Azure Files: SMB shares, snapshots, soft delete

Load your storage account name and key2 (key1 was rotated in Lesson 24):

$st = (Get-Content C:\azure-lab\storage.txt)
$key = az storage account keys list --resource-group rg-saat-data --account-name $st --query "[?keyName=='key2'].value" -o tsv

1Turn on share soft delete and create a share

Run this:

az storage account file-service-properties update --resource-group rg-saat-data --account-name $st --enable-delete-retention true --delete-retention-days 7 -o none
az storage share-rm create --resource-group rg-saat-data --storage-account $st --name share-ops --quota 5 -o none
az storage share-rm show --resource-group rg-saat-data --storage-account $st --name share-ops --query "{name:name, quotaGiB:shareQuota, tier:accessTier}" -o table

You should see this:

Name       QuotaGiB    Tier
---------  ----------  --------------------
share-ops  5           TransactionOptimized

2Mount it on win01 and write a file

Save a helper script that connects as the storage account, optionally writes report.txt, and lists the share:

$f = @'
param([string]$st, [string]$key, [string]$text)
"port 445: " + (Test-NetConnection -ComputerName "$st.file.core.windows.net" -Port 445 -WarningAction SilentlyContinue).TcpTestSucceeded
$cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential("localhost\$st", (ConvertTo-SecureString $key -AsPlainText -Force))
New-PSDrive -Name Z -PSProvider FileSystem -Root "\\$st.file.core.windows.net\share-ops" -Credential $cred -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
if ($text) { Set-Content -Path Z:\report.txt -Value $text }
Get-ChildItem Z:\ | ForEach-Object { "{0}  {1} bytes" -f $_.Name, $_.Length }
if (Test-Path Z:\report.txt) { "content: " + (Get-Content Z:\report.txt) }
'@
Set-Content -Path C:\azure-lab\files-share.ps1 -Value $f

Start win01 and run it (the key travels as a parameter, not inside the script):

az vm start --resource-group rg-saat-vms --name win01
az vm run-command invoke --resource-group rg-saat-vms --name win01 --command-id RunPowerShellScript --scripts '@C:\azure-lab\files-share.ps1' --parameters "st=$st" "key=$key" "text=monthly report v1" --query "value[0].message" -o tsv

You should see something like this:

port 445: True
report.txt  19 bytes
content: monthly report v1

Port 445 works from win01 because the traffic stays inside the region, unlike from most home networks. In a real setup, users would map the drive with their own identity, not the account key.

3Take a snapshot

Run this:

$snap = az storage share snapshot --account-name $st --name share-ops --query snapshot -o tsv
$snap
az storage share-rm list --resource-group rg-saat-data --storage-account $st --include-snapshot --query "[].{name:name, snapshot:snapshotTime}" -o table

You should see something like this:

2026-10-20T16:41:05.0000000Z
Name       Snapshot
---------  -------------------------
share-ops
share-ops  2026-10-20T16:41:05+00:00

4Overwrite the file by mistake, then roll it back

Write the wrong version, then copy the file back from the snapshot:

az vm run-command invoke --resource-group rg-saat-vms --name win01 --command-id RunPowerShellScript --scripts '@C:\azure-lab\files-share.ps1' --parameters "st=$st" "key=$key" "text=monthly report v2 WRONG" --query "value[0].message" -o tsv
az storage file download --account-name $st --share-name share-ops --path report.txt --snapshot $snap --dest C:\azure-lab\report-v1.txt -o none
az storage file upload --account-name $st --share-name share-ops --source C:\azure-lab\report-v1.txt --path report.txt -o none
az vm run-command invoke --resource-group rg-saat-vms --name win01 --command-id RunPowerShellScript --scripts '@C:\azure-lab\files-share.ps1' --parameters "st=$st" "key=$key" --query "value[0].message" -o tsv

You should see something like this at the end:

port 445: True
report.txt  19 bytes
content: monthly report v1

Users on Windows can do the same themselves: right-click the file, Properties, Previous Versions. Each snapshot shows up there.

✅ Checkpoint: share-ops is mounted from win01, report.txt is back to v1, and one snapshot exists.