How to Initialize attached Data disk to Linux VM in Azure with Powershell

Question

The Initialize the disk doc explains how to initialize an attached disk for Windows VM. I need to do the same for Linux VM with Powershell. Any resource available ?

Answer 1

Unfortunately, PowerShell is not the ideal tool to initialize and manage disks on a Linux VM, as PowerShell is designed primarily for managing Windows systems. Instead, you can use common Linux tools like fdisk, parted, and mkfs to perform disk operations on a Linux VM.

However, PowerShell Core, a cross-platform version of PowerShell, is available for Linux, but it doesn't come with cmdlets specifically designed for managing Linux disks.

Here's a general outline of the steps you need to follow to initialize an attached disk on a Linux VM using Linux commands:

1. 1. Identify the new disk: Use the lsblk or fdisk -l command to list all available disks and identify the new disk (e.g., /dev/sdb).

    lsblk
        
    
    or 
    
    
   
    sudo fdisk -l
        
    
    

1. Create a partition on the new disk: Use fdisk or parted to create a new partition on the disk. For example, using fdisk:

sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

Follow the interactive prompts to create a new partition. Typically, you'll press 'n' for a new partition, choose the partition type, and accept the default values for the first and last sectors.

1. Format the partition: Format the new partition with the desired filesystem (e.g., ext4).

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

Replace /dev/sdb1 with the correct partition name.

1. Mount the partition: Create a mount point for the new partition and mount it.

sudo mkdir /mnt/my_new_disk
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/my_new_disk

1. Update /etc/fstab: To make sure the new partition is mounted automatically after a reboot, add an entry to the /etc/fstab file.

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add a line similar to the following:

/dev/sdb1 /mnt/my_new_disk ext4 defaults 0 0

Save the file and exit the editor.

These steps should help you initialize and mount an attached disk on a Linux VM using Linux commands. If you want to manage Linux systems remotely, you can use tools like SSH, Ansible, or other remote management tools that are designed for Linux environments.