Azure Files vs SharePoint: Best Document Storage Option?

[@KingStreetTechnology]

So timely! I’ve been researching this exact issue for the last two weeks.

[@simonread4263]

You read my mind - I am looking at this very scenario for a client right now who wants to move off on-premises SMB shares but SharePoint doesn't really suit their needs. A very useful video Jonathan, thanks!

[@KingStreetTechnology]

I’m in the same boat. One thing I’m grappling with is this client currently has 8TB of data and growing with 10 users so I’m trying to run the numbers for the breakeven over on-prem.

[@johnrhines3473]

@@KingStreetTechnology The cost becomes astronomical.

[@chrisbattiston]

Thanks Jon! Great video! I could automatically copy the backup (Onedrive/Exchange/Sharepoint) of my 365 licenses.

[@davidadams421]

If you don't need the redundant storage options, you can map a network drive to a SharePoint Document Library (I know, Microsoft recommends using Sync, but it is still possible) then buy a Microsoft SharePoint Online Plan 2 license for around £8.50pm for unlimited storage. Yes, I did say unlimited.

[@twangt]

Intereseting info, so this could also be an alternative for users that works with for example large CAD-files and such?

[@davidadams421]

@@twangt SharePoint has a 250GB individual filesize limit, Azure Storage does not. I don't know how big 'large CAD-files' are.

How do you map a network drive for sharepoint document library? Using intune?

[@davidadams421]

Google is your friend ... but the easiest way I've found is: Office App > Open > Sites, navigate to your document library, click on the folder to open the Browse window, then copy/paste the address at the top into the Map Network Drive applet. If you wanted to automate this with Intune, you would either add a device script (BYOD) or use an ADMX template.

[@MrSam_Derp_Man]

Sharepoint P2 is not unlimited. As an admin you can expand a storage location up to 5 TB.

[@fbifido2]

@1:16 - Please do a video on OneDrive & SharePoint "Well Designed and Effective setup" !!! Please & Thanks.

[@miguelratao]

Your channel deserve way more credit! Awesome and value content! I hope you achieve the top. Cheers mate

[@dirceumachadojunior3166]

Amazing explanation Jonathan, congrats! Should be great if all companies have an Super Teacher like you to explain all news from Microsoft.

[@bearded365guy]

Thank you

[@fbifido2]

Can you provide more detail on the pro's and con's of each? What are the limits with each? SharePoint comes with M365, so not need to spend more on Azure files?? If your VM or Desktop is in Azure Cloud, then using SharePoint should be fast ??

[@konradwitak7772]

Hi Jonathan, great video! Not sure if I missed it but can you specify permissions in Azure files for folders?

[@davidadams421]

Azure Storage integrates into Microsoft Entra (the new name for Azure Active Directory) giving you all the same features as SharePoint-based storage, share permission, ACLs, guest access etc.

[@alexp1963]

That's a great option for our setup. Thanks for the fantastic explanation

[@fbifido2]

OneDrive & Teams document all use SharePoint at the backend. So, what does Azure files uses?

[@melenrdr]

is soft delete size and current files size counted in the total 5TB?

[@ronrosenbaum]

Is there a way of securing access with entra? I know it can be done with active directory domain services or a domain controller, but native Entra would be best. It's important for control and accountability to know who created or modified a file or folder

[@InformedGlobe]

You hope this video? Man, you're awesome. Thank you.

[@KOFKYO2012]

Is there an option to configure permissions and such? I do like how it is a mapped drive so end users wont notice too big of a difference when it comes to getting to files/folders.

[@jasonklems8584]

Does your ISP have to allow port 445 for this to work ?

[@jasonklems8584]

yeah,. Spectrum blocks 445 here in Southern California and I hear Verizon does too on their mobile service; making Azure files a no go for mobile organizations. you would need to introduce some kind of proxy/vpn to make it work. please correct me if I am wrong. please post source if there is a fix/solution to this issue

[@kyevi]

So basically you are paying for 2 services? Storage Account and Azure Files?

[@davidastle1316]

Great video, just what I have been looking for. Couple of questions though, firstly what is the metadata that's set to 1000Gb at the cost calculator part of the video? Secondly how secure is transferring the data from the Azure cloud to the devices? I believe it utilises SMB3 but how secure is this to allow access over port 445 to the internet to access it?

[@GW_Oldie]

What I've done is create a VNet without internet access and then VPN Client connection to the VNet. Enable the Storage Account access only from the selected network. That way, the user must connect over the VPN before they can access the drive mapping. You may be able to use the Secure Client Gateway to achieve the above now though?

[@ilovesandyboy]

Jonathan, thanks! But not even word about security. 😞

[@dteok]

Hi mate, I’m so glad I found this! Can I create permissions for folders? If I have a company shared drive and the different folders for different departments, can I restrict access to particular groups or people? Also is there functionality with power automate to create folders and files etc? Cheers, Dan

[@bearded365guy]

In this scenario, I would probably create multiple Azure File drives.

[@miketheinsurancecoach]

small business owner here surely not IT pro but I am our global admin and I want simple. For $22 USD I get 365 Business Premier with 1TB per user. And Sharepoint sites with doc libraries that seem to accomplish the same. Seems like the video is designed for those that need a server to lead apps not just files but want to move to a Cloud location to store the application AND the files created from their possible proprietary app? But for businesses that are mostly using SaaS app or locally installed apps like office apps whose files can be stored in the cloud for sharing, is this just a bit too much Jonathan? Thx in advance for your opinion. Love the videos.

[@davidadams421]

You can develop SaaS apps on Azure but irrespective of this, Azure Storage provide 'standards based' file storage, which means that any-app, any-where could in theory use it, you just have to be mindful of network latency and bandwidth. I can't paste the link but if you google 'introduction to azure storage' on microsoft's learn platform you'll find it.

[@davidadams421]

You can develop SaaS apps on Azure but irrespective of this, Azure Storage provide 'standards based' file storage, which means that any-app, any-where could in theory use it, you just have to be mindful of network latency and bandwidth.

[@davidadams421]

btw, you are not limited to 1TB per user, that is simply the default quota. With all Microsoft 365 Business licenses (Basic, Standard & Premium), an admin can increase that quota to 5TB (OneDrive). SharePoint Document Libraries can be increased up to a maximum of 25TB with SharePoint Online Plan 1, or Unlimited storage with SharePoint Online Plan 2.

[@StevenMcKenzie-83]

Awesome video like all your others. Love to see Azure File Setup using Private Endpoint with Global Secure Access! That would be the best way to do it right?

[@bearded365guy]

That sounds good to me!

[@MultiFriedchiken]

How does this compare to Sharepoint for the end user experience? Do you still get the options of being able to have multiple people editing the same documents at the same time?

[@michaeledwards2419]

Azure files acts just as Jonathan said a network drive but in the cloud. It's very good question though as it does not offer the same file collaboration capabilities as SharePoint. Which is why It's perfect for those big files for design etc. You're not generally going to have people working on these types of files in collaborative way. Azure files can also accept larger file sizes over 100GB and can handle these much better.

[@MultiFriedchiken]

@michaeledwards2419 Thank you for the explanation. That it doesn't offer the ability for collaborative working is disappointing. I had hoped it would, as it's structure of being a cloud based file share would be perfect for my organization.

[@OldFellaDave]

@@MultiFriedchiken it's 'cloud based' but essentially exactly the same as mapped drives on prem that we've been using for decades.

[@donclay]

Wow Jon. Thank you so much for this video. Love your content. I wanted to know if Azure storage would be a suitable solution if my marketing team has 2 TB of active data that they share outside the organization with content creators.

[@LevyHartman]

will azure work with teams and can we collaborate on files or view them online?

[@bearded365guy]

No, you will lose that functionality. This is like an old server mapped drive.

