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How to use managed identities with Azure File Sync (preview)

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Azure File Sync support for system-assigned managed identities is now in preview.

Managed Identity support eliminates the need for shared keys as a method of authentication by utilizing a system-assigned managed identity provided by Microsoft Entra ID.

When you enable this configuration, the system-assigned managed identities will be used for the following scenarios:

  • Storage Sync Service authentication to Azure file share
  • Registered server authentication to Azure file share
  • Registered server authentication to Storage Sync Service

To learn more about the benefits of using managed identities, see Managed identities for Azure resources.

To configure your Azure File Sync deployment to utilize system-assigned managed identities, please follow the guidance in the subsequent sections.

Prerequisites

  • You need to have a Storage Sync Service deployed with at least one registered server.

  • Azure File Sync agent version 19.1.0.0 or later must be installed on the registered server.

  • On your storage accounts used by Azure File Sync:

    • You must be a member of the Owner management role or have “Microsoft.Authorization/roleassignments/write” permissions.
    • Allow Azure services on the trusted services list to access this storage account exception must be enabled for preview. Learn more
    • Allow storage account key access must be enabled for preview. To check this setting, navigate to your storage account and select Configuration under the Settings section.

  • Az.StorageSync PowerShell module version 2.2.0 or later must be installed on the machine that will be used to configure Azure File Sync to use managed identities. To install the latest Az.StorageSync PowerShell module, run the following command from an elevated PowerShell window:

    Install-Module Az.StorageSync -Force

Regional availability

Azure File Sync support for system-assigned managed identities (preview) is available in all Azure Public and Gov regions that support Azure File Sync.

Enable a system-assigned managed identity on your registered servers

Before you can configure Azure File Sync to use managed identities, your registered servers must have a system-assigned managed identity that will be used to authenticate to the Azure File Sync service and Azure file shares.

To enable a system-assigned managed identity on a registered server that has the Azure File Sync v19 agent installed, perform the following steps:

  • If the server is hosted outside of Azure, it must be an Azure Arc-enabled server to have a system-assigned managed identity. For more information on Azure Arc-enabled servers and how to install the Azure Connected Machine agent, see: Azure Arc-enabled servers Overview.
  • If the server is an Azure virtual machine, enable the system-assigned managed identity setting on the VM. For more information, see: Configure managed identities on Azure virtual machines.

Note

  • At least one registered server must have a system-assigned managed identity before you can configure the Storage Sync Service to use a system-assigned identity.
  • Once the Storage Sync Service is configured to use managed identities, registered servers that do not have a system-assigned managed identity will continue to use a shared key to authenticate to your Azure file shares.

How to check if your registered servers have a system-assigned managed identity

To check if your registered servers have a system-assigned managed identity, run the following PowerShell command:

Get-AzStorageSyncServer -ResourceGroupName <string> -StorageSyncServiceName <string>

Verify the LatestApplicationId property has a GUID which indicates the server has a system-assigned managed identity but is not currently configured to use the managed identity.

If the value for the ActiveAuthType property is Certificate and the LatestApplicationId does not have a GUID, the server does not have a system-assigned managed identity and will use shared keys to authenticate to the Azure file share.

Note

Once a server is configured to use the system-assigned managed identity by following the steps in the following section, the LatestApplicationId property is no longer used (will be empty), the ActiveAuthType property value will be changed to ManagedIdentity, and the ApplicationId property will have a GUID which is the system-assigned managed identity.

Configure your Azure File Sync deployment to use system-assigned managed identities

To configure the Storage Sync Service and registered servers to use system-assigned managed identities, run the following command from an elevated PowerShell window:

Set-AzStorageSyncServiceIdentity -ResourceGroupName <string> -StorageSyncServiceName <string> -Verbose

The Set-AzStorageSyncServiceIdentity cmdlet performs the following steps for you and will take several minutes (or longer for large topologies) to complete:

  • Validates at least one registered server has a system assigned managed identity.
    • The cmdlet will stop at this step if there are no registered servers with a system-assigned managed identity.
  • Enables a system-assigned managed identity for Storage Sync Service resource.
  • Grants the Storage Sync Service system-assigned managed identity access to your Storage Accounts (Storage Account Contributor role).
  • Grants the Storage Sync Service system-assigned managed identity access to your Azure file shares (Storage File Data Privileged Contributor role).
  • Grants the registered server(s) system-assigned managed identity access to the Azure file shares (Storage File Data Privileged Contributor role).
  • Configures the Storage Sync Service to use system-assigned managed identity.
  • Configures registered server(s) to use system-assigned managed identity.

Use the Set-AzStorageSyncServiceIdentity cmdlet anytime you need to configure additional registered servers to use managed identities.

Note

Once the registered server(s) are configured to use a system-assigned managed identity, it can take up to one hour before the server uses the system-assigned managed identity to authenticate to the Storage Sync Service and file shares.

How to check if the Storage Sync Service is using a system-assigned managed identity

To check if the Storage Sync Service is using a system-assigned managed identity, run the following command from an elevated PowerShell window:

Get-AzStorageSyncService -ResourceGroupName <string> -StorageSyncServiceName <string>

Verify the value for the UseIdentity property is True. If the value is False, the Storage Sync Service is using shared keys to authenticate to the Azure file shares.

How to check if a registered server is configured to use a system-assigned managed identity

To check if a registered server is configured to use a system-assigned managed identity, run the following command from an elevated PowerShell window:

Get-AzStorageSyncServer -ResourceGroupName <string> -StorageSyncServiceName <string>

Verify the ApplicationId property has a GUID which indicates the server is configured to use the managed identity. The value for the ActiveAuthType property will be updated to ManagedIdentity once the server is using the system-assigned managed identity.

Note

Once the registered server(s) are configured to use a system-assigned managed identity, it can take up to one hour before the server uses the system-assigned managed identity to authenticate to the Storage Sync Service and Azure file shares.

More information

Once the Storage Sync Service and registered server(s) are configured to use a system-assigned managed identity:

  • New endpoints (cloud or server) that are created will use a system-assigned managed identity to authenticate to the Azure file share.
  • Use the Set-AzStorageSyncServiceIdentity cmdlet anytime you need to configure additional registered servers to use managed identities.

If you experience issues, see: Troubleshoot Azure File Sync managed identity issues.