Migrate an Azure Files Premium v1 share to Azure Files Premium v2

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Nerdio Product Support

Nerdio Manager supports Azure Files Premium v2, which offers several benefits over Premium v1. Provisioning new Azure Files Premium v2 shares is straightforward; however, if you want to move your existing Azure Files Premium v1 shares to Premium v2, this migration cannot be completed in place. 

Moving from a Premium v1 share to a Premium v2 share requires provisioning a new Premium v2 share, copying the existing data to it with AzCopy, and repointing FSLogix and any other consumers to the new share. This article walks through that process for a Premium v1 share managed in Nerdio Manager.

Prerequisites

  • An Azure subscription with access to storage accounts in a region that supports Azure Files Premium v2.

  • Sufficient Azure quota for Premium file shares in the target region.

  • The account in Nerdio Manager must have the MSP Admin role, or another role permitted to create and configure Azure Files shares.

  • A machine with network access to both the source and destination storage accounts, with AzCopy installed.

  • The existing Premium v1 share's current size, so the new Premium v2 share can be sized appropriately.

Process

Step 1: Provision the new Premium v2 file share

Provision the new share, sizing capacity, IOPS, and throughput based on the existing Premium v1 share's usage.

Step 2: Generate SAS tokens for the source and destination shares

AzCopy needs a shared access signature (SAS) for both the old Premium v1 storage account (source) and the new Premium v2 storage account (destination). Generate each from the Azure portal:

  1. Go to the storage account, then Security + networking > Shared access signature.

  2. Configure the SAS with the following settings:

    Setting

    Source (Premium v1)

    Destination (Premium v2)

    Allowed services

    File

    File

    Allowed resource types

    Container, Object

    Container, Object

    Allowed permissions

    Read, List

    Read, Write, Create, List

    Allowed protocols

    HTTPS only

    HTTPS only

    Start and expiry

    Set an expiry that comfortably covers the expected copy duration

    Set an expiry that comfortably covers the expected copy duration

  3. Select Generate SAS and connection string.

  4. Copy the SAS token value (the query string starting with sv=) for use in the AzCopy command. Do this for both the source and destination storage accounts.

Important

Treat SAS tokens as credentials. Do not share them outside the migration task, and let them expire once the migration and validation are complete.

Step 3: Copy the data with AzCopy

Run the following command from a machine with AzCopy installed and network access to both storage accounts:

azcopy copy 'https://<source-storage-account-name>.file.core.windows.net/<source-share-name>?<source-SAS-token>' 'https://<destination-storage-account-name>.file.core.windows.net/<destination-share-name>?<destination-SAS-token>' --recursive --preserve-permissions=true --preserve-info=true

  • --recursive copies all subdirectories and files, not just the top level.

  • --preserve-permissions=true carries over NTFS access control lists (ACLs).

  • --preserve-info=true carries over SMB attributes, creation time, and last-write time.

Note

Because this is a server-to-server copy, data moves directly between the two storage accounts. The machine running AzCopy does not process the data directly; it only orchestrates the job and is therefore not a bandwidth bottleneck.

Step 4: Validate the migrated data

Before repointing anything to the new share, confirm that the copy completed successfully by performing the following checks:

  • Compare file and folder counts, and total size, between the source and destination shares.

  • Spot-check that NTFS permissions and timestamps carried over on a sample of files and folders.

  • Review the AzCopy job summary for any failed transfers, and rerun the command if needed. AzCopy skips files that already match at the destination, so it is safe to run again.

Step 5: Point FSLogix profiles to the new share

Update the FSLogix profile configuration so that session hosts write to the new Premium v2 share instead of the old Premium v1 share:

  1. At the account level (or MSP level, for a global profile), navigate to Settings > Integrations.

  2. In the FSLogix Profiles storage section, select the profile in use and open it for editing.

  3. Update the profile container path (and Office Container path, if configured separately) to point to the new Premium v2 share's UNC path.

  4. If the change needs to apply to existing session hosts rather than only new or re-imaged ones, enable Apply to existing hosts. This is done on the FSLogix blade of the host pool properties.

  5. Select Save or Save & close.

For the full set of FSLogix configuration options, see FSLogix settings and configuration.

Step 6: Remove the old file share from Nerdio Manager

Caution

Only perform this step once you've confirmed that users have been successfully migrated and are running on the new share.

  1. Navigate to Azure > Azure Files > List Azure Files.

  2. Locate the old Premium v1 share, open the Manage dropdown, and select Unlink.

Step 7: Delete the old storage account in the Azure portal

Important

Unlinking the share in Nerdio Manager removes it from Nerdio Manager only. It does not delete the underlying Azure storage account or stop billing for the old Premium v1 share. To finish decommissioning it and ensure you're not billed for unused storage, delete the storage account directly in the Azure portal once the migration has been validated and no longer needs a fallback.

For instructions, see Reclaim capacity on Microsoft Learn.

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