#12: Azure File Service: ‘net use’ the cloud

Microsoft Azure has provided REST endpoints for blobs, tables, and queues since its inception. This is an efficient and simple stateless storage API for new applications. However, there is a very large installed base of mature applications, especially enterprise and vertical, which are written to a conventional file API such as Win32 or the C runtimes. Azure File Service provides [MS-SMB2] compliant file shares with the same high availability as Azure’s REST endpoints since the backing store for both transient handle state and files data is, under the hood, Azure tables and blobs. As a bonus, the file share namespace is also exposed via REST, allowing simultaneous and coherent access to file data from both endpoints. This talk will relate the experience and challenges of designing and implementing a wire compliant continuously available SMB server where the backing store is not even a conventional file system, let alone NTFS. Learning Objectives: 1) Learn how an SMB sever can be built on top of something other than a conventional file system. 2) Gain an appreciation of the complexities involved in durably committing what is usually considered volatile handle state which must be both highly available and high performance. 3) Be inspired by the possibilities of immediately running existing applications unmodified against the cloud while simultaneously leveraging REST access to the application’s data.