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Creating and managing volumes for Azure NetApp Files

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After you set up your working environment, you can create and manage Azure NetApp Files accounts, capacity pools, volumes, and snapshots.

Creating volumes

You can create NFS or SMB volumes in a new or existing Azure NetApp Files account.

A Cloud Manager feature called "templates" enables you to create volumes that are optimized for the workload requirements for certain applications; such as databases or streaming services. If your organization has created volume templates that you should use, follow these steps.

Before you begin

  • If you want to use SMB, you must have set up DNS and Active Directory.

  • When planning to create an SMB volume, you must have a Windows Active Directory server available to which you can connect. You will enter this information when creating the volume.

Steps

  1. Open the Azure NetApp Files working environment.

  2. Click Add New Volume.

  3. Provide the required information on each page:

    • Azure NetApp Files Account: Choose an existing Azure NetApp Files account or create a new account. When creating a new account you can also choose the Resource Group that you want to use.

      A screenshot of the fields required to create an Azure NetApp Files account

    • Capacity Pool: Select an existing capacity pool or create a new capacity pool.

      If you create a new capacity pool, you need to specify a size and select a service level.

      The minimum size for the capacity pool is 4 TB. You can specify a size in multiples of 4 TB.

    • Details & Tags: Enter a volume name and size, the VNet and subnet where the volume should reside, and optionally specify tags for the volume.

    • Protocol: Choose the NFS or SMB protocol and enter the required information.

      Here’s an example of details for NFS.

      A screenshot of the fields required to set up an NFS volume.

      Here’s an example of details for SMB. You’ll need to provide Active Directory information on the next page when you set up your first SMB volume.

      A screenshot of the fields required to set up an SMB volume.

  4. If you want this volume to be created based on a snapshot of an existing volume, select the snapshot from the Snapshot Name drop-down list.

  5. Click Add Volume.

Result

The new volume is added to the working environment.

Continue with mounting the cloud volume.

Creating volumes from templates

If your organization has created ANF volume templates so you can deploy volumes that are optimized for the workload requirements for certain applications, follow the steps in this section.

The template should make your job easier because certain volume parameters will already be defined in the template, such as capacity pool, size, protocol, VNet and subnet where the volume should reside, and more. When a parameter is already predefined, you can just skip to the next volume parameter.

Steps

  1. On the Canvas page, click the Azure NetApp Files working environment on which you want to provision a volume.

  2. Click More button > Add Volume From Template.

    A screenshot showing how to add a new volume from a template.

  3. In the Select Template page, select the template that you want to use to create the volume and click Next.

    A screenshot of the available application templates.

    The Define Parameters page is displayed.

    A screenshot showing a blank template that you need to fill in to create a volume.

    Note: You can click the checkbox Show read-only parameters to show all the fields that have been locked by the template if you want to see the values for those parameters. By default these predefined fields are hidden and only the fields you need to complete are shown.

  4. Add values for all of the parameters that are not hard-coded from the template. See creating volumes for details about all the parameters you need to complete to deploy an ANF volume.

  5. Click Next after you have defined all the parameters needed for this volume, and then click Create Volume.

Result

Cloud Manager provisions the volume and displays a page so that you can see the progress.

A screenshot showing the progress of creating your new volume from the template.

Then the new volume is added to the working environment.

Continue with mounting the cloud volume.

Mounting volumes

Access mounting instructions from within Cloud Manager so you can mount the volume to a host.

Steps

  1. Open the working environment.

  2. Hover over the volume and select Mount the volume.

    A screenshot of available operations available when you hover the cursor over a volume.

  3. Follow the instructions to mount the volume.

Editing a volume’s size and tags

After you create a volume, you can modify its size and tags at any time.

Steps

  1. Open the working environment.

  2. Hover over the volume and select Edit.

  3. Modify the size and tags as needed.

  4. Click Apply.

Changing the volume’s service level

After you create a volume, you can change the service level at any time as long as the destination capacity pool already exists.

Steps

  1. Open the working environment.

  2. Hover over the volume and select Change service level.

  3. Select the capacity pool that provides the service level that you want.

  4. Click Change.

Result

The volume is moved to the other capacity pool with no impact to the volume.

Managing Snapshot copies

Snapshot copies provide a point-in-time copy of your volume. Create Snapshot copies, restore the data to a new volume, and delete Snapshot copies.

Steps

  1. Open the working environment.

  2. Hover over the volume and choose one of the available options to manage Snapshot copies:

    • Create a Snapshot copy

    • Revert volume to Snapshot

    • Delete a Snapshot copy

  3. Follow the prompts to complete the selected action.

Deleting volumes

Delete the volumes that you no longer need.

Steps

  1. Open the working environment.

  2. Hover over the volume and click Delete.

  3. Confirm that you want to delete the volume.

Removing Azure NetApp Files

This action removes Azure NetApp Files from Cloud Manager. It doesn’t delete your Azure NetApp Files account or volumes. You can add Azure NetApp Files back to Cloud Manager at any time.

Steps

  1. Open the Azure NetApp Files working environment.

  2. At the top right of the page, select the actions menu and click Remove Azure NetApp Files.

    A screenshot of clicking Remove Azure NetApp Files to remove the volumes from the Cloud Manager interface.

  3. Click Remove to confirm.

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