[@LevyHartman]

@@bearded365guy Thank you for replying, i love your content and would love to hear if you have a solution for me . Basically we are a company manufacturing and selling online or in stores. We have a few brands and tons of content like pictures, videos, ads, marketing material , business documents , sheets and much more. we are looking for a cloud service that can handle volume, co-editing (or locking not to be able) , collaboration, nice platform for our creative team, permission control , metadata and must live in company space so no risk of anything getting lost or misplaced from workers error or termination of an employee. Right now we are using the complete suite of google and drobox which isn't really working out. After lots of research I saw that Microsoft 365 business with teams and SharePoint might be the perfect solution. however i was very disappointed when i was told SharePoint get only 1tb plus 10g per user and @200 for each additional tb so i was referred to look at Azura, however besides giving me the space it does not check any of the other boxes i need.

[@dongelhouse]

Is it also possibe without SMB. Because most Internet provider does not allow SMB traffic.

[@mehdiizadi8243]

Super! Thank you for sharing

[@ppetrix]

I m using this and az files sync for more then 4 years now. If for excel link files and CAD files. All good.👍

[@RobFahndrich1]

Do you have an on premise server that the users connect to? We have CAD files that users need access to, the gotcha is that my users are located in various places in the US. My current solution is to put the CAD files in a Teams (Sharepoint) library, use OneDrive to sync the files. CAD needs to access these files via a drive letter so we map the local synced folder as Y: This is CLUNKY. If I could move the CAD files to Azure and somehow keep these files in sync for each user, that would ideal. Thoughts?

[@ppetrix]

Yes we have. That uses azure sync .

[@EddyPatrickBakina]

Very impressive! Thank you

[@synthwave7]

Great video - just a tip - but I think you are zoomed in too much - zoom out a bit so we see less of your face on the big screens.

[@bet8288]

Not clear video setup

[@maverickny1]

Which bit? I hopped over to your channel to see how it’s done properly…

[@bet8288]

Is this the channel is very helpful for me and for a lot of people but from time to time some demo is not effective or complete to learn

[@Pik_i_nummi]

As a developer; please never ever ever ever use sharepoint

[@Aspectus]

Why?

[@MrAdippenaar]

Why?

[@oliverhuppe2415]

Nice Content. I would love to see a video going further in detail, relating to useraccess and Entra or AD. In your demo you are using the access Key, which is not suitable for gaining access in organisations.

[@kamleshpawaskar196]

How do you manage the access rights on Azure drive for large Organization

[@tallbrownie8109]

That's a good question how do you manage permissions ?

[@ELE568]

U can domain join your storage account , than use windows acls. Otherwise u could facilitate azure role assignments as well, they’re called SMB - Contributor something the documentation on that is alright and usable

[@tallbrownie8109]

@@ELE568 well I actually took a go at this today and was pretty sleek.. I didn’t overly customize permissions just used the automatic one and I think I am able to simulate a on premises file server to the cloud without an actual machine . I like it

[@dermick]

You did a great job of giving the essentials in less than 15 minutes - impressive!

[@DeNNiiiable]

How does it work if you have a slow connection asa remote worker? I assume each time you open a 15mb file it downloads it, opens it and then also uploads it back up? Like a normal mapped share to on prem via vpn or other means?

[@JavierOropeza08]

Interesting. I did not know MS had something like this, it makes sense. How does azure files integrate with Teams, and other MS software?

[@MisAo-zg5yj]

I wouldn't put any personal information into One Drive if it's a work laptop.

[@phylum8975]

This is an interesting solution. Are connections encrypted and secure from soup to nuts? (e.g.: establishing a connection, authenticating, initiating file transfers)

[@0MARr00t]

Azure Files uses SMB v3.0 and that could be vulnerable! What do you think?

[@yashobantadash6670]

Your videos are awesome bro! Subbed immediately!

[@timkidney8399]

We have 12tb of files in a blob storage with a VM using Azure File Sync to cache 20% or live data. Devices are then mapped to this VM share. Could I do away with the VM and move all files to Azure Files? Also what security would be on the file share if accessing from a home device? I’m thinking maybe AVD and remove home devices from the equation.

