Creating a Portal Image

To copy the vhd file for a portal running on CentOS 9 or the vhd files for a portal running on CentOS 7, available from CTERA support, you can use Azure Storage browser for a graphical user interface (GUI) or AzCopy.exe for a command line option.

To copy the vhd file (CentOS 9) or files (CentOS 7) using Storage browser:

1. Log in to your Azure portal and access the Storage Accounts service.
   The list of available storage accounts is displayed.
2. Either create a new storage account or click the storage account to use.
   The storage account details are displayed.
3. Click Access Keys under Security + Networking in the navigation menu and note the Storage account name and the Key 1 key value.
   Note

   Click Show to display the key.

4. Click Storage browser in the navigation menu and then click Blob containers and select Add container.
   The New container page is displayed.
5. Enter a name for the container and click Create.
6. Click the container.
7. Upload the vhd file (CentOS 9) or files (CentOS 7) to the container.
8. Click Shared access signature under Security + Networking in the navigation menu.
   The Shared access signature page is displayed.
9. Set the permissions and click Generate SAS and connection string.
10. Copy the connection string URI that is generated and save it.
    The URI includes a shared access key.

To copy the vhd file (CentOS 9) or files (CentOS 7) using AzCopy:

• Via AzCopy.exe, run the following command from the folder where you saved AzCopy.exe for the vhd file:
  AzCopy.exe cp "<source_uri>" "<destination_uri>"
  source_uri – The source URI location and path of the vhd file obtained from CTERA.
  destination_url – The destination URL.

The vhd file (CentOS 9) or files (CentOS 7) is copied to the container. This can take some time.

Creating a Portal Image: Portal Versions running on CentOS 9

1. Log in to your Azure portal and access the Images service.
   The list of available images is displayed.

2. Click Create.
   The Create an image page is displayed.
   

3. Enter the following in the Basics tab.
   Resource group – The resource group to be used. The resource group must use premium storage.
   Name – A name to uniquely identify the virtual machine.
   Region – The region to host the image.
   OS type – Select Linux.
   VM generation – Select Gen 1.

   Note

   You must select Linux and Gen 1.

   Storage blob – Either enter the storage blob URI for the vhd file from CTERA or click Browse.
   The Storage accounts page is displayed.

   1. Select the storage account from the list.
      The Containers page is displayed.
   2. Select the container from the list.
      The container content is displayed.
   3. Select the vhd file received from CTERA and click Select.
      

   Account type – Select Premium SSD.

4. Leave the other fields with their defaults and click Review + create.
   The information is checked and if okay, it is validated.

5. Click Create.
   Deployment starts. Upon completion, a screen similar to the following is displayed.
   

6. Click Go to resource.
   The image details are displayed.

Creating a Portal Image: Portal Versions running on CentOS 7

To create the CTERA Portal server image:

1. Log in to your Azure portal and access the Images service.
   The list of available images is displayed.

2. Click Create.
   The Create an image page is displayed.
   

3. Enter the following in the Basics tab.
   Resource group – The resource group to be used. The resource group must use premium storage.
   Name – A name to uniquely identify the virtual machine.
   Region – The region to host the image.
   OS type – Select Linux.
   VM generation – Select Gen 1.

   Note

   You must select Gen 1.

   Storage blob – Either enter the storage blob URI for the OS vhd file from CTERA or click Browse.

   Note

   The storage blob must be in a storage account that is in the resource group.

   After clicking Browse, the Storage accounts page is displayed.

   1. Select the storage account from the list.
      The Containers page is displayed.
   2. Select the container from the list.
      The container content is displayed.
   3. Select the OS vhd file, CentOS-CTERA-Portal-Image-x-y-z-OS-disk.vhd, received from CTERA and click Select.
      
      

   Account type – Select Premium SSD.

4. Click Add data disk.

5. Either enter the storage blob URI for the data disk vhd file from CTERA or click Browse under **Source blob URI.

   1. Select the storage account from the list.
      The Containers page is displayed.
   2. Select the container from the list.
      The container content is displayed.
   3. Select the data disk vhd file, CentOS-CTERA-Portal-Image-x-y-z-Data-Disk.vhd, received from CTERA and click Select.
   4. For Account type select Premium SSD and for Host caching choose Read/write from the drop-down text boxes.
      
      

6. Leave the other fields with their defaults and click Review + create.
   The information is checked and if okay, it is validated.
   {

7. Click Create.
   Deployment starts. On completion the following screen is displayed.
   

8. Click Go to resource.
   The image details are displayed.