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Using Azure Resource Locks with Pure Storage Cloud Dedicated
In any cloud environment, human error is a significant risk to the stability of production systems. A mistaken click in the portal or a misconfigured script can lead to the accidental deletion of critical infrastructure, causing downtime and potential data loss. This is the exact problem that Azure Resource Locks are designed to solve. Think of them as a simple but powerful safety net for your most important Azure resources. When applied to a Pure Storage Cloud Dedicated (PSC Dedicated) managed application, these locks are an essential governance tool. A PSC Dedicated array isn't a single resource but rather a collection of virtual machines, managed disks, and network components working together. Accidentally deleting or altering any part of this managed application could compromise the entire storage array and the applications that rely on it. By applying a lock, you create an intentional barrier, forcing administrators to consciously remove it before making a destructive change. This simple step helps safeguard your mission-critical data, prevent service interruptions, and ensure the operational integrity of your storage environment. Understanding Azure Resource Locks A resource lock prevents users from accidentally deleting or modifying your Azure resources. Even users with the Owner role for a subscription cannot delete or modify a resource if it has a lock applied. There are two main types of resource locks: CanNotDelete (often shown as Delete in the Azure Portal): This lock means that authorized users can still read and modify a resource, but they can't delete it. This is the recommended lock level for the PSC Dedicated managed application. ReadOnly: This lock is more restrictive. Authorized users can only read a resource; they cannot modify or delete it. This lock is generally not recommended for PSC Dedicated, as it can interfere with normal management and scaling operations performed by the Pure Storage support team or by automated processes. Please refer to the Microsoft Learn documentation for more information. How to Apply a Lock to Your PSC Dedicated Managed Application While you can apply locks to individual resources, the best practice for PSC Dedicated is to apply the lock to the entire managed resource group. This ensures all components are protected. Method 1: Using the Azure Portal (The Easiest Way) Navigate to your PSC Dedicated Managed Application: In the Azure Portal, search for and select your Pure Storage Cloud Dedicated instance. Go to the Locks Blade: In the left-hand menu for your PSC Dedicated resource, find and click on Locks. Add a New Lock: Click the + Add button at the top of the Locks blade. Configure the Lock: Lock name: Give your lock a descriptive name (e.g., PSCDedicated-DoNotDelete-Lock). Lock type: Select Delete. Notes: It's a good practice to add a note explaining why the lock is in place. Save the Lock: Click OK to apply the lock to your managed application. Review the Lock is in place Try to delete the PSC Dedicated managed application See that an error message appears, confirming the Lock is in place and does prevent accidental deletion of the Managed application of the PSC Dedicated array Method 2: Using Azure PowerShell For those who prefer a command-line interface, Azure PowerShell provides a straightforward way to manage locks. To apply the lock using Azure PowerShell, use the New-AzResourceLock cmdlet. You will need the following information: New-AzResourceLock -LockName "PSCDedicatedLock" ` -LockLevel CanNotDelete ` -ResourceName "YourPSCDedicatedInstanceName" ` -ResourceType "Microsoft.Solutions/applications" ` -ResourceGroupName "YourApplicationResourceGroup" To remove the lock later, you can use the Remove-AzResourceLock command. Method 3: Using Azure CLI The Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) is another popular method for managing Azure resources. The process here would be: az lock create --name "PSCDedicatedLock" \ --lock-type "CanNotDelete" \ --resource-group "YourApplicationResourceGroup" \ --resource-name "YourPSCDedicatedInstanceName" \ --resource-type "Microsoft.Solutions/applications" \ --notes "Prevent accidental deletion of PSC Dedicated Managed Application" To remove the lock, you would use the az lock delete command. Final Thoughts Applying an Azure Resource Lock is a simple, no-cost action that adds a powerful layer of protection to your Pure Storage Cloud Dedicated deployment. It's a fundamental step in good cloud governance that helps ensure your critical storage infrastructure remains secure and available. By taking a few moments to configure a CanNotDelete lock, you can prevent a costly mistake and maintain the operational integrity of your environment.Pure Cloud Block Store is now Pure Storage Cloud Dedicated (PSC Dedicated)
