Shared file storage for a web farm

Question

We have an Azure VM (Windows) hosting our web app on IIS. This is set up behind a load balancer. Currently there is only one web server, but we will add more later.

We need to save files (images and videos) that are accessible to all web servers. These are user files. We will also need this to be backed up. ** Note, hot backups is not required **.

These are compressed (ie size and bitrate) so they are not that large. They are not served up often. About 3 or 4 times per file, but they do need to be maintained.

All our servers are private VM's. No shared services. We will not use any shared services. The only connections are over HTTPS, no RDP or any other connections.

The Azure portal is not super helpful.

My guess is that a Storage Account (LRS is fine) would work. Then just map an IIS Virtual Directory to it (UNC?)

Am I on the correct track?

Also, do I need to set up backups or is this done automatically?

Thanks,
Ben

Answer 1

In this case, you can use Azure File share.

Check out Quickstart: Create and manage Azure Files share with Windows virtual machines and Use Azure File Share as Virtual Directory in IIS for the start.

Further, Azure File Share provides you Scheduled (frequency and retaining period as per your needs) and On-demand backups. Check out Back up Azure file shares for details about these backups.

In summary, you can set a backup policy, a snapshot of the file shares is taken at the scheduled time. The recovery point is also retained for the chosen period:

Further, to protect your data until the backup policy engages, initiate an on-demand backup:

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Answer 2

OK.

Thank you so much.

This is SO HELPFUL!