Best Practice for migrating shares

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Best Practice for migrating shares

John Lewter 0

Looking for best practices information. For example, I have a traditional Windows 2022 file server with 8 shares on it. Should I create a Azure share for each share on the server or do most just create one share in Azure and copy all the shares to that one Azure share. I was thinking of creating an Azure share for each traditional share on the server but wanted to see what most do.

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Answer 1

When migrating shares from a traditional Windows 2022 file server to Azure, best practices suggest that you should generally create an Azure file share for each traditional share on the server. This approach helps to maintain performance and manageability.

Here are some key considerations:

Performance: If you have highly active shares (those used by many users or applications), it's advisable to deploy storage accounts with one file share each. This prevents performance bottlenecks that can occur when multiple active shares are pooled together in a single storage account.
Archival vs. Active Shares: You can pool multiple Azure file shares into the same storage account if they are archival shares or expected to have low day-to-day activity. However, for shares that will be actively used, separate shares are recommended.
Mapping: Create a mapping of your existing shares to the new Azure file shares to ensure a smooth transition and maintain the structure of your data.

By following these practices, you can optimize the performance and organization of your Azure file shares during the migration process.

Answer 2

Manoj Kumar Boyini 1,660 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi John Lewter,

It looks like you're exploring the best practices for migrating your Windows 2022 file server shares to Azure. Great question! Here’s a summary of what you might consider when deciding how to handle those shares.

Individual Shares vs. A Single Share: It's generally advisable to create an Azure file share for each traditional share on your server. This approach gives you better management and allows you to tailor configurations, permissions, and access controls based on the usage patterns of each share.

Performance Considerations: If your shares are highly active (used by many users/applications), having them in separate storage accounts can prevent resource contention. Grouping too many busy shares under one storage account can lead to performance issues since they share IOPS and throughput.

Naming Conventions: When you're setting up the Azure shares, try to maintain similar naming conventions as your on-premises counterparts. This helps in keeping the organization clear and intuitive.

Storage Account and Share Configuration: Provision the Azure storage accounts and create the corresponding SMB file shares accordingly. Make sure to assess whether you need redundancy options in place for fault tolerance.

References:

Hope this helps! If you have more questions or need clarification, feel free to ask!

Manoj Kumar Boyini 1,660 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-13T16:12:28.2+00:00

Hi John Lewter,

In most real-world migrations from a Windows Server file server to Azure Files, customers usually start by creating one Azure file share for each existing on-premises share.

The main reason is simplicity and safety. A 1:1 approach keeps your existing share structure, permissions, drive mappings, and scripts intact, which makes the migration much easier to validate and reduces the risk of access or permission issues. Since you’re coming from a single Windows 2022 file server with eight shares, this approach fits well within Azure’s supported limits and works smoothly with tools like Azure File Sync.

Once everything is migrated and running stably, some customers later choose to consolidate shares, but that’s typically an optimization step. Consolidation only makes sense after you clearly understand usage patterns and only if the shares have similar access permissions and relatively low or moderate activity. It’s not something you need to decide upfront.

So for your scenario, the practical recommendation is to migrate each of your existing shares to its own Azure file share first, confirm that access and performance meet expectations, and then decide later if consolidation would provide any benefit. This keeps the initial migration straightforward and avoids unnecessary complexity.

If you’d like, you can share whether any of your shares are especially high-activity or mostly archival, and I can help you decide if any special handling is needed.

References:
Azure Files scale and performance targets
Azure File Sync planning and limits
Azure Files migration overview
Storage account performance considerations

Hope this helps! If you have more questions or need clarification, feel free to ask!

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Best Practice for migrating shares

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