Sharing Files between VMs in Same Resource Group

[WalterWood44]

We have two Azure Windows 10 VMs setup on the same resource group and they both need access to the same small  Access databases. MS Access on each VM will be used for the front end connect to these files. I setup a File Share in Blob Storage in this same RG and mapped it to a drive in each VM. While this works, it is slow. Since there are multiple databases, and they are added and edited frequently, it is not practical to put them in SQL. What is a better way to share these databases? 

[#2]

Hi @WalterWood44 ,

There are several options available in the Azure Marketplace for providing an File Service to VMs, two are Microsoft-provided (Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files) and the rest is from Third Parties.

Considering your scenario, Azure NetApp Files would a complete overkill for you (due to the minimum volume size and pricing).

Azure Files are still the best alternative, in my opinion. You could consider trying two options to improve performance (can be applied together as well):

- use the Premium SKU - AzureFiles storage account (backed by SSD disks)

- enable Private Endpoint from that storage account to your VNet with the VMs

Just for sake of completion, there is another possibility: Deploy a Windows VM with File Server role, connect it to the same network, and host your Access files there. You could chose Premium managed disks for the File Server. There can be several factors affecting performance:

• VM SKUs of those Win10 machines (it has also impact on network throughput)
• underlying storage performance (hence my advice to try with Premium storage account and/or Disks)
• physical location of the VMs: in regions supporting Availability Zones, it would be better to deploy the VMs in the same zone. In this way you can get your VMs "closer" but you need to consider high-availability of this design. As an extra option, you could consider using 'Proximity Placement Groups' to ensure these VMs are hosted very close to each other.

Hope this helps.

[#3]

IMO, your best shot (and the simplest option) is an SMB 3.0 file share where Azure Storage Account serves as a common denominator. More details here.