Installing Portal in Azure
Preparing Microsoft Azure for Portal
In general, you install Portal-v in Azure using the Azure web portal as follows:
1. Create a storage area to copy the Portal disk image (if one doesn’t already exist).
2. Copy the source image into this storage area.
3. Create a virtual hard drive from the image with the copied image set as the data source, so that the created disk contains the same content as the source image.
4. Create a VM from the virtual hard drive (as the OS disk).
Accessing Microsoft Azure documentation
Several tasks must be performed in Microsoft Azure to prepare your Azure environment for the installation of Portal-v. Each task is mentioned here, with a link for accessing the Microsoft Azure documentation describing the task in detail. Microsoft owns and controls the link URLs and the content to which they provide access. The links are valid as of the publication of this Riverbed document, but, at any time, if the links provided here are broken or otherwise don’t work, go to
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/ and browse or search to find the specific information you need.
Creating a storage area
Copying the source image
Obtain from Riverbed the URI of the source image. You don’t need to download the source image locally and subsequently upload it to your Azure account. This procedure describes how to transfer the image from Riverbed directly, within Azure, using the Azure CLI.
2. Transfer the source disk image by entering this command.
az storage blob copy start --destination-blob <$destinationVHDFileName> --destination-container <$storageContainerName> --account-name <$storageAccountName> --account-key <$storageAccountKey> --source-uri <$sourceURI>
where:
– <$destinationVHDFileName> is the name of the VHD file you will create from the source image. Make sure to include the .vhd extension, or Azure will not allow you to choose this file later as a source for creating a disk.
– <$storageContainerName> is the storage container you created previously.
– <$storageAccountName> is the storage account you created previously.
– <$storageAccountKey> is the storage container key, found on the Access Keys page of the Storage Account page.
– <$sourceURI> is the source image URI provided by Riverbed.
For example:
az storage blob copy start --destination-blob "rbt_plcm-PORTAL-AZURE-3.7.0-6273-235d-snapshot.vhd" --destination- container "test-container" --account-name "testgroup" --account-key "fakekey0123456789abcdef" --source-uri " https://md-d3jkmztdv0kn.z45.blob.storage.azure.net/xl1cwnrsfw1g/PORTAL-AZURE-3.7.0-6273-install-vhd- 12439?sv=2018-03-28&sr=b&si=e5270ece-8448-4761-9149-
ae7c5bbb22b1&sig=RJTwObGK%2B4jAlzdJ%2FICMkB0sgv6yQG4n7XGFblyZ5oM%3D"
A successful operation will output the copy status as Pending. The operation is likely to take an hour or longer. The image property will indicate when the copy is complete.
You can use the storage explorer module in the Azure portal to check the copy status. Navigate your storage area to where the file resides, and then check the properties and verify that the copy status is successful.
Creating a VHD from the source image
Create a managed virtual hard disk (VHD) from the source image. The managed virtual disk attaches to a VM to create an appliance instance.
1. Using the Azure web portal, navigate to the Disks module in the Azure web portal and create a new disk by clicking Add. Alternatively, you can click Add Resource on the top of the left menu bar, search for Managed Disks, and then click Create.
2. Ensure the region is the same as that of the storage container you created.
3. Select Storage Blob as the source.
4. Browse to the storage container with the source image and select the image for the Portal software.
5. Set the OS type to Linux and the size to 100 GiB, and create the disk.
Create a VM from the VHD
1. Using the Azure web portal, click Go to Resource.
2. Click Create VM at the top. Make sure to type a unique name in the Virtual Machine Name field.
3. Configure the size to be Standard B4MS and the region to be the same as for the VHD you created. You can first move the VHD to a different region if needed. The B4MS instance type is the only one supported. You may need to clear all the filters to be able to navigate to B4MS.
4. Configure Inbound Port rules for the VM. Click Allow Selected Ports and select HTTPS (443) and SSH (22) from the drop-down menu. Note the warning that these ports are exposed to the internet.
You will need to finish some additional steps, like networking (for security groups), and click Next to accept defaults on other pages. In the end, you will see a "Validation passed" message at the top of the page. Click Create at the bottom of the page.
When you see the message, "Your deployment is complete", click Go to resource to display the VM's overview page, which includes the public IP address and private IP address.
Logging in
In a browser, specify the URL to the VM as http://<ip-address>, specifying either the public IP address or the private IP address, as your network requires. The VM’s public and private IP addresses are shown on the VM’s Settings page. It may take several minutes or more for Portal to initialize before you can access the Portal appliance login web page.
Log in to the Portal when the Login page appears. The default username is
admin, and the default password is the Azure VM ID. You can find the Azure VM ID by going to
https://resources.azure.com/, searching for the VM, and finding the value for the VM ID that is displayed.
Adding licenses and data sources
Refer to the Alluvio Portal User Guide for adding licenses and data sources.