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Migrate files from Azure File Share to Azure Blob with Azure Data Factory

by Md Ear Ali

 

Azure File Share:

Azure File Share is a part of Azure Files, which is a service provided by Microsoft Azure that offers fully managed file shares in the cloud that can be accessed via the standard Server Message Block (SMB) protocol or Network File System (NFS) protocol.



Azure Blob:

Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft Azure’s object storage solution designed for storing massive amounts of unstructured data — such as text, images, video, audio, backups, logs, and more.

  • “Blob” stands for Binary Large Object.

  • It’s object-based storage (vs. file-based like Azure File Share).

  • Ideal for storing unstructured data in the cloud.

  • Highly scalable, durable, and secure.

  • Accessible via HTTP/HTTPS, Azure SDKs, REST APIs, or tools like Azure Storage Explorer.



Why need to Migrate?

Migrating data from Azure File Share to Azure Blob Storage is a common scenario — especially when you’re looking to reduce costs, archive data, or shift to an object-based storage model. To move data from file storage to blob (or vice versa), there is no built-in solution in Azure.



How to Migrate:

There are multiple ways, we can migrate/move data from Azure File Share to Azure Blob. Like – AzCopy method with Bash, Azure Data Factory, Azure Storage Explorar and Custom PowerShell script.

Migrate with Azure Data Factory:

Azure Data Factory (ADF) is Microsoft Azure’s cloud-based data integration service — basically, it’s like a data pipeline-as-a-service.

Think of it as the ETL tool for the cloud: you can Extract, Transform, and Load data from a huge variety of sources into Azure or other destinations. Follow the steps below to migrate your data from file share to blob.

  1. Sign to Azure Portal.

  2. Create Azure Data Factory.

  3. Go to Resources (Azure Data Factory).

  4. Click on Launch studio.

5. Go to Manage -> Connection -> Linked Services.

6. Create 2 connections, one for Azure File Share and another one for Blob.

7. For File Share – Click on New, Select Azure File Storage and Continue. Fill the details and click on Create.

8. For Blob – Click on New, Select Azure Blob Storage and Continue. Fill the details and create it.

9. Go to Author -> Datasets. Click on New dataset to create Source Dataset. Select Azure File Storage for Data store and continue. Then select Delimited Text and continue and select your source linked service connection. For the file path – put the File Share name in Directory box

10. Create Target Dataset. Process is similar but select Azure Blob Storage for Data store and select Target linked service connection.

11. Go to Author -> Pipelines -> New Pipeline.

12. Under Move and transform – drag and drop “Copy Data”.

13. Source Tab – select source Data set.

14. File Path type – Wildcard file path.

15. Wildcard paths – *.csv (This pipeline will copy only csv file, you can put * for all).

16. For Sink – Select Target Dataset.

17. Copy behavior – Preserve hierarchy

18. No mapping and setting configuration are needed for this task.

19. Click on Debug and wait to complet

20. Done