File storage needs exist for any organization of any size. Whether we are talking about simple document storage for your team of users to utilize, or something like block storage accessed over a network by a high-performance computing environment, you are going to have servers in your network that are responsible for storing data safely and securely. The File Services role has grown significantly through the years as our storage needs have changed and evolved. Many of us can no longer satisfy the data needs for our environments with simple file shares and physical disks. Let's use this chapter to explore some of the more interesting ways that data can be managed in a Windows Server 2012 R2 environment: