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Azure Files NFS Storage - README Section

Storage

Share home directories across multiple VMs using Azure Files NFS.

Create Storage

Create an Azure Files NFS storage account for shared home directories:

# Create 100GB Premium storage
azlin storage create myteam-shared --size 100 --tier Premium

# Create 500GB Standard storage (cheaper)
azlin storage create backups --size 500 --tier Standard

Storage Tiers:

  • Premium: $0.153/GB/month, high IOPS, low latency
  • Standard: $0.0184/GB/month, standard IOPS

Example costs for 100GB:

  • Premium: ~$15.30/month
  • Standard: ~$1.84/month

List Storage Accounts

View all NFS storage accounts in your resource group:

azlin storage list

# Example output:
# Storage Accounts in azlin-rg:
# ================================================================================
#
# myteam-shared
#   Endpoint: myteam-shared.blob.core.windows.net:/myteam-shared/share
#   Size: 100GB
#   Tier: Premium
#   Location: westus2
#
# Total: 1 storage account(s)

Check Storage Status

Show detailed information including usage and connected VMs:

azlin storage status myteam-shared

# Example output:
# Storage Account: myteam-shared
# ================================================================================
#   Endpoint: myteam-shared.blob.core.windows.net:/myteam-shared/share
#   Location: westus2
#   Tier: Premium
#
# Capacity:
#   Total: 100GB
#   Used: 12GB (12.0%)
#   Available: 88GB
#
# Cost:
#   Monthly: $15.30
#
# Connected VMs:
#   - azlin-20251017-162042-05
#   - azlin-20251017-153211-22

Mount Storage on VM

Mount the NFS storage to a VM's home directory. This replaces the local home directory with the shared storage, allowing multiple VMs to share the same files:

azlin storage mount myteam-shared --vm my-dev-vm

# Example output:
# Getting storage account 'myteam-shared'...
# Getting VM 'my-dev-vm'...
# Mounting storage on VM...
#   Storage: myteam-shared
#   Endpoint: myteam-shared.blob.core.windows.net:/myteam-shared/share
#   VM: azlin-20251017-162042-05 (20.12.34.56)
# ✓ Existing home directory backed up to: /home/azureuser.backup
# ✓ Storage mounted successfully on azlin-20251017-162042-05
#
# The VM now uses shared storage for its home directory.
# All files in /home/azureuser are now shared across any VM with this storage mounted.

Use Cases:

  • Team Collaboration: Multiple team members work in the same environment
  • Seamless Switching: Switch between VMs without losing work
  • Consistent Tools: Same tools and configs across all VMs
  • Multi-VM Workflows: Run different tasks on different VMs with shared data

Unmount Storage

Unmount the shared storage and restore the local home directory:

azlin storage unmount --vm my-dev-vm

# Example output:
# Getting VM 'my-dev-vm'...
# Unmounting storage from VM...
#   VM: azlin-20251017-162042-05 (20.12.34.56)
# ✓ Local home directory restored from: /home/azureuser.backup
# ✓ Storage unmounted successfully from azlin-20251017-162042-05
#
# The VM now uses its local disk for the home directory.

Delete Storage

Delete a storage account. By default, this prevents deletion if VMs are still connected:

# Safe delete (checks for connected VMs)
azlin storage delete myteam-shared

# Force delete even if VMs are connected
azlin storage delete old-storage --force

WARNING: Deleting a storage account permanently deletes all data.

Complete Workflow Example

# 1. Create shared storage for your team
azlin storage create team-dev --size 200 --tier Premium

# 2. Create multiple VMs
azlin new --name vm1
azlin new --name vm2

# 3. Mount storage on both VMs
azlin storage mount team-dev --vm vm1
azlin storage mount team-dev --vm vm2

# Now both VMs share the same home directory!
# Changes made on vm1 are immediately visible on vm2

# 4. Check what's using the storage
azlin storage status team-dev

# 5. When done, unmount from VMs
azlin storage unmount --vm vm1
azlin storage unmount --vm vm2

# 6. Delete the storage
azlin storage delete team-dev

Security

  • VNet Only: NFS endpoints are only accessible within the Azure VNet
  • No Public Access: Storage cannot be accessed from the internet
  • SSH Auth: All mount operations use SSH key authentication
  • Backup Safety: Existing home directories are always backed up before mounting

Technical Details

The storage feature consists of two modules:

  • storage_manager.py: Manages Azure Files NFS storage accounts
  • nfs_mount_manager.py: Handles NFS mounting via SSH

All operations are:

  • Atomic: Operations either fully succeed or fully roll back
  • Idempotent: Safe to run multiple times
  • Validated: Input validation before any Azure operations
  • Logged: Full logging for debugging

For architecture details, see the ARCHITECTURE.md documentation.