[@bearded365guy]

Yes, you could do. That’s a lot of data. Using AVD would certainly help your security on home devices 👍

[@atxvet]

BLURG! I loved this so much, until...Connect. What do I do about port 445 problems?

[@bearded365guy]

@@atxvet I think a follow up is needed for this video…..

[@dr.mohammedmohammed7633]

expensive

[@stormlight1553]

Need to talk about caching server. One of the selling points was using big data. Without caching server this is the same as saving to a share point .

[@oliverhuppe2415]

It depends. Sharepoint is related to synchronizing. This is not ideal with big data. Sharepoint storage is much more expensive when we are talking about big data. And the Backup is more komplex. Without Sharepoint for any reason, your data is not reachable. With an Azure Fileshare it is just data in a raw Format. Just transfer to another region in Azure an you are good to go. As a developer or a designer you don't want to relate on synchronisation with constantly changing files. both have their right to exist.

[@MoonPatrol]

Hi, what is the "File system used metadata" in the cost calculator? I see it adds quite a bit to the price. Can I set this to 0 or must it be the same value as live share capacity?

[@fbifido2]

Does Azure files offer the same security and resilience as SharePoint? eg: file change history, recovery, undelete 2-level, sharing, etc...

[@alfred576]

Hi Jonathan thank you for this great video! How would you handle the fiiler and folders permissions? Same as NTFS? Would it support access-based enumeration? Thank you.

[@michaeledwards2419]

Another great video Jonathan didn't know about this and from your video and a little more research I can now see how these would bring benefits in our organisation. Not only would SharePoint work for most use cases where we have designers working on larger file formats without the need for collaboration features that SharePoint bring it's a perfect mix.

[@techgyver2872]

We were looking into this to alleviate the storage constraints of Sharepoint to store archive or static data that is no longer actively accessed. We were an all mac environment and use entra ID as our IAM. We found a contraint where we could not map an azure share to our macs using our Entra ID or AD creds. We reached out to support and they said it is a product limitation. Anyone else experience this?

[@alexandrecarreirapt]

Thank you so much for the video. Was really wanting the know the difference... Regards

[@ZzeezZ78]

you make watching educational videos less boring :) thank you

[@fbifido2]

@14:30 - will that map drive be permanent? or do we have to run the script on each restart?

[@plopez1972]

your content is awesome jonathan! thanks

[@rangiz99]

The only issue with the script is that it is connected over 445 over the internet. With at least some of the ISPs here in the US, they block connections over 445.

[@bearded365guy]

Yes, this is true. Might need a VPN?

[@maverickny1]

Azure VPN ?

[@rangiz99]

You can but it will add to the cost.

[@davidadams421]

Azure Storage can be accessed using a variety of different secure (encrypted) protocols e.g. NFS, SSH, iSCSI, only this example used SMB (port 445).

[@ryanexley51]

How do you specify an alternative port in the script to avoid 445?

[@PrinceJohn84]

Great video Jonathan. We deploy Azure Files in conjunction with Azure VPN Gateway with a Private Endpoint on the storage account. Circumvents ISP SMB protocol restrictions and makes the solution just that little bit more secure. 👍

[@bearded365guy]

Love it

[@korvolga]

is that different from global secure access?

[@RobFahndrich1]

Great video. Would you be willing to do a video on how to deploy this script to users via Intune? I have tried a few things and not having the luck that I need. To me this would close the loop on getting all users connecting to the share. Last comment, I was unable to access the share from my home network due to the ISP blocking port 445. My solution was to add the FQDN of the share to a list of applications in my GSA and that appears to solve that issue. Thanks!

[@DruDubay]

Can you share how you did this?

[@jmmille]

@RobFahndrich1 I'd love to know how you setup the application within GSA to bypass ISP blocking port 445.

[@Aspectus]

I'd like to know too. Thank you

[@RobFahndrich1]

Are you familiar with the GSA?

[@MdAbdul010]

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[@kevinbloomfield1412]

I think he does alright without you ;-)

[@goverdhanjayaram3683]

You are amazing !!! Thank you 🍺