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Azure Shared Disks Overview

  • October 27, 2022
  • 5 min read
IT Production Manager. Nicolas is primarily focused on Microsoft technologies, he is a Microsoft MVP in Cloud and Datacenter Management.
IT Production Manager. Nicolas is primarily focused on Microsoft technologies, he is a Microsoft MVP in Cloud and Datacenter Management.


Azure shared disks is a feature that allows you to attach a managed disk to multiple virtual machines simultaneously. It can be very interesting if you want to migrate your clustered applications from on-premise to your Azure subscription. There are some limitations that you can read on the Microsoft documentation : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/disks-shared

In this article, I explain how to create a shared disk, attach it to two virtual machines and then use it for a failover cluster.

Getting started

First, create a shared disk. From the portal, go to “Disks” section, and create a new one.

Then in the “advanced” tab, select the max shares which depend on how many virtual machines the disk will be attached to. In my case, I want to attach the disk to two virtual machines for my cluster. Select the disk size and validate the wizard.

Create a managed disk

For my cluster, I use a proximity placement group to organize my resources.

Create Proximity Placement Group

When creating the virtual machine, select the proximity placement group previously created.

Select the proximity placement group previously created

I also use availability set, so the proximity group is automatically selected

Proximity group is automatically selected

Now, open a PowerShell console or use the Cloud Shell console form the portal.

We want to attach the shared disk to both virtual machines. Gather configuration data for virtual machines and shared disk :

 

PowerShell

Now, we attach the shared disk :

 

PowerShell

Before committing the changes to virtual machines, you must check if virtual machines are down, then update the virtual machines :

 

PowerShell

To finish, start the virtual machines :

 

PowerShell

You can confirm if the shared disk is attached to the virtual machines under “properties” tab

Properties

RDP in to the virtual machines, then open the “diskmgmt.msc” console to initialize and format the disk:

Disk management

Once the shared disk is attached and formatted, you can use your shared disk depending on your needs :

  • SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances
  • Scale-out File Server
  • emote Desktop Server User Profile Disk (UPD)
  • etc.

In my case, I can use the shared disk for my failover cluster:

Failover Cluster Manager

Then add the disk to cluster shared volumes :

Disks

Hey! Found Nicolas’s insights useful? Looking for a cost-effective, high-performance, and easy-to-use hyperconverged platform?
Taras Shved
Taras Shved StarWind HCI Appliance Product Manager
Look no further! StarWind HCI Appliance (HCA) is a plug-and-play solution that combines compute, storage, networking, and virtualization software into a single easy-to-use hyperconverged platform. It's designed to significantly trim your IT costs and save valuable time. Interested in learning more? Book your StarWind HCA demo now to see it in action!