Microsoft Azure launched a new Option in the Azure Suite a cloud File server. Sounds great how does it work and how to set this up.
First you need to create a new Storage Account
When this account is created you will see a new option in the Dashboard of this storage Account
The next steps will be in Powershell, there is no GUI option here 
Before you can connect to your Azure Files network share, we have to download a special powershell package for working with the Azure Files, the package can be found http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=398183
After Downloading this file and extracted we can import the PSD1 file.
# import module and create a context for account and key
import-module "C:AzureStorageFileAzureStorageFile.psd1" –Verbose
Next We will create the new storage contex
$ctx=New-AzureStorageContext ‘rsmfile01’ ‘q+35EmhlLUikunngOWvZK8ysEqWpOLaobJNbS7bUtjTDZIRUI72siY956xHEVCS8ckFq5Vo188hmFfTY1XdPeQ==’
Use the Name and the Primary key.
Next step is creating a new Share and this can be tricky why ? well you may have the preview as enabled but it can be still not activated. if so you need to make a call to the Support team from Azure.
a simple check will do the trick Can you ping the DNS name ?
But if the result is this :
You can’t create a share and will se an error
New-AzureStorageShare : Cannot bind parameter ‘Context’. Cannot convert the "Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Commands.Storage.Model.ResourceModel.AzureStorageContext" value of type
"Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Commands.Storage.Model.ResourceModel.AzureStorageContext" to type "Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Commands.Storage.File.Model.AzureStorageContext".
At line:2 char:48
But if your account is enabled and activated it will work
# create a new share
$s = New-AzureStorageShare ‘newshare1’ -Context $ctx
# create a directory in the test share just created
New-AzureStorageDirectory -Share $s -Path testdir
The next step is mounting the fileshare to a drive letter.
net use * \rsmfile01.file.core.windows.netnewshare1 /u:rsmfile01 q+35EmhlLUikunngOWvZK8ysEqWpOLaobJNbS7bUtjTDZIRUI72siY956xHEVCS8ckFq5Vo188hmFfTY1XdPeQ==
But also here this will only work from a Azure VM and not from your home computer.
Again this is just a preview Just be sure to understand the limitations of Azure Files the most important are:
- 5TB per share
- Max file size 1TB
- Up to 1000 IOPS (of size 8KB) per share
- Up to 60MB/s per share of data transfer for large IOs
- SMB 2.1 support only
But for most parts this is fine just another great @azure option !
If you Create a new VM in Azure you will see new options as a custom script and some build in virus protections. As the Teched_NA is starting this week new options an features will rule the week, who is the first with all the new stuff 
checkout the Teched_NA twitter feed.
Azure VM’s is getting better and richer even with the ExpressRoute that is available for preview
Installing the System Center Endpoint Protection is one of the options
and yes I want antimalware and I could run a custom script.
As you can see the SCEP is fully installed only the management is unavailable at the moment so no adjustments can be made.
With all the fiber connections today, connectivity is today so common and easy. Azure ExpressRoute enables you to create private connections between Azure datacenters and infrastructure that’s on your premises or in a colocation environment. ExpressRoute connections do not go over the public Internet, and offer more reliability, faster speeds, lower latencies and higher security than typical connections over the Internet. In some cases, using ExpressRoute connections to transfer data between on-premises and Azure can also yield significant cost benefits.
ExpressRoutePreview
Experience a faster, private connection to Azure
With ExpressRoute, you can establish connections to Azure at an ExpressRoute location (Exchange Provider facility) or directly connect to Azure from your existing WAN network (such as a MPLS VPN) provided by a network service provider.
Storage, Backup and Recovery
ExpressRoute gives you a fast and reliable connection to Azure making it suitable for scenarios like periodic data migration, replication for business continuity, disaster recovery and other high availability strategies. It can also be a cost-effective option for transferring large amounts of data such as datasets for high performance computing applications or moving large VMs between your dev/test environment in Azure and on-premises production environment.
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ExpressRoute allows you to securely add compute and storage capacity to your existing datacenter. With high throughput and fast latencies, Azure will feel like a natural extension to your datacenter so you enjoy the scale and economics of the public cloud without having to compromise on network performance.
Build hybrid applications
With predictable, reliable and high-throughput connections offered by ExpressRoute, you can build applications that span on-premises infrastructure and Azure without compromising security or performance. For example, you can have your corporate intranet application running in Azure that authenticates users using an on-premises Active Directory, and serve all corporate users without traffic ever routing through the public Internet.
