wmgries introduces the general availability of Azure Files provisioned v2 for SSD, offering cost savings, flexible scaling, and improved performance for cloud storage workloads.

Lower Costs and Boost Flexibility with Azure Files Provisioned v2 for SSD

Author: wmgries

Azure has announced the general availability of the provisioned v2 model for Azure Files on the SSD (premium) media tier. This enhancement targets both enterprise IT professionals and cloud-native developers looking for flexible, cost-efficient file storage.

What Is Provisioned v2?

  • Provisioned v2 decouples performance from capacity, letting you scale IOPS and throughput independently from storage size.
  • Minimum share size lowered to 32 GiB (from 100 GiB). Maximum share size raised to 256 TiB.
  • No downtime required for scaling up or down – adjust your file share’s capacity or performance as workloads change.

Why Upgrade to Provisioned v2?

  • Affordability: Entry costs as low as $3.20/month.
  • Flexibility: Scale up or down performance with no downtime and align storage to actual needs.
  • Predictable Pricing: Simple, easy-to-understand cost models with sample scenarios provided.
  • High Performance: Suited for high-IOPS, low-latency workloads like SQL Server, Oracle, SAP, AKS, and media archives.
  • Scaled Sizing: SSD shares now range from 32 GiB to 256 TiB.
  • Telemetry Support: Real-time monitoring enables ongoing tuning of file share provisioning.

Example Workloads and Savings

Scenario Provisioned v1 Provisioned v2 Savings
Workload w/ default IOPS & throughput (10 TiB) $1,638.40/mo $1,341.09/mo 18%
Relational DB workload (4 TiB, 20K IOPS) $2,720/mo $925.42/mo 66%
Hot archive multimedia (100 TiB, 15K IOPS) $16,384.00/mo $10,641.93/mo 35%

Right-Sized Performance

  • Database workloads (SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, SAP, EPIC) get needed high IOPS/throughput with less storage.
  • AKS & Containers: Lower minimum share size and reduced cost per share promote efficient use for shared storage.
  • Media & Archives: Fast retrieval and increased max share size help archive workloads that need both bursts and capacity.

Getting Started

  1. In Azure Portal, select “Azure Files” as service, “Premium” for performance, “Provisioned v2” for billing.
  2. Available in all public Azure regions.

More Information

This update enables organizations to right-size storage and performance for evolving cloud workloads while minimizing cost and complexity.

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