, would Standard (HDD) or Premium (SSD) Azure Files be more appropriate? Should access go through a private endpoint over the existing VPN connections, and are there any DNS, performance, migration, or architecture considerations I should plan for?
3 Answers
Before committing to Azure Files, compare it with SharePoint Online. Department-specific sites and document libraries can provide better collaboration, permissions, version history, and potentially lower costs for this type of data. Users can still work with synchronized folders or mapped-style access, although the workflow and permissions model are different from a traditional file server. Azure Files is a better fit when applications require SMB semantics or the existing folder-share model must remain almost unchanged.
I would strongly consider Azure File Sync instead of having every workstation access Azure Files directly. It lets you keep a local cache or front-end server at a site while synchronizing the data with the cloud. That can make the transition easier, preserve familiar mapped-drive access, and avoid turning the VPN into a shared SMB bottleneck. For a workload accessed over WAN links, Standard storage is usually sufficient unless performance testing proves otherwise.
A private endpoint over your existing VPN or private connectivity is a sensible design, especially if the shares should only be reachable through your network and firewalls. Make sure DNS is handled correctly: use a private DNS zone for the storage endpoint, and configure your on-premises DNS with conditional forwarding to an Azure DNS resolver or an appropriate domain controller. Also test the VPN throughput carefully, since SMB traffic from many users can easily become the bottleneck. Standard performance is probably the safer starting point for a WAN-based workload unless users regularly work with large files or many small files and testing shows that Premium is needed. Keep in mind that changing tiers generally means provisioning another storage account and copying the data. A DFS namespace can also provide a stable path if you later need to change the backend.
Azure File Sync is worth evaluating too. A local Windows server can cache frequently used files while Azure Files remains the central copy, which can improve performance for branches with slower links and reduce repeated traffic across the VPN.
SharePoint is especially worth considering if the data is primarily office documents and PDFs. If line-of-business applications depend on SMB paths, file locks, or legacy behavior, Azure Files or Azure File Sync will likely be a smoother replacement.