How to mount storage in Azure Containers

Guide to Setting Up a File Share for Your Azure Container App

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the process of setting up an Azure file share and binding it to a container environment. This setup is essential for providing persistent storage that your container app can access.

Here is a link to the docker files if you wanted to see the Dockerfile or .py script.

Step 1: Create a File Share in Azure Storage

1. Open the Storage Account
   • Navigate to your Azure storage account.
   • Go to Storage Browser > File Shares.
2. Add a File Share
   • Click Add File Share.
   • Name your file share anything you’d like. We will reference this name later in the container environment.
   • For this guide, we will use the name 'containerappfilestorage'.

Step 2: Bind the File Share to the Container Environment

1. Open the Container App Environment
   • In the Azure portal, navigate to your Container App Environment.
   • Go to Azure Files > Add > SMB File Share.
2. Fill in the Required Information:
   • Name: You can give it any name you want.
   • Storage Account Name: Enter the name of your storage account.
   • Storage Account Key: This can be found in your storage account under Access Keys. Make sure to copy the Key and not the connection string.
   • File Share Name: Enter the name of the file share you created earlier (in our case, containerappfilestorage).
   • Access Mode: For this tutorial, set the access mode to Read/Write. Note that for some applications, Read-only access is recommended to ensure stability, especially if the app crashes or is interrupted during file writing, which can lead to file corruption.
3. Add the File Share
   • Once all the information is entered, click Add to bind the file share to the environment.
   • Don’t forget to save the file share to the environment!

Step 3: Attach the File Share to Your Container App

1. Open Your Container App
   • Navigate to the container app you want to bind the file share to.
2. Create a Volume
   • Go to Volumes > Add.
   • Select the file share you just added to the environment.
   • Click Add and then Save as a new revision.

Step 4: Bind the File Share to Your Container

1. Create a New Revision for the Container
   • Navigate to Revisions and Replicas.
   • Click Create a new revision.
2. Add a New App Container
   • Configure the Docker image for your container.
   • Name: Choose a label for your container (this can be whatever you prefer).
   • Image Source: Select Docker Hub.
   • Image Type: Set this to Public.
   • Login Server: Set this to docker.io.
   • Image and Tag: For this tutorial, we’ll be using the image icefire555/azuredatatest:latest, but you can use your own Docker image.
3. Configure Volume Mounts
   • Go to the Volume Mounts tab.
   • Select the storage name from the volume you just added.
   • Set a mount path. For this guide, we’ll use /data.
4. Save and Deploy
   • Save the container and click Create to start the deployment.

Step 5: Monitor Your Container’s Logs

1. View the Console Logs
   • After deployment, select your revision and open the Console Logs to monitor the container’s performance.
2. Storage Access
   • If the container has already run, you can view the output file in the Storage Browser of your Azure storage account.

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By following these steps, you should now have a fully configured Azure file share bound to your container app, ready for deployment and use. Feel free to modify these instructions to suit your specific application needs!

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