AZ-305 Design infrastructure solutions Practice Question
Your company plans to migrate an on-premises application to Azure. The application requires low-latency access to a shared file system that supports SMB protocol. Which Azure storage solution should you recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Azure Blob Storage with file shares because both can store files, but Blob Storage does not support SMB protocol, which is the key requirement for this scenario.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Azure Files
Azure Files provides fully managed file shares in the cloud that support the SMB protocol, making it the ideal solution for migrating on-premises applications that require low-latency access to a shared file system. It allows you to lift and shift applications that rely on SMB file shares without code changes, and it can be accessed from Azure VMs or on-premises via SMB 3.0.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Azure Blob Storage
Why it's wrong here
Azure Blob Storage is an object storage service designed for massive amounts of unstructured data, such as images, logs, and backups. It does not natively support the SMB protocol, so applications requiring standard file share mounts (e.g., a drive letter or UNC path) cannot directly access blobs. While blobs can be exposed via REST APIs or NFS with some configurations, the existing on-premises application expecting SMB file semantics would need a rewrite or a translation layer, making it the wrong choice here.
- ✗
Azure Disk Storage
Why it's wrong here
Azure Disk Storage provides raw block-level storage for Azure virtual machines, presenting each disk as a SCSI device attached to a single VM. Although 'shared disks' exist, they still operate as SCSI attached block devices, not as an SMB file share, and they do not provide a general-purpose file system accessible across many clients. The on-premises application's need for shared file access over SMB cannot be met by attaching disks, as disks lack the file-sharing protocol and multi-client namespace expected from a network file share.
- ✓
Azure Files
Why this is correct
Azure Files is the correct answer because it offers fully managed file shares in the cloud that natively support the SMB (and NFS) protocol, enabling Windows, Linux, or macOS clients to mount the share with a standard UNC path or drive letter. It is designed for lift-and-shift scenarios: on-premises applications that rely on file shares can be migrated without code changes, and Azure Files integrates with Microsoft Entra Domain Services for identity-based access. This directly matches the requirement for a shared file system accessible via SMB.
- ✗
Azure Queue Storage
Why it's wrong here
Azure Queue Storage is not a file storage service at all; it is a messaging queue for asynchronous communication between application components, where messages are stored and retrieved via REST APIs. It does not provide a file system hierarchy, SMB protocol support, or the ability to mount a share inside an OS. The application in question requires a persistent, shared file share, not a transient messaging pipeline, so Queue Storage cannot satisfy the migration requirement.
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