Secure, Keyless Application Access with Managed Identities - Now GA in Azure Files SMB
As enterprises modernize applications and strengthen their security posture, identity is central to how applications access shared storage. Traditional identity models relying on account keys, stored credentials, or domain‑joined infrastructure add operational overhead and introduce security risks such as credential leakage, lack of identity attribution, and excessive privilege if shared keys are compromised. Today, we are excited to announce the General Availability (GA) of Managed Identity support for Azure Files over SMB, enabling applications and virtual machines to securely access Azure Files without secrets, passwords, or key distribution. Managed Identity support enables customers to meet modern enterprise security standards without reliance on storage account keys, streamlining how organizations securely enable file‑based application access and reducing the operational overhead of filing internal exceptions. New storage accounts can support secure, identity‑based SMB access out of the box, while existing deployments can get secure by enabling Managed Identity authentication. From web application workloads such as WordPress, to databases on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), to CI/CD pipelines, applications require secure access. In a world where security is foundational, continued reliance on key-based access conflicts with Zero Trust principles and least privilege access. What’s New In GA AKS Workload Identity Support AKS Workload Identity (preview) extends the traditional managed identity model for Kubernetes by shifting the identity from the node to pods. Instead of inheriting the identity of the underlying cluster, each Kubernetes pod can use its own federated identity, mapped directly to a Microsoft Entra ID principal. This feature enables: Pod-level identity isolation, rather than cluster-level Least-privilege access with secure RBAC Seamless scaling and redeployment, without identity reconfiguration No secrets, no key rotation, no credential injection When combined with Azure Files over SMB, Workload Identity allows AKS workloads to access shared file storage securely and natively per pod, using the same identity-driven model as cluster level managed identities. Now available with AKS 1.35, for customers specifically in the financial services industries, AKS Workload Identity enables per‑application, least‑privilege access to Azure Files without credentials, improving isolation and auditability. This allows regulated, stateful workloads to run securely on AKS while meeting strict compliance and regulatory requirements. Co-existence of Application Identities and end-user identity access Azure Files now enables both Managed Identity and end‑user access on the same storage account, with users and applications independently authenticated via Entra ID and authorized through a shared permissions model. This unified access model eliminates the need for duplicate storage or credentials, enabling secure collaboration, troubleshooting, and automation on shared data without compromising governance or compliance. This supports scenarios such as: Developers accessing the same file share as an application for debugging Admins managing content used by automated workflows Hybrid environments with user-driven and app-driven access Simplified Storage Account enablement via the Azure portal We have now added a dedicated Managed Identity property that makes enabling identity‑based SMB access simple and transparent via the Azure portal for new as well as existing storage accounts. With a single configuration at the storage account level, customers can allow applications to authenticate to Azure Files using Managed Identities. This portal experience supports incremental adoption, making it easy to modernize authentication while maintaining compatibility with existing user access and governance models. Get Started with Managed Identities with SMB Azure Files Start using Managed Identities with Azure Files today at no additional cost. This feature is supported on HDD and SSD SMB shares across all billing models. Refer to our documentation for complete set-up guidance. Whether provisioning new storage or enhancing existing deployments, this capability provides secure, enterprise‑grade access with a streamlined configuration experience. For any questions, reach out to the team at azurefiles@microsoft.com.Enhance Your Linux Workloads with Azure Files NFS v4.1: Secure, Scalable, and Flexible
Enhance your Linux workloads with Azure Files NFS v4.1, enterprise-grade solution. With new support for in-transit encryption and RESTful access, it delivers robust security and flexible data access for mission-critical and data-intensive applications.Building a Scalable Web Crawling and Indexing Pipeline with Azure storage and AI Search
