MayaNAS single VM on Azure

Run MayaNAS on one VM: NFS and SMB file storage with the data in Azure Blob Storage and the metadata on a managed SSD. You create the storage account, the VM and the SSD, then the web console’s Getting Started wizard builds the pool and the share.

Prefer automation?

The MayaNAS Terraform creates the VM, the SSD and the storage account and configures everything for you. Use this page when you want to set it up by hand.

Before you start

You will need:

What	Details
Storage account	Created in Step 1, in the same region as the VM. The wizard asks for its name and access key.
Metadata SSD, about 100 GB	A managed Premium SSD (P10, 128 GiB) or Premium SSD v2 (100 GiB). It becomes the ZFS special vdev: file system metadata and small blocks. 100 GB covers pools up to about 20 TB; for larger pools allow about 0.5% of the pool size.

Use a managed disk for metadata

Don’t use the VM’s temporary disk or the local NVMe disks of L-series VMs. They are wiped when the VM is deallocated or moved, and losing the metadata device loses the pool. On v6 and other NVMe-based VM sizes a managed disk also shows up as NVMe (/dev/nvme0n2), which is fine.

Step 1: Create the storage account

1. In the Azure portal, open Storage accounts → Create.
2. Basics: the resource group, a name (3 to 24 lowercase letters and digits, unique across Azure), the same region as the VM, Standard performance, and LRS or ZRS redundancy.
3. Advanced: leave Enable hierarchical namespace off (the default).
4. Networking: leave the default, Enable public access from all networks.
5. Review + create.
6. When it is ready, open the account → Security + networking → Access keys, click Show for key1 and copy the Storage account name and the Key.

You don’t need to create containers: the wizard creates one if the name you give doesn’t exist yet.

Restricted storage networking

MayaNAS reaches Blob Storage through the account’s standard endpoint, which is why the default network setting works with no extra configuration; traffic between a VM and a storage account in the same region stays on Microsoft’s network. If your organization limits storage accounts to selected networks, open the account → Networking → Firewalls and virtual networks, choose Enabled from selected virtual networks and IP addresses, and add the VM’s virtual network and subnet. The portal turns on the Microsoft.Storage service endpoint for that subnet.

Step 2: Create the VM

1. Open the MayaNAS listing on Azure Marketplace (publisher ZettaLane Systems), click Get It Now, pick the plan and click Create.
2. Basics: resource group, region (the storage account’s region), VM size, an administrator username (the portal suggests azureuser) and an SSH key. A D-series VM with 8 to 16 vCPUs is a good start; network bandwidth grows with VM size and sets how fast clients can read.
3. Disks: under Data disks, click Create and attach a new disk and add the metadata SSD from the table above. Leave host caching at its default.
4. Networking: keep the VM in the virtual network your NFS or SMB clients use. Only SSH needs to be open from outside; clients in the same virtual network reach the VM without extra rules.
5. Review + create.

Forgot the SSD? VM → Disks → Create and attach a new disk. No restart is needed; attach it before you run the wizard.

Step 3: Log in to the web console

The console listens on port 2020. Reach it through an SSH tunnel, using the administrator username you set on the Basics tab (azureuser unless you changed it):

ssh -L 2020:localhost:2020 azureuser@<vm-public-ip>

Then open https://localhost:2020 and log in as admin. The password is generated at first boot. Find it over SSH:

sudo grep 'Login : admin' /var/log/messages

or in the portal: VM → Help → Boot diagnostics → Serial log, search for password:.

To set your own password:

sudo /opt/mayastor/web/changepass.sh
sudo /opt/mayastor/web/stop && sudo /opt/mayastor/web/start

Step 4: Run the Getting Started wizard

Open Getting Started. The wizard walks through each step and you can come back to it later.

Select Deployment Type

Choose Single VM. The wizard leaves out the HA services step.

Configure Cloud Profile

Field	Value
Label	Any name, for example azureblob
Storage Type	Azure Blob
Account	The storage account name
Secret	The access key

Configure Cloud Disk

Each cloud disk is a Blob container that MayaNAS uses as a disk.

Field	Value
Existing Bucket / New Bucket	Pick a container, or type a new name to create one
Disk Name	Any name, for example blob1
Disk Size	The capacity this disk gives the pool, for example 2T. Blob only bills for what you store.
Block Size	Keep 1024K

One cloud disk is enough to start. Tick Configure more cloud disks on the confirm page to add another now; you can also add more later to grow the pool.

Configure ZPOOL

1. Storage pool type: ZFS.
2. Configuration: ZFS Special.
3. Data disks: the cloud disks you just created.
4. Special device: the metadata SSD.
5. Confirm and Finish.

The wizard sets the options a pool of cloud disks plus an SSD needs, so the create goes through without manual flags.

Configure Volume

Select the new pool. The wizard defaults to File System with ZFS, and sets the record size from the cloud disk block size (1M). Give the file system a name, for example data.

Configure Volume Sharing

Select the file system and pick the protocol under Controller:

• NFS: the client network (for example 10.0.1.0/24) and the NFS versions to allow.
• SMB: a share label and the Share Profile: POSIX for Linux and Unix clients, Windows Clients for rich Windows ACLs, or Multi-Protocol (SMB+NFS).
• NFS + SMB (multiprotocol): the same file system for Linux and Windows clients. The wizard shows the NFS page and then the SMB page with the Multi-Protocol (SMB+NFS) profile already selected, and creates both shares on Finish. The profile sets a shared group and group inheritance on the directory, so files written over either protocol stay usable from the other.

Then Finish. Add the users that log in over SMB in Credentials Management.

To add SMB later to a file system already shared over NFS, open SMB Management, select the file system and click New. The page sees the NFS export and selects Multi-Protocol for you.

Step 5: Mount from a client

From a VM in the same virtual network:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data
sudo mount -t nfs <mayanas-private-ip>:/<pool>/<file-system> /mnt/data

SMB clients connect to \\<mayanas-private-ip>\<share-label> with a user from Credentials Management.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
The SSD isn’t listed for the special device	It must be blank. A disk reused from an old pool still carries ZFS labels: clear them with sudo zpool labelclear -f /dev/<disk>.
Cloud disk creation fails	Account name and key, the storage account region, and the storage account’s network rules.
Services	systemctl status mayastor and /opt/mayastor/logs/
Disks and pools from the shell	mayacli show disk, zpool status