This section explains how to deploy Cloud Native Qumulo (CNQ) on Azure by creating the persistent storage and the cluster compute and cache resources with Terraform. It also provides recommendations for Terraform deployments and information about post-deployment actions and optimization.

For an overview of CNQ on Azure, its prerequisites, and limits, see How Cloud Native Qumulo Works.

The azure-terraform-cnq-<x.y>.zip file (the version in the file name corresponds to the provisioning scripts, not the version of Qumulo Core) contains comprehensive Terraform configurations that let you deploy Azure Storage Accounts and then create a CNQ cluster with 3 to 24 instances and have fully elastic compute and capacity.

Prerequisites

This section explains the prerequisites to deploying CNQ on Azure.

  • To allow your Qumulo instance to report metrics to Qumulo, your Azure Virtual Network must have outbound Internet connectivity through a NAT gateway or a firewall. Your instance shares no file data during this process.

  • Before you configure your Terraform environment, you must sign in to the az CLI.

    Azure role assignments in your target subscription must include the following:

    • Reader
    • Contributor

How the CNQ Provisioner Works

The CNQ Provisioner is an Azure Compute instance that configures your Qumulo cluster and any additional Azure environment requirements.

The Provisioner stores all necessary state information in Azure App Configuration (on the left navigation panel, click Operations > Configuration Explorer) and shuts down automatically when it completes its tasks.

Step 1: Deploying Cluster Persistent Storage

This section explains how to deploy the Azure Storage Accounts that act as persistent storage for your Qumulo cluster.

  1. Log in to Nexus and click Downloads > Cloud Native Qumulo Downloads.

  2. Click the Azure tab and, in the Download the required files section, select the Qumulo Core version that you want to deploy and then download the corresponding Terraform configuration, Debian package, and host configuration file.

  3. In an Azure Storage Account Container create the qumulo-core-install directory. Within this directory, create another directory with the Qumulo Core version as its name. The following is an example path:

    my-storage_account/my-prefix/qumulo-core-install/7.2.3.1

  4. Copy qumulo-core.deb and host_configuration.tar.gz into the directory named after the Qumulo Core version (in this example, it is 7.2.3.1).

  5. Copy azure-terraform-cnq-<x.y>.zip to your Terraform environment and decompress it.

  6. Navigate to the persistent-storage directory and take the following steps:

    1. Run the terraform init command.

      Terraform prepares the environment and displays the message Terraform has been successfully initialized!

    2. Review the terraform.tfvars file.

      • Specify the deployment_name and the correct az_subscription_id for your cluster’s persistent storage.

      • Specify the correct az_location for your cluster’s persistent storage.

      • Leave the soft_capacity_limit at 1000.

    3. Use the az CLI to authenticate to your Azure account.

    4. Run the terraform apply command.

      Terraform displays the execution plan.

    5. Review the Terraform execution plan and then enter yes.

      Terraform creates resources according the execution plan and displays:

      • The Apply complete! message with a count of added resources

      • The names of the created Storage Accounts

      • Your deployment’s unique name

      For example:

      Apply complete! Resources: 15 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

Outputs:

bucket_names = [
  "ab5cdefghij1",
  "ab4cdefghij2",
  "ab3cdefghij3",
  "ab2cdefghij4",
]
deployment_unique_name = "my-deployment-ABCDEFGH1IJ"
...

Step 2: Deploying Cluster Compute and Cache Resources

This section explains how to deploy compute and cache resources for a Qumulo cluster by using a Ubuntu AMI and the Qumulo Core .deb installer.

  1. Configure your Virtual Network to use the Microsoft.KeyVault and Microsoft.Storage service endpoints.

  2. Navigate to the azure-terraform-cnq-<x.y> directory and then run the terraform init command.

    Terraform prepares the environment and displays the message Terraform has been successfully initialized!

  3. In terraform.tfvars, fill in the values for all variables.

    For more information, see README.pdf in azure-terraform-cnq-<x.y>.zip.

  4. Run the terraform apply command.

    Terraform displays the execution plan.

