Three Windows virtual machines and a handful of on-premises servers need to read and write the same set of files, mounted as a network drive over SMB, without rewriting the application that uses them. Which storage service fits?
Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900), objective architecture-and-services. Azure architecture and services easy
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The options
Correct Azure Files
Correct. It provides fully managed file shares reachable over standard file-sharing protocols, so existing applications mount a share and carry on using file paths as before.
Not correct Azure Blob Storage
Wrong for this requirement. Blob is object storage addressed over HTTP through its own API — excellent for unstructured data at scale, but not a file system you mount, so the application would have to be rewritten.
Not correct Azure Queue Storage
Wrong. Queues carry messages between components so they can work independently of one another. They are not a place to keep files.
Not correct A managed disk attached to one of the virtual machines
Wrong. A managed disk is normally attached to a single machine, so the other servers cannot see it — and that sharing constraint is exactly what a file share removes.
Why
Match the service to the shape of the data and to how the application asks for it. Blobs are objects fetched by URL; files are shares mounted at a path; queues are messages passed between components; tables are schemaless key-value rows; disks are block storage for one virtual machine. The quickest discriminator in a scenario question: does the application want a path or a URL?
Where this comes from
- Cited
- Microsoft AZ-900 study guide skill area architecture-and-services.storage
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