Pure Storage Cloud Dedicated: Name Change, Same Enterprise-Grade Experience Pure Storage Cloud is an enterprise-grade block storage delivered as a service in the public cloud. It extends the data services and evergreen architecture of the Purity operating system and can be deployed in: Azure as a fully managed native service or a customer-managed service integrated with Azure VMware Solution (AVS) AWS as a customer-managed service integrated with Elastic VMware Service (EVS) What’s New? Pure Cloud Block Store, the customer-managed service, is being renamed Pure Storage Cloud Dedicated (PSC Dedicated). This change reflects its integration into the Pure Storage Cloud family and alignment with the Enterprise Data Cloud strategy. What’s Not Changing? Everything That Matters Your experience, performance, and features remain the same. Pure Storage Cloud Dedicated continues to provide: Enterprise Data Services: Purity software in Azure and AWS, with data reduction, thin provisioning, and snapshots. Cost Efficiency: Optimized storage usage and reduced footprint through data reduction. Reliability & Resilience: Built-in redundancy, high availability, and cyber resilience. Hybrid & Multi-Cloud Mobility: Consistent APIs and replication across FlashArrays and PSC Dedicated for migration, DR, and data mobility. Disaster Recovery & Backup: Asynchronous and near-synchronous replication, plus snapshots for cost-effective backup and rapid recovery. VMware Workload Support: Enterprise-grade storage for VMware in AVS and EVS environments. Why This Matters The shift from Pure Cloud Block Store to Pure Storage Cloud Dedicated unifies offerings under the Pure Storage Cloud umbrella while advancing the broader Enterprise Data Cloud strategy.Accelerate Breakout Replay: Seamless VMware Workloads in AWS with Elastic VMware Service and Pure Cloud Block Store™
Discover how EVS & Pure Cloud Block Store™ bring VMware to the cloud with operational consistency and new workload opportunities. Speakers: Pavel Kovar Ron Wedel, AWS https://www.purestorage.com/video/webinars/seamless-vmware-workloads-in-aws-with-elastic/6375806872112.htmlAccelerate Breakout Replay: From Data Center to Azure: Seamless VMware Migrations Unleashed with Pure Storage Cloud
Learn how Pure Storage Azure-native service simplifies AVS migration with elastic storage, unified management, and FinOps-friendly scaling. Speakers: Vaclav Jirovsky Husam Hilal, MSFT Joe Ervolino, Dupaco https://www.purestorage.com/video/webinars/from-data-center-to-azure-seamless-vmware-migrations-unleashed/6375801044112.htmlPurely Cloud Podcast - CBS on Azure Technical Deep Dive
Together with vjirovsky we hosted a podcast episode where we discussed CBS on Azure architecture and best practices. Have a listen here: https://soundcloud.com/user-917746545/purely-cloud-guest-series-cbs-on-azure-technical-deep-dive-and-deployment-best-practicesUse CBS as persistent storage on AKS via Portworx CSI driver
Hi all, with the recent version of Portworx CSI driver (v25.4.0) you can mount a persistent block volume on CBS into your containers on Kubernetes and utilize all features and benefits of CBS. Sharing my recent blog post, how to set it up on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): https://blog.vjirovsky.cz/portworx-csi-with-aks-with-cbs/VMware Data Mobility on AWS
This quick technical demo shows how fast you can put data to work in AWS and Elastic VMware Service (EVS) by linking both platforms to Pure Cloud Service on AWS. After cold-migrating a SQL VM to EVS with VMware HCX, we attach its vVols data volume to a VM in EVS via the Pure Storage vSphere Plugin, then use a few clicks in the Cloud Block Store GUI to snapshot, clone, and mount a different database volume to an Amazon EC2 instance over in-guest iSCSI. https://youtu.be/hBeV1mkDPLA?si=w_1OC3NkXZHG0i0gCBS 6.8.7 released
This version brings several updates to Cloud Block Store on both AWS and Azure. Automatic Capacity Upgrade for CBS on Azure enables customers to automatically increase total CBS capacity by adding additional storage to the array when total used storage capacity reaches the threshold of 80%. Along with the Automatic Capacity Upgrade, we released Selectable Initial Capacity, which allows customers to choose the array capacity during initial deployment. Starting from this release it’s possible to configure NVMe-TCP connection between CBS on AWS and AWS Linux based native VMs. NVMe-TCP is seen as the modern successor to iSCSI for block storage, particularly for workloads demanding high performance. Both CBS AWS and CBS Azure now support over-the-wire encryption capability for arrays that are replicating using synchronous connections, adding to the existing support for encrypted asynchronous replication. For more details, please refer to Purity Release Notes.
Pure Storage Cloud for Azure VMware Solution | Public Preview Announcement
Pure Storage Cloud for Azure VMware Solution has officially entered a Public Preview phase! Check out the launch blog posts: Pure Storage Cloud for Azure VMware Solution: A Closer Look Announcing the Public Preview of Azure Native Pure Storage Cloud for Azure VMware Solution | Microsoft Community Hub
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