CODEWITHSUNDEEP
azureazure-storage
scooter133
scooter133

Reputation: 1317

Using Azure Storage to Replace Win2008 File server?

We are looking to replace our normal Win2008 R2 File server with a Azure Cloud based solution. Our Current use scenario is something like this:

Server A, Location A Hosts 4gb of Data

Server B, Location B Hosts 4gb of Data

Server A and B are Replicated.

Users access Data like: \Domain-Name\DFSShare\ShareName

Many have Mapped Drives to the DFS Shares.

Can I use the Azure Storage to Replace this? I'd like to still have the users map Drives to the same shared storage areas on Azure.

I Would also need the same Security Permissions setup so all the users have the same permissions that they do for the Existing File Server storage. So I'd like Active Directly Integration.

Is this something that Azure Storage can do for me?

Thanks!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 4495

Answers (4)

Paul
Paul

Reputation: 11

You can install a virtual server in Azure Iaas with a VNET and have a site-to-site VPN to your office. For users not in the office, you can have a VPN solution or install WebDAV on the file server and map drives over the internet.

Upvotes: 1

Richard Astbury
Richard Astbury

Reputation: 2353

I wrote a file system driver using the dokan library, which you can take a look at here:

https://github.com/richorama/AzureBlobDrive

I wouldn't say it was lightning fast, and it doesn't implement every feature of NTFS, but it might work for you.

Upvotes: 0

David Makogon
David Makogon

Reputation: 71030

You cannot direct-map local-server drive letters to cloud storage (which is triple-replicated), although individual Compute instances may do so. Also, mounting an NTFS volume inside a blob is a single-writer scenario, though multiple readers may snapshot and access these drives. All this to say no, this won't replace your network shares.

As @Brent pointed out, StorSimple is a good solution to explore, since it's an appliance that provides network share replication to blob storage transparently (and encrypts data prior to pushing it to Windows Azure). This would at least obviate the need for maintaining your replication server, as well as providing offsite replication.

Upvotes: 0

BrentDaCodeMonkey
BrentDaCodeMonkey

Reputation: 5513

Might I recommend a product like StorSimple? This will accomplish the type of functionality you're after without need for costly development.

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions