Hi everyone! In this blog, I’m going to show you how to configure a Cloud File Sync Service in Azure.
Introduction
File Sync Service allows synchronizing our on-premises server files to Azure files that are supported by Storage Accounts.
In this demo, I need Server 2016, Storage Account, and File Sync Service.
Creating a Storage Account
Step 1
On the Azure Portal, click +Create a resource on the New Menu, click Storage, and then click the Storage account – blob, file, table, queue.
Step 2
On the "Create Storage account", choose your Subscription (my subscription is Azure Pass) and Resource group (my resource group is MyBlog). In the Instance Details, you can enter the storage account name. In this demo, my storage account name is Server2016data and my location in East US2. After entering these details, click "Review + Create".
Step 3
Now, the validation is passed so click the "Create" button.
Step 4
After successfully creating the Storage account, open server2016data that you created.
Step 5
Click Files under the service.
Step 6
After clicking the Files, you need to create a File share, so click the + File share link.
Step 7
Enter the name for file share. In this demo our file share name is server2k16, also you can select the quota for file share. My quota size is 1GB and then click Create.
In this part we need to create Azure File Sync.
Step 1
Click the + Create a resource and you can search the Azure File Sync on the search bar. Click Azure File Sync.
Step 2
In this screen you can click Create to Deploy the File Sync service.
Step 3
In the Deploy Storage Sync you need to enter Name (in the demo I entered LocalSync), also you need to select subscription, resource group and location. After selecting this click Create.
Step 4
After creating LocalSync you need to create Sync group. Open the LocalSync and then click + Sync group.
Step 5
On the Sync group you need to enter Sync group name (in this demo my group name is ServerGroup) and you need to select storage account, so click Select storage account and select server2016data that you created in the storage account.
Step 6
After selecting your storage account you can find the file share name. In this demo I already created the File Share name as server2k16. Select that file share and click Create button.
Step 7
After creating the sync group you need to create a server end point, but before creating server end point we need to set up our server.
In this part we need to install and configure Storage Sync Agent Setup,
In this demo I choose Server 2016 and my server name is WIN-6FS7IJR6OFV; actually I don’t change my server name.
On my server I have one document named Viknaraj and it's stored in Document folder under the E drive.
Step 1
Open your browser and download Azure File Sync Agent.
Step 2
You need to select your file version. In this demo I have Server 2016, so I select StorageSyncAgent_V4_W2016.msi and click Next, and the file will be automatically download.
Step 3
After downloading, open your download folder and run the MSI file.
Step 4
In this window you just select Next to start the installation.
Step 5
Click I accept check box and then click Next.
Step 6
The Azure File Sync is automatically selected so click Next.
Step 7
If you have any proxy settings you can select Configure Custom Proxy otherwise select "Use the existing proxy" and then click Next.
Step 8
If you want to use Microsoft Update you can select Use Microsoft Update otherwise select Do not use Microsoft Update and then click Next.
Step 9
You can select both for the latest version update and then click Install.
Step 10
After completing the installation click Finish to start the Server Registration wizard.
Step 11
Now the Agent Update automatically searches if there’s any update, and after searching click Ok.
Step 12
Now you need to sign in to register the server; click Sign in Button.
Step 13
Enter your Azure Username and Password to sign in.
Step 14
Now you can select your Subscription (Azure Pass), Resource Group (MyBlog) and Storage Sync Service (LocalSync) and then click Register.
Step 15
If the system asked the login information the enter your Azure Username and Password to sign in.
Step 16
Now the System Registration is Successful, and click Ok to close the window.
Step 17
Now Open your ServerGroup and under the LocalSync Click Add Server endpoint. At the moment you have only Cloud endpoint; there’s not any server endpoint.
Step 18
In the Add server endpoint page you can select your sever 2016 on the Registered Server drop down menu, and you need to enter the path to sync the cloud, in this demo I want to sync my Documents folder on my local E drive (E:\Documents) and then Click Create.
Server endpoint was successfully created,
Step 19
Open the server2016data storage account -- you need to click Files under the service.
Step 20
Open your server2k16 to verify the sync configuration.
Step 21
Now you can find the Viknaraj file, now it’s successfully synced the local server to the cloud.
In this blog we learned how to configure Azure File Sync Service. I hope it’s useful for your lab, if you have any clarification feel free to contact me.