Azure File Sync Agent v15 Release – March 2022

Improvements and issues that are fixed

Reduced transactions when cloud change enumeration job runs

Azure File Sync has a cloud change enumeration job that runs every 24 hours to detect changes made directly in the Azure file share and sync those changes to servers in your sync groups. In the v14 release, we made improvements to reduce the number of transactions when this job runs and in the v15 release we made further improvements. The transaction cost is also more predictable, each job will now produce 1 List transaction per directory, per day.

View Cloud Tiering status for a server endpoint or volume

The Get-StorageSyncCloudTieringStatus cmdlet will show cloud tiering status for a specific server endpoint or for a specific volume (depending on path specified). The cmdlet will show current policies, current distribution of tiered vs. fully downloaded data, and last tiering session statistics if the server endpoint path is specified. If the volume path is specified, it will show the effective volume free space policy, the server endpoints located on that volume, and whether these server endpoints have cloud tiering enabled.

To get the cloud tiering status for a server endpoint or volume, run the following PowerShell commands:

Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Azure\StorageSyncAgent\StorageSync.Management.ServerCmdlets.dll"

Get-StorageSyncCloudTieringStatus -Path <server endpoint path or volume>

New diagnostic and troubleshooting tool

The Debug-StorageSyncServer cmdlet will diagnose common issues like certificate misconfiguration and incorrect server time. Also, we have simplified Azure Files Sync troubleshooting by merging the functionality of some of existing scripts and cmdlets (AFSDiag.ps1, FileSyncErrorsReport.ps1, Test-StorageSyncNetworkConnectivity) into the Debug-StorageSyncServer cmdlet.

To run diagnostics on the server, run the following PowerShell commands:

Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Azure\StorageSyncAgent\StorageSync.Management.ServerCmdlets.dll"

Debug-StorageSyncServer -Diagnose

To test network connectivity on the server, run the following PowerShell commands:

Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Azure\StorageSyncAgent\StorageSync.Management.ServerCmdlets.dll"

Debug-StorageSyncServer -TestNetworkConnectivity

To identify files that are failing to sync on the server, run the following PowerShell commands:

Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Azure\StorageSyncAgent\StorageSync.Management.ServerCmdlets.dll"

Debug-StorageSyncServer -FileSyncErrorsReport

To collect logs and traces on the server, run the following PowerShell commands:

Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Azure\StorageSyncAgent\StorageSync.Management.ServerCmdlets.dll"

Debug-StorageSyncServer -AFSDiag -OutputDirectory C:\output -KernelModeTraceLevel Verbose -UserModeTraceLevel Verbose

Miscellaneous improvements

Reliability and telemetry improvements for cloud tiering and sync.

More information about the Azure File Sync Agent v15 release

• This release is available for Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022 installations.

• A restart is required for servers that have an existing Azure File Sync agent installation if the agent version is less than version 12.0.

• The agent version for this release is 15.0.0.0.

How to obtain and install the Azure File Sync Agent 

The Azure File Sync agent is available from Microsoft Update, Microsoft Update Catalog, and Microsoft Download Center.

Notes

• If the Azure File Sync agent is not currently installed on a server, use the agent installation package on the Microsoft Download Center. The agent installation package on Microsoft Update and Microsoft Update Catalog is intended for agent upgrades only.

• To update existing agent installations, run AfsUpdater.exe (located in the agent installation directory) or download and install the update from Microsoft Update or Microsoft Update Catalog.