Supercharge Azure Files performance for metadata-intensive workloads

Handling millions—or billions—of small files is business as usual for many cloud workloads. But behind the scenes, it’s not just about reading and writing data—it's the constant file opens, closes, directory listings, and existence checks that really impact performance. These metadata operations may seem small, but they’re critical—and can become a major bottleneck if they’re not fast. 

From AI/ML workloads on Azure Kubernetes Service, to web apps like Moodle, to CI/CD pipelines and virtual desktops—many applications are metadata intensive. And when every millisecond counts, latency in these operations can drag down the entire experience.

That’s why we’re excited to introduce a major boost in metadata performance. Applications experience up to 55% lower latency and 2–3x more consistent response times, ensuring greater reliability. Workloads with high metadata interaction, such as AI/ML pipelines, see the biggest gains with 3x higher parallel metadata IOPS for improved efficiency and scalability. Removing metadata bottlenecks allows more data operations too. We've seen workloads increase data IOPS and throughput up to 60%.

In Azure Files SSD (premium), this enhancement accelerates metadata operations for both SMB and REST protocols, benefiting new and existing file shares at no extra cost. Whether you're running critical business applications, scaling DevOps workflows, or supporting thousands of virtual desktop users, Azure Files is now faster, more scalable, and optimized for your most demanding workloads.

Metadata Caching accelerates real-world solutions. 

GIS on Azure Virtual Desktop 

GIS (Geographic Information System) workloads are crucial for analyzing and managing spatial data, supporting industries like urban planning, agriculture, and disaster management. By visualizing spatial relationships, GIS helps organizations make better decisions about infrastructure and resource management. 

Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) is a popular choice for hosting GIS workloads in the cloud. These workloads often experience performance bottlenecks due to frequent interactions with large volumes of smaller files on shared file storage. Metadata caching reduces latency and accelerates file interactions—such as opening and closing these files—enabling faster data access and improving GIS job execution in virtual desktop environments. 
 
Customers, like Suncor Energy, are already experiencing the impact of Metadata Caching in GIS workloads. 

“Enabling Metadata Cache in Azure Files SSD (premium) significantly improved geospatial (GIS) workload performance, reducing execution time by 43.18%. This enhancement boosts throughput and IOPS, increasing the value of Azure Files.” 
— Colin Stuckless, Suncor Energy Inc. 

Moodle Web Services 

Moodle is a comprehensive learning management system (LMS) that combines server hosting, databases (such as MySQL or PostgreSQL), file storage (using Azure Files SSD), and PHP-based web servers. It’s designed to facilitate course management, allowing instructors to upload materials, assignments, and quizzes. Moodle requires frequent read/write requests for course materials, assignments, and user interactions generating a high volume of metadata lookups, particularly when accessing shared content or navigating large course repositories.  

With Metadata Caching, Moodle operates faster and more efficiently. Response times have improved by 33%, reducing wait times for students and instructors when accessing materials or submitting work. These enhancements also boost Moodle’s scalability, enabling it to support 3x more students and user sessions without compromising performance. Even during peak usage, when many users are active simultaneously, Moodle remains stable and responsive. As a result, students can access resources and submit work more quickly, while instructors can manage larger courses and assignments more effectively.  

GitHub Actions on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) 

GitHub Actions is a powerful automation tool seamlessly integrated with GitHub, enabling developers to build, test, and deploy code directly from their repositories. By leveraging Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), GitHub Actions automates tasks through workflows defined in AKS YAML files, facilitating efficient container orchestration, scaling, and deployment of applications within a Kubernetes environment. These workflows can be triggered by various events, such as code pushes, pull requests, or even scheduled times, streamlining the development process and enhancing efficiency. These operations generate a high volume of metadata lookups, as each workflow execution involves checking for updated dependencies, accessing cached libraries, and continuously writing execution logs.  

Metadata caching significantly reduces the time required to retrieve and process metadata, resulting in quicker build artifact handling and smoother, more efficient deployment cycles. As a result, pipeline execution is 57% faster, allowing developers to build and deploy in half the time!

How to get started 

You can now supercharge your Azure Files performance by enabling metadata caching for your applications today, at no extra cost! So don’t wait!  

To get started, register your subscription with the Metadata Cache feature using Azure portal or PowerShell to enable all new and existing accounts with Metadata Caching. 

Metadata Cache is now generally available in multiple regions, with more being added as we expand coverage. For Regional Availability please visit the following Link