In the ever-evolving world of data management, keeping search indexes up-to-date with dynamic data can be challenging. Traditional approaches, such as manual or scheduled indexing, are resource-intensive, delay-prone, and difficult to scale. Azure Blob Trigger combined with an AI Search Indexer offers a cutting-edge solution to overcome these challenges, enabling real-time, scalable, and enriched data indexing. This blog explores how Blob Trigger, integrated with Azure Cognitive Search, transforms the indexing process by automating workflows and enriching data with AI capabilities. It highlights the step-by-step process of configuring Blob Storage, creating Azure Functions for triggers, and seamlessly connecting with an AI-powered search index. The approach leverages Azure's event-driven architecture, ensuring efficient and cost-effective data management.Simplifying Kubernetes Data Protection with CloudCasa and Microsoft Azure Blob Storage
NOTE: This article is co-authored with our partner, CloudCasa. Ensuring reliable backups and fast recoveries in these hybrid setups is challenging. CloudCasa’s partnership with Microsoft Azure Blob Storage offers a robust solution to this challenge, delivering scalable, secure, and cost-effective data protection for Kubernetes cloud and hybrid cloud workloads. In this blog, we will look at how CloudCasa and Azure Blob solve common data protection challenges. We will explore how they simplify backups for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), offer centralized protection for hybrid clusters with Azure Arc, and give you a single view for managing VM and container backups. We will also cover how they help with disaster recovery in Kubernetes environments and how they push data to Azure Blob in an efficient manner. By the end, you will see how this partnership prepares your data protection strategy for the future. Seamless Integration with the Azure Ecosystem A good backup solution should not create more work. It should blend into the tools you already use. CloudCasa is purpose-built to integrate effortlessly with the Microsoft Azure ecosystem. This integration provides robust data protection for Kubernetes and hybrid cloud environments through: CloudCasa for AKS: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a popular way to run Kubernetes in Microsoft Azure. CloudCasa for AKS gives you an easy way to protect your containers, volumes, and metadata. You can set schedules and policies in CloudCasa to back up entire AKS clusters. If something goes wrong, you can quickly restore your workloads to the same or a different AKS cluster. Learn more about CloudCasa for AKS. CloudCasa for Azure Arc: Azure Arc extends Azure services to on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge environments. That means you can manage servers and Kubernetes clusters from a single point. CloudCasa for Azure Arc takes advantage of this central view. It lets you protect your Arc-enabled Kubernetes clusters wherever they run. Instead of juggling multiple backup tools for each environment, you can protect them all from a single place. Learn more about CloudCasa for Azure Arc. Azure Marketplace: Deploying and paying for new services often involves many steps. But CloudCasa is available on the Azure Marketplace, making it easy to start. You can sign up with a few clicks and have the charges appear on your Azure bill. This straightforward setup reduces friction and helps teams begin protecting their workloads right away. Supporting Hybrid Cloud and Kubernetes Workloads Modern organizations rarely keep all of their data in a single place. Some workloads might still run on-premises, while others run in different clouds. Kubernetes clusters can be scattered across these environments. Without a proper solution, managing backups for all these clusters can get messy. CloudCasa manages backups in a clever way. By default, it uses incremental backups whenever possible, which means it only moves the data that has changed since the last backup. This minimizes network usage and lowers storage costs. All these backups are stored in Azure Blob, which is both scalable and cost-effective. Unified Backup Management for Arc-Enabled Clusters When you connect your Kubernetes clusters to Azure Arc, you get a single view of all those clusters in the Azure portal. CloudCasa fits into this model by letting you create and apply backup policies across your hybrid environment. Instead of setting backup rules cluster-by-cluster, you can handle them from one place. This unification saves time and helps you avoid errors. A good backup is only valuable if you can recover from it quickly and without hassle. CloudCasa simplifies this process. You can restore your containers, PVs (Persistent Volumes), and cluster configurations back to their original places. This limits downtime and keeps your business moving. If your cluster is no longer available, you can also restore to a new location, including AKS, to keep your workloads running. Streamlining Kubernetes Disaster Recovery Disaster recovery (DR) is a top priority for many organizations. Traditional DR methods might involve copying data to a secondary site or region, then running complex scripts to bring everything back online. In a Kubernetes world, DR can be simpler if done the right way. Containers let you package your applications and dependencies in a portable format. If you have regular backups, you can quickly spin up your applications on another cluster if one site goes down. CloudCasa focuses on container-aware backups, so your entire environment—services, pods, configuration, and persistent data—can be restored. You don’t have to worry about missing parts of your cluster during recovery. If disaster strikes, you might need to create a brand-new cluster in Azure Kubernetes Service. CloudCasa makes this smoother. You can use your existing backups to set up a cluster in AKS, restoring namespaces, deployments, and volumes. This approach gives you a quick path to recovery without diving into manual steps or complicated scripts. Short-Term Recovery and Long-Term Archiving Azure Blob storage can keep multiple versions of your backups. This is helpful if you need to recover something quickly, like a file that was deleted by mistake. You can also use Azure Blob for long-term archiving, storing older backups at lower cost in access tiers like Cool or Archive. That means you meet compliance needs without breaking the bank, and you can still restore data if needed down the line. Sending backup data to the cloud must be efficient, both in terms of resource usage and network costs. If your backups overload your network or compute resources, it can slow down your day-to-day operations. CloudCasa is built to avoid these problems. Lightweight Agent Technology CloudCasa has a lightweight agent that runs in your Kubernetes clusters. This agent takes care of backup tasks without draining your compute and network resources. The agent only captures what it needs. With incremental backups, you don’t send the same data over and over again, which keeps your workload overhead low. CloudCasa includes metrics that show how much data is being backed up and how quickly. You can also see if there are any issues during the backup process. These insights help you spot bottlenecks and optimize your data protection approach. You can also control how often backups happen, which helps reduce unplanned spikes in storage costs or network usage. Cost-Effective Scalability Azure Blob follows a pay-as-you-go model. You only pay for what you use, whether it’s the size of stored data or how often you read and write that data. As your Kubernetes clusters grow or you add more clusters, CloudCasa and Azure Blob scale with you. There is no need to worry about running out of space or making large upfront investments in storage hardware. The technology landscape keeps changing. Businesses need solutions that can adapt to new platforms, new workloads, and new regulations. CloudCasa and Azure Blob offer that flexibility. Scalable Data Protection for Hybrid and Cloud-Native Environments Today you might be running a few clusters on-premises and a couple in the cloud. Next year, you might expand to more regions or adopt new container platforms. CloudCasa’s agent-based design and Azure Blob’s elastic storage model are built to handle this. You can protect more clusters as you go, without complex setup or hardware upgrades. In many industries, regulations require you to keep data for a certain period and show that it’s stored in a durable, secure way. Azure Blob provides high durability with multiple copies of your data in different locations. CloudCasa’s backups are encrypted in transit and at rest. This means you can meet compliance needs and still have control over your data retention policies. Advanced Recovery Capabilities As you expand, your recovery needs may become more complex. You may have to recover apps across different regions or clouds. CloudCasa gives you the option to restore to different clusters, whether they are on Azure or on another provider. This means you can change course when needed, without being tied to a single environment. And because Azure Blob keeps your data in a secure and highly available way, you can trust that it will be there when you need it. Conclusion Protecting Kubernetes workloads can be simpler than you think. With CloudCasa and Microsoft Azure Blob, you get a scalable and secure backup solution that works across hybrid and cloud-native environments. You also have a unified tool for both container and VM backups, which reduces management overhead. In case of disaster, CloudCasa helps you recover quickly to AKS or your original environment. And because everything is stored in Azure Blob, you benefit from its pay-as-you-go model and global infrastructure. By adopting this integrated approach, you can focus on delivering applications and services, rather than juggling multiple backup systems. CloudCasa makes it easy to set backup schedules and policies, track performance, and restore data wherever you run your workloads. You gain peace of mind knowing your data is protected and can be recovered quickly, without complicated scripts or risky manual steps. Next steps To learn more, visit CloudCasa for AKS and CloudCasa for Azure Arc on the Azure Marketplace, explore CloudCasa.io, or at casa@cloudcasa.io to get started. Additionally, we have a demo video showcasing the capabilities of both AKS and Azure Arc together, providing a comprehensive overview of how these solutions can benefit your organization.
