In today’s cloud-native landscape, running stateful applications on Kubernetes is no longer the exception—it’s the norm. From databases to AI/ML pipelines, enterprises are increasingly demanding robust, high-performance, and persistent storage for their Kubernetes workloads. That’s where Azure NetApp Files (ANF) comes in.
Azure NetApp Files, a fully managed file storage service built for high-throughput and low-latency applications, integrates seamlessly with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) using Astra Trident—an open-source dynamic storage orchestrator. This combination allows organizations to scale their applications confidently, without worrying about the complexities of managing storage performance, availability, or integration.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to integrate Azure NetApp Files with AKS, highlight best practices, and explore how to build a high-performance Kubernetes storage layer for enterprise-grade workloads.
🔍 What is Azure NetApp Files?
Azure NetApp Files is a fully managed Microsoft Azure service built on NetApp’s ONTAP technology. It supports NFS and SMB protocols and provides:
- Sub-millisecond latency
- High throughput (scale up to multiple GB/s)
- Enterprise data protection features like snapshots and replication
- Seamless integration with Azure services
It is ideal for stateful applications, high-throughput analytics, DevOps environments, and disaster recovery use cases.
🛠️ Why Use Azure NetApp Files with Kubernetes?
While Kubernetes excels at managing stateless applications, persistent storage is essential for:
- Databases
- Stateful microservices
- Machine learning workloads
- Legacy applications being modernized via containers
Azure NetApp Files, when used with Astra Trident, brings dynamic provisioning, volume cloning, snapshots, and high availability directly to your containerized workloads.
Figure: High-Level Integration of AKS with Azure NetApp Files using Trident
⚙️ Step-by-Step: Integrating ANF with Azure Kubernetes Service
Here’s how to make it happen:
1️⃣ Provision Azure NetApp Files
- Create a NetApp Account
- Create a Capacity Pool with a performance tier: Standard, Premium, or Ultra
- Create Volumes using NFS (v3 or v4.1)
2️⃣ Install Astra Trident in AKS
- Use the official Trident operator
- Deploy via Helm or manifests:
kubectl create -f https://github.com/NetApp/trident/releases/download/v23.10.0/trident-installer-23.10.0.tar.gz3️⃣ Configure the Backend in Trident
Create a backend.json with ANF credentials and NFS export path:
{ "version": 1, "storageDriverName": "azure-netapp-files", "subscriptionID": "<your-subscription-id>", "tenantID": "<your-tenant-id>", "clientID": "<your-client-id>", "clientSecret": "<your-client-secret>", ... }4️⃣ Define a StorageClass in Kubernetes
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1 kind: StorageClass metadata: name: anf-standard provisioner: csi.trident.netapp.io parameters: backendType: "azure-netapp-files"5️⃣ Create PVC and Use in Pods
apiVersion: v1 kind: PersistentVolumeClaim metadata: name: db-storage spec: accessModes: - ReadWriteOnce storageClassName: anf-standard resources: requests: storage: 100Gi
Figure: Kubernetes dynamic provisioning via Trident with ANF
💡 Best Practices & Optimization
✅ Choose the Right Tier
- Standard: Dev/Test, file shares
- Premium: Production apps, databases
- Ultra: AI/ML, SAP HANA
✅ Use Reserved Capacity
Save up to 38% using 1-year or 3-year reserved capacity for capacity pools.
✅ Automate Tier Changes
Dynamically change ANF tiers based on usage patterns to reduce cost.
✅ Leverage Snapshots and Clones
Create zero-copy writable clones for Dev/Test. Take instant snapshots for backup and rollback.
🧪 Real-World Use Cases
💾 Databases
Run SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL on AKS with persistent volumes backed by ANF.
📊 Analytics
Use ANF to handle high-throughput I/O operations in big data platforms.
🎮 Gaming & Media
Use for low-latency read/write access to assets, recordings, and rendering workloads.
🧬 AI/ML
Feed large training data sets to AI models with ultra-tier performance from ANF.
🔐 Security Considerations
- Supports encryption at rest and in transit
- Integrates with Azure AD and RBAC
- Enables VNET integration for private endpoints
📈 Monitoring and Automation
Use Azure Monitor, NetApp metrics, and Kubernetes-native tools like Prometheus and Grafana to:
- Track IOPS, latency, and throughput
- Set up alerts for provisioning or performance thresholds
- Automate scaling and volume snapshots using Trident + native Kubernetes controllers
Figure: Monitoring ANF performance via Azure Monitor
⏳ Limitations
- NFS-only support (no SMB for Trident)
- Limited regions available (check here)
- Maximum 500 TiB per volume
🧭 Conclusion
Azure NetApp Files provides high-performance, low-latency, and scalable storage for enterprise Kubernetes workloads. When paired with AKS and Astra Trident, it empowers developers and infrastructure teams to run stateful applications with confidence—without sacrificing speed, resiliency, or control.
If you're looking to take your AKS deployments to the next level, Azure NetApp Files is the storage layer you didn't know you needed.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Microsoft
