Cloud Shell Quick Tip: Service Tag Network Security Group Rule
This video shows you how to configure an NSG rule to allow SSH from the Azure Cloud shell within the portal. This is great if you need to access resources and don't have a VPN or Azure Bastion set up within the Virtual Network (VNET). I show you just three minutes how to modify your NSG to permit the AzureCloud service tag and ssh into my VM.
Unlocking Flexibility with Azure Files Provisioned V2
In this episode of E2E:10-Minute Drill, host Pierre Roman sits down with Will Gries, Principal PM in Azure Storage, to explore the newly released Azure Files Provisioned V2 billing model. This model introduces a game-changing approach to cloud file storage by allowing users to provision storage, IOPS, and throughput independently—a major leap forward in flexibility and cost optimization. 📺 Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/Tb6y0fvJBMs Previously, Standard Azure Files used a pay-as-you-go model where you pay per GB of storage plus transaction fees for every file operation (reads, writes, lists, etc.). That often made bills hard to predict. There was also a Premium tier (Provisioned V1 on SSDs, where you pre-allocated capacity; that gave you fixed performance and no transaction charges, but you might have to over-provision storage to get more IOPS, whether you needed that extra space or not. Provisioned V2 changes the game... You can now pre-provision your storage, IOPS, and throughput you need for a file share. That’s what you pay for – and nothing more. There are no per-operation fees at all in V2. It’s like moving from a metered phone plan to an unlimited plan: a stable bill each month, and you can adjust your “plan” up or down as needed. Key Benefits of Provisioned V2 Predictable (and Lower) Costs: No more paying for every single read/write. You pay a known monthly rate based on the resources you reserve. This means no surprise spikes in cost when your usage increases. In many cases, Provisioned V2 actually lowers the total cost for active workloads. Microsoft has noted that common workloads might save on the order of 30–50% compared to the old pay-as-you-go model, thanks to lower storage prices and zero transaction fees. High Performance on Demand: Each file share can now scale up to 50,000 IOPS and 5 GiB/sec throughput, and support up to 256 TiB of data in a single share. That’s a big jump from the old limits. More importantly, you’re in control of the performance: if you need more IOPS or bandwidth, you can dial it up anytime (and dial it down later if you overshot). Provisioned V2 also includes burst capacity for short spikes, so your share can automatically handle occasional surges above your baseline IOPS. Bottom line – your Azure Files can now handle much larger and more IO-intensive workloads without breaking a sweat. Simpler Management & Planning: Forget about juggling Hot vs Cool vs Transaction Optimized tiers or guessing at how many transactions you’ll run. With V2, every Standard file share works the same way – you just decide how much capacity and performance to provision. This makes it much easier to plan and budget. You can monitor each share’s usage with new per-share metrics (Azure shows you how much of your provisioned IOPS/throughput you’re using), which helps right-size your settings. If you’re syncing on-prem file servers to Azure with Azure File Sync, the predictable costs and higher limits of V2 make your hybrid setup easier to manage and potentially cheaper, too. Azure Files provisioned v2 billing model for flexibility, cost savings, and predictability | Microsoft Community Hub Provisioned V2 makes Azure Files more cloud-friendly and enterprise-ready. Whether you’re a new user or have been using Azure Files for years, this model offers a win-win: you get more control and performance, and you eliminate the unpredictable bills. If you have heavy usage, you’ll appreciate the cost savings and headroom. If you have lighter usage, you’ll enjoy the simplicity and peace of mind. Overall, if you use Azure Files (or are planning to), Provisioned V2 is likely to make your life easier and your storage costs lower. It’s a welcome upgrade that addresses a lot of customer pain points in cloud file storage. If you're looking to optimize your Azure storage strategy, this episode is a must-watch. 🔗 Explore all episodes: https://aka.ms/E2E-10min-Drill Resources: Azure Storage Blog – Provisioned V2 Announcement (Jan 2025):“Azure Files provisioned v2 billing model for flexibility, cost savings, and predictability” – Official blog post introducing Provisioned V2, with details on the new limits and pricing model. (Microsoft Tech Community)Microsoft Azure Blog (Apr 2025):“Azure Files: More performance, more control, more value for your file data” – Azure blog highlighting the increased performance and value offered by Azure Files (including the new billing model). Microsoft Learn – Understand Azure Files Billing Models: Documentation explaining Azure Files billing, with sections on the Provisioned V2 model and how it differs from previous models. Cheer! PierreAnnouncing the new Microsoft Learn Plan - Preparing for your organization's AI workloads
