Create an Azure Managed Lustre file system by using Azure Resource Manager templates

Article
08/16/2024

You can automate the creation of an Azure Managed Lustre file system by using Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates. This article explains the basic procedure and gives examples of the files that you need.

This article gives examples of two different methods for creating ARM templates:

Use JSON to create ARM templates directly. To learn more, see JSON template syntax.
Use Bicep, which uses simpler syntax to supply the configuration details. When you deploy the template, the Bicep files are converted into ARM template files. To learn more, see Bicep documentation.

To learn more about these options, see Comparing JSON and Bicep for templates.

Choose file system type and size

Before you write a template, you must make some decisions about your Azure Managed Lustre file system. To learn more about the configuration options, see the setup details in Create an Azure Managed Lustre file system.

When you use a template, specify a SKU to define the basic type of Azure Managed Lustre file system to create. The SKU represents a product tier. It sets system qualities such as the type of disks, the supported amount of storage, and the maximum throughput capacity. If you use the Azure portal to create your Azure Managed Lustre file system, you specify the system type indirectly by selecting its capabilities.

The following table shows the values for throughput and storage size in each supported SKU. These SKUs create a file system that uses durable SSD storage.

SKU	Throughput per TiB storage	Storage minimum	Storage maximum	Increment
AMLFS-Durable-Premium-40	40 MBps	48 TB	768 TB	48 TB
AMLFS-Durable-Premium-125	125 MBps	16 TB	128 TB	16 TB
AMLFS-Durable-Premium-250	250 MBps	8 TB	128 TB	8 TB
AMLFS-Durable-Premium-500	500 MBps	4 TB	128 TB	4 TB

If you require storage values larger than the listed maximum, you can open a support ticket to explore options.

To check SKU capabilities, you can use the workflow for creating a Managed Lustre file system by using the Azure portal. SKU-specific settings are on the Basics tab under File system details.

Create a template file

After you decide on configuration options, you can create a template file. The template file is a JSON or Bicep file that contains the configuration details for your Azure Managed Lustre file system.

Template property values

To create an Azure Managed Lustre file system by using an ARM template, you need to include the following information in your template file. The exact syntax is different between Bicep and JSON, so consult the examples for the literal values.

File system

Name	Description	Value
type	The type of resource to create.	`Microsoft.StorageCache/amlFileSystems`
apiVersion	The version of the Azure Managed Lustre API to use.	Use the current API version, for example, `2024-03-01`
name	A unique name for the Azure Managed Lustre file system.	string (required)
location	The geo-location where the resource lives. Use the short name rather than the display name, for example, use `eastus` instead of `East US`.	string (required)
tags	Resource tags for the file system.	Dictionary of tag names and values; see Tags in templates
sku	Performance SKU for the resource.	See SKU name
identity	The managed identity to use for the file system, if configured.	See Identity
properties	Properties for the file system.	See Properties
zones	Availability zones for resources. This field should only contain a single element in the array.	string[]

Identity

Name	Description	Value
type	The type of identity used for the resource.	`None`, `UserAssigned`
userAssignedIdentities	A dictionary where each key is a user assigned identity resource ID, and each key's value is an empty dictionary.	See template docs

Properties

Name	Description	Value
encryptionSettings	The encryption settings for the file system.	See Encryption settings
filesystemSubnet	The subnet that the file system uses.	string (required)
hsm	The Blob Storage container settings for the file system.	See HSM settings
maintenanceWindow	Specifies day and time when system updates can occur.	See Maintenance window (required)
rootSquashSettings	Specifies root squash settings for the file system.	See Root squash settings
storageCapacityTiB	The size of the file system, in TiB. To learn more about the allowable values for this field based on the SKU, see Choose file system type and size.	int (required)

Encryption settings

Name	Description	Value
keyEncryptionKey	Specifies the location of the encryption key in Key Vault.	See template docs

HSM settings

Name	Description	Value
container	Resource ID of storage container used for hydrating the namespace and archiving from the namespace. The resource provider must have permission to create SAS tokens on the storage account.	string (required)
importPrefix	Only blobs in the non-logging container that start with this path/prefix get imported into the cluster namespace. This is only used during initial creation of the Azure Managed Lustre file system.	string
importPrefixesInitial	Only blobs in the non-logging container that start with one of the paths/prefixes in this array get imported into the cluster namespace. This value is only used during initial creation of the Azure Managed Lustre file system and has '/' as the default value.	string[]
loggingContainer	Resource ID of storage container used for logging events and errors. Must be a separate container in the same storage account as the hydration and archive container. The resource provider must have permission to create SAS tokens on the storage account.	string (required)

Note

The importPrefixesInitial property allows you to specify multiple prefixes for importing data into the file system, while importPrefix allows you to specify a single prefix. The default value for both properties is /. If you define one of the properties, you can't define the other. If you define both properties, the deployment fails.

To learn more, see Import prefix.

Maintenance window

Name	Description	Value
dayOfWeek	Day of the week on which the maintenance window can occur.	`Sunday`, `Monday`, `Tuesday`, `Wednesday`, `Thursday`, `Friday`, `Saturday`
timeOfDayUTC	The time of day (in UTC) the maintenance window can occur.	string Example: `22:30`

The timeOfDayUTC property uses a 24-hour clock format. For example, 22:30 represents 10:30 PM. The pattern is ^([0-9]|0[0-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]$.

