Container storage options

  • Article

Storage options for FSLogix containers can vary widely depending on many factors. The first factor(s) when choosing storage are the platform (that is, Azure, on-premises, etc.) and location (that is, geographical region or datacenter) of your virtual infrastructure. This document outlines the various options and considerations when choosing and designing your container storage.

Storage types

Regardless of your container configuration, all FSLogix containers can be stored on file shares that support the SMB protocol. If you decided to use Cloud Cache as part of your configuration, you can choose to store your containers in an Azure Storage Account Blob.

SMB file shares

Used in:

  • VHDLocations for profile and ODFC containers
  • CCDLocations (Cloud Cache) for profile and ODFC containers

SMB is a network file and resource sharing protocol that uses a client-server model. SMB clients such as, Windows PCs on a network, connect to SMB storage providers to access resources such as files and directories. FSLogix doesn't implement a private SMB client or protocol. FSLogix uses the built-in SMB client from the virtual machines operating system and isn't bound by SMB protocol version. Additionally, if the SMB storage provider and the Windows client are able to negotiate for SMB multi-channel then FSLogix gains this benefit.

Azure page blob storage accounts

Used in:

  • CCDLocations (Cloud Cache) for profile and ODFC containers ONLY

FSLogix communicates with the Azure Storage Account using the Storage Account Connection String. As outlined in this article, the connection string contains protected security information. Knowledge of this information exposes a security risk that must be considered and mitigated before using this type of storage provider. To correctly implement this type of storage provider, the connection string or Storage Account name and Account Key must be stored in the virtual machines credential manager.

Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) or Azure based virtual desktop environments

Azure provides multiple storage solutions that can be used to store your FSLogix containers. This section compares Azure storage providers for AVD and other Azure based virtual desktop environments (for example, VMware, Citrix, RDS, etc.).

Azure Files Azure NetApp Files Azure Page Blob1 Storage Spaces Direct
Use case General purpose Ultra performance or migration from NetApp on-premises General purpose Cross-platform
Platform service Yes, Azure-native solution Yes, Azure-native solution Yes, Azure-native solution No, self-managed
Regional availability All regions Select regions All regions All regions
Redundancy LRS, ZRS, GRS, GZRS Locally redundant, Cross-region replication Varies Varies
Tiers and performance Premium, Transaction Optimized, Hot, or Cool Ultra, Premium, or Standard Tiers: Varies, Performance: Varies Ultra, Premium SSD v2, Premium SSD, Standard SSD, Standard HDD
Capacity 100 TiB per share, Up to 5 PiB per general purpose account 100 TiB per volume, 25 TiB default quota per Subscription Up to 8 TiB 32 TiB - 65 TiB per Disk
Limitations 10,000 handles per file share 1,000 IP(s) per subnet up to VM limits Varies Varies based on number of nodes and disks

1 Azure page blobs are only used in Cloud Cache containers

On-premises or other workload platforms

When FSLogix is implemented in non-Azure environments, the storage options become limitless. As described in the storage type section, FSLogix requires the storage provider to support SMB and work with the built-in Windows SMB client. The most important factor when selecting a storage platform for FSLogix containers, is the proximity (latency) to the virtual desktop infrastructure and the performance of the system in relation to your user workloads.

Next steps

As outlined, FSLogix can be used with various storage options. Use the next step articles to create the right storage location for your environment:

Azure Files

Azure NetApp Files

Storage permissions