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title: Enhance or replace Windows file servers with Azure Files and Azure File Sync
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description: Azure Files and Azure File Sync can be useful in enhancing or replacing your Windows file servers. Learn how you can use these technologies to increase flexibility, improve availability and data protection, and reduce TCO.
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description: Azure Files and Azure File Sync can be useful when enhancing or replacing your Windows file servers. Learn how you can use these cloud services to increase flexibility, improve data protection, and reduce TCO.
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author: khdownie
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ms.service: storage
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ms.topic: concepts
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ms.topic: conceptual
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ms.date: 03/15/2023
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ms.author: kendownie
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ms.subservice: files
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---
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# Enhance or replace Windows file servers with Azure Files and Azure File Sync
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This article explains how you can use Azure Files and Azure File Sync to enhance or replace your on-premises Windows file servers to increase flexibility, improve availability and data protection, and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) for file shares. Azure Files has its origins in the Windows file server role, making it an excellent choice when migrating Windows file servers to the cloud.
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This article explains how you can use Azure Files and Azure File Sync to enhance or replace your on-premises Windows file servers to increase flexibility, improve data protection and redundancy, and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) for file shares. Azure Files has its origins in the Windows file server role, making it an excellent choice when migrating Windows file servers to the cloud.
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Most customers take one of two approaches:
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Most customers take one of two deployment approaches:
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- Migrate on-premises file servers to a fully managed SMB Azure file share (or multiple file shares).
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- Use [Azure File Sync](../file-sync/file-sync-introduction.md) to synchronize existing Windows file servers with SMB Azure file shares. Optionally use cloud tiering to scale file data in the cloud while turning on-premises servers into caches for hot data.
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-**Cloud-only deployment:**Migrate on-premises file servers to a fully managed SMB Azure file share (or multiple file shares).
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-**Hybrid deployment:**Use [Azure File Sync](../file-sync/file-sync-introduction.md) to synchronize existing Windows file servers with SMB Azure file shares. Optionally use cloud tiering to scale file data in the cloud while turning on-premises servers into caches for hot files.
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## Applies to
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| File share type | SMB | NFS |
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|-|:-:|:-:|
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| Standard file shares (GPv2), LRS/ZRS |||
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| Standard file shares (GPv2), GRS/GZRS |||
| Standard file shares (GPv2), LRS/ZRS |||
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| Standard file shares (GPv2), GRS/GZRS |||
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| Premium file shares (FileStorage), LRS/ZRS |||
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## Reduce TCO with fully managed file shares
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There's more to file share TCO than the price per GiB of storage. By centralizing your files in Azure, you can reduce TCO in many ways:
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There's more to file share TCO than the price per GiB of storage. By centralizing your file shares in Azure, you can reduce TCO in many ways:
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- Achieve better storage utilization by not having to over-provision file share capacity. With Azure Files, you can quickly resize your share without downtime.
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- Eliminate the work associated with hardware procurement, setup, and maintenance. With Azure Files, storage resiliency, redundancy, and maintenance are included, and there are no patches or upgrades to manage.
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- Customers relying on fullshare replication technologies like DFS-R can reduce costs by centralizing one full copy in an Azure file share and using Azure File Sync for local caching.
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- Customers relying on full-share replication technologies like DFS-R can reduce costs by centralizing one full copy in an Azure file share and using Azure File Sync to cache hot files locally.
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- Differential snapshots and integration with Azure Backup offer economical data protection.
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- Choose between multiple storage tiers, from premium low latency SSD storage to cost-effective cool storage, allowing you to pick the tier that best fits your workload.
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- Choose between multiple storage tiers, from premium low latency SSD to cost-effective cool storage, allowing you to choose the tier that best fits your workload.
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- Azure Files Reservation discounts enable up to 36% savings for pre-committed storage.
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- Azure Files Reservations discounts enable up to 36% savings for pre-committed storage.
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To learn more about how Azure file shares are billed and how you can reduce TCO, see [Understand Azure Files billing](understanding-billing.md).
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## Hybrid access and flexible deployment
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Azure Files is built for hybrid access and offers flexible deployment options, including zero downtime migration from Windows file servers. You can connect to an Azure file share from a variety of clients, or from within Azure VMs or containers. You can connect from anywhere via encrypted SMB 3.x traffic, either over the internet or through VPN. And if you want to maintain local performance, you can use Azure File Sync to cache hot files (or keep a full copy of your share) anywhere you want.
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:::image type="content" source="media/windows-server-to-azure-files/azure-files-network-access.png" alt-text="Screenshot showing various access options for Azure files shares." lightbox="media/windows-server-to-azure-files/azure-files-network-access.png":::
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Moving data from Windows file servers to Azure Files is easy, and can happen in the background without interrupting user access. When you migrate to Azure Files, none of your file path links need to break. You can use Windows Server DFS-N functionality and redirect users to Azure Files. If you're adding Azure File Sync to an existing Windows file server, users can continue to access their files through the Windows file server using the same file paths.
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Azure File Sync can synchronize and cache your Azure file share anywhere you can install a Windows file server. This means you can use Azure File Sync to create regional caches of your file servers in different Azure regions. You can cache files on-premises, in your data centers, or in third-party clouds. Simply install Azure File Sync on your existing server to connect to an Azure file share and start the synchronization. Learn more in the tutorial [Extend Windows file servers with Azure File Sync](../file-sync/file-sync-extend-servers.md).
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:::image type="content" source="media/windows-server-to-azure-files/azure-file-sync-caching.png" alt-text="Screenshot showing a sample architecture for Azure File Sync spanning on-premises and two Azure regions." lightbox="media/windows-server-to-azure-files/azure-file-sync-caching.png":::
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Azure File Sync can synchronize and cache your Azure file share anywhere. You can create regional caches of your file servers in different Azure regions (see diagram). You can cache files on-premises, in your data centers, or in third-party clouds. Just install Azure File Sync on your existing server, connect to an Azure file share, and start the synchronization. Learn more in the tutorial [Extend Windows file servers with Azure File Sync](../file-sync/file-sync-extend-servers.md).
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