Root squash settings

Name	Description	Value
mode	Squash mode of the AML file system. 'All': User and Group IDs on files are squashed to the provided values for all users on non-trusted systems. 'RootOnly': User and Group IDs on files are squashed to provided values for solely the root user on non-trusted systems. 'None': No squashing of User and Group IDs is performed for any users on any systems.	`All`, `None`, `RootOnly`
noSquashNidLists	Semicolon separated NID IP address list to be added to the TrustedSystems.	string
squashGID	Group ID to squash to.	int
squashUID	User ID to squash to.	int

SKU name

Name	Description	Value
name	SKU name for the resource.	`AMLFS-Durable-Premium-40`, `AMLFS-Durable-Premium-125`, `AMLFS-Durable-Premium-250`, `AMLFS-Durable-Premium-500`

Deploy the file system by using the template

The following example steps use Azure CLI commands to create a new resource group and create an Azure Managed Lustre file system in it. The steps assume that you already chose a file system type and size and created a template file, as described earlier in this article. Also make sure that you meet all prerequisites.

Set your default subscription:

az account set --subscription "<subscription-id>"
az account show

Optionally, create a new resource group for your Azure Managed Lustre file system. If you want to use an existing resource group, skip this step and provide the name of the existing resource group when you run the template command.
```
az group create --name <rg-name> --location <region-short-name>
```
Your file system can use resources outside its own resource group, as long as they're in the same subscription.
Deploy the Azure Managed Lustre file system by using the template. The syntax depends on whether you're using JSON or Bicep files, along with the number of files.

You can deploy both Bicep and JSON templates as single files or multiple files. For more information and to see the exact syntax for each option, see the ARM template documentation.

Example JSON command:
```
az deployment group create \
  --name <example-deployment> \
  --resource-group <resource-group-name> \
  --template-file azlustre-template.json
```
Example Bicep command:
```
az deployment group create \
 --resource-group <ResourceGroupName> \
 --template-file azlustre.bicep
```

JSON example

This section shows example contents for a JSON template file. You can remove optional parameters when creating your own ARM template.

{
    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "resources": [
        {
            "type": "Microsoft.StorageCache/amlFilesystems",
            "apiVersion": "2024-03-01",
            "name": "amlfs-example",
            "location": "eastus",
            "tags": {
              "Dept": "ContosoAds"
            },
            "sku": {
              "name": "AMLFS-Durable-Premium-250"
            },
            "identity": {
              "type": "UserAssigned",
              "userAssignedIdentities": {
                "/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/<identity-name>": {}
              }
            },
            "properties": {
              "encryptionSettings": {
                "keyEncryptionKey": {
                  "keyUrl": "https://<keyvault-name>.vault.azure.net/keys/kvk/<key>",
                  "sourceVault": {
                    "id": "/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults/<keyvault-name>"
                  }
                }
              },
              "filesystemSubnet": "/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/<vnet-name>/subnets/<subnet-name>",
              "hsm": {
                "settings": {
                  "container": "/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/<storage-account-name>/blobServices/default/containers/<container-name>",
                  "loggingContainer": "/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/<storage-account-name>/blobServices/default/containers/<logging-container-name>",
                  "importPrefixesInitial": [
                    "/"
                  ]
                }
              },
              "maintenanceWindow": {
                "dayOfWeek": "Saturday",
                "timeOfDayUTC": "22:00"
              },
              "rootSquashSettings": {
                "mode": "All",
                "noSquashNidLists": "10.0.0.[5-6]@tcp;10.0.1.2@tcp",
                "squashGID": "99",
                "squashUID": "99"
              },
              "storageCapacityTiB": "16"
            },
            "zones": [
              "1"
            ],
        }
    ],
    "outputs": {}
}

Bicep example

This section shows example contents for a Bicep file. You can remove optional parameters when creating your own.

resource filesystem 'Microsoft.StorageCache/amlFilesystems@2024-03-01' = {
  name: 'amlfs-example'
  location: 'eastus'
  tags: {
    Dept: 'ContosoAds'
  }
  sku: {
    name: 'AMLFS-Durable-Premium-250'
  }
  identity: {
    type: 'UserAssigned'
    userAssignedIdentities: {
      '/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/<identity-name>': {}
    }
  }
  properties: {
    encryptionSettings: {
      keyEncryptionKey: {
        keyUrl: 'https://<keyvault-name>.vault.azure.net/keys/kvk/<key>'
        sourceVault: {
          id: '/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults/<keyvault-name>'
        }
      }
    }
    filesystemSubnet: '/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/<vnet-name>/subnets/<subnet-name>'
    hsm: {
      settings: {
        container: '/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/<storage-account-name>/blobServices/default/containers/<container-name>'
        importPrefixesInitial: [
          '/'
        ]
        loggingContainer: '/subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/<rg-name>/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/<storage-account-name>/blobServices/default/containers/<logging-container-name>'
      }
    }
    maintenanceWindow: {
      dayOfWeek: 'Saturday'
      timeOfDayUTC: '22:00'
    }
    rootSquashSettings: {
      mode: 'All'
      noSquashNidLists: '10.0.0.[5-6]@tcp;10.0.1.2@tcp'
      squashGID: 99
      squashUID: 99
    }
    storageCapacityTiB: 16
  }
  zones: [
    '1'
  ]
}

Azure Managed Lustre overview

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Create an Azure Managed Lustre file system by using Azure Resource Manager templates

Choose file system type and size

Create a template file

Template property values

File system

Identity

Properties

Encryption settings

HSM settings

Maintenance window

Root squash settings

SKU name

Deploy the file system by using the template

JSON example

Bicep example

Feedback

Additional resources

Share via

Create an Azure Managed Lustre file system by using Azure Resource Manager templates

Choose file system type and size

Create a template file

Template property values

File system

Identity

Properties

Encryption settings

HSM settings

Maintenance window

Root squash settings

SKU name

Deploy the file system by using the template

JSON example

Bicep example

Related content

Feedback

Additional resources