Azure File Service IO with Elasto on Linux

In an earlier post I described the basics of the Microsoft Azure File Service, and how it can be used on Linux with the cifs.ko kernel client.

Since that time I've been hacking away on the Elasto cloud storage client, to the point that it now (with version 0.6.0) supports Azure File Service share provisioning as well as file and directory IO.

To play with Elasto yourself:

• Install the packages
• Download your Azure PublishSettings credentials
• Run

  elasto_cli -s Azure_PublishSettings_File -u afs://

Keep in mind that Elasto is still far from mature, so don't be surprised if it corrupts your data or causes a fire.
With the warning out of the way, I'd like to thank:

• My employer SUSE Linux, for supporting my Elasto development efforts during Hack Week.
• Samba Experience conference organisers, for giving me the chance to talk about the project.
• Kdenlive developers, for writing great video editing software.

Using the Azure File Service on Linux

Update 2025-11-13: This post is ancient, so should not be used as a reference.
The Microsoft Azure File Service is a new SMB shared-storage service offered on the Microsoft Azure public cloud.

The service allows for the instant provisioning of file shares for private access by cloud provisioned VMs using the SMB 2.1 protocol, and additionally supports public access via a new REST interface.

Update 2015-05-25, edit 2025: File shares can now also not be provisioned from Linux using Elasto.

Linux VMs deployed on Azure can make use of this service using the Linux Kernel CIFS client. The kernel client must be configured to support and use the SMB 2.1 protocol dialect:

• CONFIG_CIFS_SMB2 must be enabled in the kernel configuration at build time
• Use

  # zcat /proc/config.gz | grep CONFIG_CIFS_SMB2

  to check this on a running system.

• The vers=2.1 mount.cifs parameter must be provided at mount time.
• Furthermore, the Azure storage account and access key must be provided as username and password.

# mount.cifs -o vers=2.1,user=smb //smb.file.core.windows.net/share /share/
Password for smb@//smb.file.core.windows.net/share:  ******...
# df -h /share/
Filesystem                         Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
//smb.file.core.windows.net/share  5.0T     0  5.0T   0% /share

This feature will be supported with the upcoming release of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, and future openSUSE releases.

Disclaimer: I work in the Labs department at SUSE.