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Cloud Manager 3.8
A newer release of this product is available.

Azure credentials and permissions

Contributors netapp-bcammett
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Cloud Manager enables you to choose the Azure credentials to use when deploying Cloud Volumes ONTAP. You can deploy all of your Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems using the initial Azure credentials, or you can add additional credentials.

Initial Azure credentials

When you deploy a Connector from Cloud Manager, you need to use an Azure account that has permissions to deploy the Connector virtual machine. The required permissions are listed in the Connector deployment policy for Azure.

When Cloud Manager deploys the Connector virtual machine in Azure, it enables a system-assigned managed identity on virtual machine, creates a custom role, and assigns it to the virtual machine. The role provides Cloud Manager with permissions to manage resources and processes within that Azure subscription. Review how Cloud Manager uses the permissions.

A conceptual image that shows Cloud Central deploying Cloud Manager in an Azure account and subscription. A system-assigned managed identity is enabled and a custom role is assigned to the Cloud Manager virtual machine.

Cloud Manager selects these Azure credentials by default when you create a new working environment for Cloud Volumes ONTAP:

A screenshot that shows the Switch Account option in the Details & Credentials page.

Additional Azure subscriptions for a managed identity

The managed identity is associated with the subscription in which you launched the Connector. If you want to select a different Azure subscription, then you need to associate the managed identity with those subscriptions.

Additional Azure credentials

If you want to deploy Cloud Volumes ONTAP using different Azure credentials, then you must grant the required permissions by creating and setting up a service principal in Azure Active Directory for each Azure account. The following image shows two additional accounts, each set up with a service principal and custom role that provides permissions:

A conceptual image that shows the initial Azure account, which receives permissions through a custom role and managed identity, and two additional accounts that receive permissions through a custom role and service principal.

You would then add the account credentials to Cloud Manager by providing details about the AD service principal.

After you add another set of credentials, you can switch to them when creating a new working environment:

A screenshot that shows selecting between cloud provider accounts after clicking Switch Account in the Details & Credentials page.

What about Marketplace deployments and on-prem deployments?

The sections above describe the recommended deployment method for the Connector, which is from NetApp Cloud Central. You can also deploy a Connector in Azure from the Azure Marketplace, and you can install the Connector on-premises.

If you use the Marketplace, permissions are provided in the same way. You just need to manually create and set up the managed identity for the Connector, and then provide permissions for any additional accounts.

For on-premises deployments, you can't set up a managed identity for the Connector, but you can provide permissions just like you would for additional accounts by using a service principal.