We're pleased to announce the new "Preparing for your organization's AI workloads" Microsoft Learn Plan - focused the IT/Ops audience and now available on Microsoft Learn! This set of content was curated by our team and is targeted at helping IT Professionals who want to learn how to support their organization's AI applications and infrastructure. The Learning Plan is composed of 4 milestones, which in its turn are composed of a total of 22 modules: Milestone 1: Getting Started with AI on Microsoft Azure - Learning Path: Introduction to AI in Azure - 12 modules Milestone 2: Introduction to AI Services Infrastructure on Azure - Learning Path: Manage Authentication, Authorization, and RBAC for AI Workloads on Azure - 3 modules - Learning Path: Manage Network Access for AI Workloads - 2 modules Milestone 3: Monitoring AI Services on Azure - Learning Path: Monitor AI Workloads on Azure - 3 modules Milestone 4: Advanced Management of AI Workloads on Azure - Learning Path: AI Workload Governance and DLP - 2 modules This comprehensive plan introduces foundational AI concepts, then guides you through advanced topics. Whether you're an IT administrator, security specialist, or AI practitioner, this plan equips you with the skills to build trusted, secure, and compliant AI solutions at scale. We hope you enjoy learning! Let us know what you think about this content in the comment section below! If you'd like to see more of this type of content, or have any suggestions, let us know as well!How Azure Storage Powers AI Workloads: Behind the Scenes with OpenAI, Blobfuse & More
In the latest episode of E2E: 10-minute Drill, I sat down with Vamshi from the Azure Storage team to explore how Azure Blob Storage is fueling the AI revolution. From training massive foundation models like ChatGPT to enabling enterprise-grade AI solutions. Whether you're building your own LLM, fine-tuning models with proprietary data, or just curious about how Microsoft supports OpenAI’s infrastructure, this episode is packed with insights. 🎥 Watch the Full Episode 👉Watch on YouTube 🔍 Key Highlights Azure Blob Storage is the backbone of AI workloads, storing everything from training data to user-generated content in apps like ChatGPT and DALL·E. Microsoft’s collaboration with OpenAI has led to innovations like Azure Scaled Accounts and Blobfuse2, now available to all Azure customers. Enterprises can now securely bring their own data to Azure AI services, with enhanced access control and performance at exabyte scale. 📂 Documentation & Resources 🚀 Azure Blob Storage Overview - https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/storage/blobs/ 📝 Blobfuse2 (Linux FUSE Adapter for Azure Blob Storage) - https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/storage/blobs/blobfuse2-introduction 🧠 Azure OpenAI Service - https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/cognitive-services/openai/overview 🔐 Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) - https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/role-based-access-control/overview 💬 Why It Matters As AI becomes a core workload for infrastructure teams, understanding how to scale, secure, and optimize your data pipelines is critical. This episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at how Microsoft is enabling developers and enterprises to build the next generation of intelligent applications—using the same tools that power OpenAI. 📣 Stay Connected Subscribe to the ITOpsTalk YouTube Channel and follow the E2E:10-minute Drill series for more conversations on cloud, AI, and innovation. And, As always if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I'll make sure we get back to you. Cheers!! PierreHow to add a Server to Azure Arc
In this blog post, we are going to have a quick look at Azure Arc for servers and how you can add servers to Azure Arc. Azure Arc for servers extends Azure Resource Manager to allow you to manage machines that are outside of Azure, using Azure management tools like Azure Log Analytics and Azure Policy.
