Migrate from NetApp to Azure Files

Hi Javier Cepa,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A, thanks for posting your query.

When you are planning to migrate from a NetApp storage solution to Azure Files, it's important to evaluate your current data usage and performance requirements to estimate costs and ensure that Azure files can support your IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second).

Here are the few steps to follow.

Current usage data evaluation:

You already know your total Storage size (12TB). It's important to categorize your storage data based on the usage patterns. distinguishing between hot and cold data to optimize the storage costs.

Check your read and write operations, which azure files charges for. NetApp's monitoring tools can help track the operations and provide the logs and IOPS.

Understand how many files are stored, as Azure Files performance can be impacted on the files count for both metadata operations and data access.

Azure Files Tiers:

Select the appropriate Azure Files Tier based on the workload.

• Premium Tier: Ideal for high-performance scenarios, offering low-latency and high IOPS, making it suitable for workloads with large transaction volumes.
• Standard Tier: This includes hot, cool, and archive tiers. It's more cost-effective and it mostly refers to data that doesn't require frequent access.

Estimate the costs using Pricing tools:

Use the Azure Pricing Calculator to estimate the costs based on the storage size, IOPS, and transaction volume. While calculating the costs of Azure Files follow this steps:

• Storage costs: Charged per GB/month, depending on the storage tier selected (Premium, Standard - Hot, Cool, or Archive).
• Transaction costs: Costs are incurred for read, write, and metadata transactions, especially in the standard tiers.

IPOS and Transaction Costs:

• More IPOS can lead to increasing the costs in standard tiers due to transaction based costing. While premium tier provides higher IOPS and throughput but at a fixed price per provisioned storage.
• Azure charges each read, write and metadata operations. Higher the operations performed the cost will be increased.

Migration:

• Azure File Sync: Utilize Azure File Sync to frequently accessed data on-premises, while infrequently accessed data remains in the cloud. This reduces costs for infrequently accessed data.
• Data Lifecycle Management: Move rarely accessed data to cool or archive tiers, reduces the overall costs.

This analysis can get you a brief idea about the performance and estimating the costs for your migration.

reference:

https://video2.skills-academy.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-account-overview#pricing

Cost model for Azure NetApp Files | Microsoft Learn

Please let us know if you have any further queries. I’m happy to assist you further. 

Thank you very much for your response, but our doubts are mainly related to your phrase: ‘Check your read and write operations, which Azure Files charges for. NetApp’s monitoring tools can help track the operations and provide the logs and IOPS.’ The problem is how do I compare my NetApp data in relation to the transaction costs of Azure Files. I don’t know if I’m comparing the same thing.

@Javier Cepa, Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Forum, Thank you for posting your query here!
Adding more information to the above response!

I would recommened to please reach out to Azure Billing and Subscription team would be the best to provide more insight and guidance on this scenario: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/options/ it's free, and it's the best choice for you. They can provide detailed information on your requirement based on your region.

Compare the estimated transaction costs for Azure Files with the operational costs of your NetApp storage. Ensure you are comparing similar operations (e.g., read operations on NetApp vs. read transactions on Azure Files).

Performance benchmark test recommendations for Azure NetApp Files

Understand Azure Files Billing

Here are some additional insights:

• Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files Comparison: Azure Files is a fully managed, highly available, enterprise-grade service optimized for random access workloads with in-place data updates. Azure NetApp Files, on the other hand, is a fully managed NAS service that can handle high-performance, low-latency workloads requiring advanced data management capabilities
• Transaction Costs: Azure Files charges for read and write operations based on the number of operations performed per month. The price varies based on the performance tier you choose (Standard or Premium) and the number of operations performed
• Performance Tiers: Azure Files offers different performance tiers (Hot, Cool, and Premium) to optimize cost and performance for your workload. Each tier has different pricing for transactions and storage

Cost model for Azure NetApp Files
Compare Azure Files and Azure NetApp Files
Azure NetApp Files pricing
Azure Files Pricing

Please let us know if you have any further queries. I’m happy to assist you further.     

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