  5. Review the Terraform execution plan and then enter yes.

    Terraform creates resources according the execution plan and displays:

    • The Apply complete! message with a count of added resources

    • Your deployment’s unique name

    • The floating IP addresses for your Qumulo cluster

    • The primary (static) IP addresses for your Qumulo cluster

    • The Qumulo Core Web UI endpoint

    For example:

    Apply complete! Resources: 62 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

Outputs:

cluster_provisioned = "Success"
deployment_unique_name = "my-deployment-ABCDEFGH1IJ"
...
persistent_storage_bucket_names = tolist([
  "ab5cdefghij1",
  "ab4cdefghij2",
  "ab3cdefghij3",
  "ab3cdefghij3",
])
qumulo_floating_ips = [
  "203.0.113.42",
  "203.0.113.84",
  ...
]
...
qumulo_primary_ips = [
  "203.0.113.0",
  "203.0.113.1",
  "203.0.113.2",
  "203.0.113.3"
]
...
qumulo_private_url_node1 = "https://203.0.113.10"

  6. To log in to your cluster’s Web UI, use the endpoint from the Terraform output as the endpoint and the username and password that you have configured during deployment as the credentials.

    You can use the Web UI to create and manage NFS exports, SMB shares, snapshots, and continuous replication relationships You can also join your cluster to Active Directory, configure LDAP, and perform many other operations.

  7. Mount your Qumulo file system by using NFS or SMB and your cluster’s DNS name or IP address.

Step 3: Performing Post-Deployment Actions

This section describes the common actions you can perform on a CNQ cluster after deploying it.

Adding a Node to an Existing Cluster

  1. Edit terraform.tfvars and change the value of q_node_count to a new value.
  2. Run the terraform apply command.

  3. Terraform displays the execution plan.

    Review the Terraform execution plan and then enter yes.

    Terraform changes resources according the execution plan and displays an additional primary (static) IP for the new node. For example:

    qumulo_primary_ips = [
  "203.0.113.0",
  "203.0.113.1",
  "203.0.113.2",
  "203.0.113.3",
  "203.0.113.4"
]
  4. To ensure that the Provisioner shut downs automatically, review the last-run-status parameter in Azure App Configuration (on the left navigation panel, click Operations > Configuration Explorer).
  5. To check that the cluster is healthy, log in to the Web UI.

Increasing the Soft Capacity Limit for an Existing Cluster

Increasing the soft capacity limit for an existing cluster is a two-step process:

  1. Configure new persistent storage parameters.
  2. Configure new compute and cache deployment parameters.

Step 1: Set New Persistent Storage Parameters

  1. Edit the terraform.tfvars file in the persistent-storage directory and set the q_cluster_soft_capacity_limit variable to a higher value.

  2. Run the terraform apply command.

    Review the Terraform execution plan and then enter yes.

    Terraform creates new Azure Storage Accounts as necessary and displays:

    • The Apply complete! message with a count of changed resources

    • The names of the created Azure Storage Accounts

    • Your deployment’s unique name

    • The new soft capacity limit

    Apply complete! Resources: 0 added, 1 changed, 0 destroyed.

Outputs:

bucket_names = [
  "ab5cdefghij-my-deployment-klmnopqr9st-qps-1",
  "ab4cdefghij-my-deployment-klmnopqr8st-qps-2",
  "ab3cdefghij-my-deployment-klmnopqr7st-qps-3",
  "ab3cdefghij-my-deployment-klmnopqr7st-qps-3",
]
deployment_unique_name = "lucia-deployment-GKMVD58UF2F"
...
soft_capacity_limit = "1000 TB"

Step 2: Update Existing Compute and Cache Resource Deployment

  1. Navigate to the root directory of the azure-terraform-cnq-<x.y> repository.

  2. Run the terraform apply -var-file config-standard.tfvars command.

    Review the Terraform execution plan and then enter yes.

    Terraform updates the necessary roles and Azure Storage Account policies, adds Azure Storage Accounts to the persistent storage list for the cluster, increases the soft capacity limit, and displays the Apply complete! message.

    When the Provisioner shuts down automatically, this process is complete.

Deleting an Existing Cluster

Deleting a cluster is a two-step process:

  1. Delete your Cloud Native Qumulo resources.
  2. Delete your persistent storage.

Step 1: To Delete Your Cluster’s Cloud Native Qumulo Resources

  1. Back up your data safely.

  2. Run the terraform destroy command.

    Review the Terraform execution plan and then enter yes.

    Terraform deletes all of your cluster’s CNQ resources and displays the Destroy complete! message and a count of destroyed resources.

Step 2: To Delete Your Cluster’s Persistent Storage

  1. Navigate to the persistent-storage directory.

  2. Run the terraform destroy command.

    Review the Terraform execution plan and then enter yes.

    Terraform deletes all of your cluster’s persistent storage and displays the Destroy complete! message and a count of destroyed resources.