Overview

ScaleArc is supported in the Azure Marketplace for commercial Azure, and customers may enquire to know if ScaleArc is also supported in GCCH (Government Community Cloud High) Azure environment.

Solution

We recommend using the VHD upload option for GCC High Azure environments.

ScaleArc deployment in Azure (using a VHD) for such environments can be achieved by following the below deployment procedure:

ScaleArc Deployment in Azure (using a VHD)

1. Download the ScaleArc 2021 VHD. 
   

   Note: The file size is 160GB.

2. Upload the VHD file using the Azure Portal.
• In the Azure Portal, select Storage Accounts.
• Select the storage account where the ScaleArc VHD file will be uploaded to.
• If you do not have a storage account, click Add to create one.
• Note that the selected location will dictate where the image can be created and subsequently deployed to.
• Under BLOB SERVICE, select Containers.
• Select a container to upload the ScaleArc VHD file to.
• If you do not have a storage container, click Add Container to create one.
• Click Upload and select ScaleArc VHD file to upload.
• Ensure that the Blob type is set to Page Blob.
  This process might take a long time depending on your network connection and the location of your Azure storage account.
  
3. Create an image using the Azure Portal.
• In the Azure Portal, select Images.
• Click Add to create a new image.
• Give the image a name. Remember that this image is a template that will later be deployed to a virtual machine with a different name.
• Ensure that the location is the same as the location of your storage account.
• In the OS disk section:
• Select
  OS Type: Linux
  VM generation: Gen1
  Account type: Premium SSD 
• Click Browse on the Storage Blob field. A new panel will list your storage accounts. Using this panel, navigate through the storage account and container to locate the ScaleArc that was uploaded.
• Click Create to begin the image creation process. This process typically takes minutes to complete.
• When the process has completed, return to the Images panel and verify that the new image was created.
  This image can now be used to deploy new ScaleArc virtual machines in Azure.
  
4. In the Azure Portal, select Images.
5. Select the previously created ScaleArc image.
6. On the Overview panel, click Create VM.
• On the Basics page:
• Enter a name for the new virtual machine.
• Enter a user name, select the SSH public key type and provide an ssh key pair. 
• Complete the form and click OK.
• On the Choose a size page:
• Select an appropriate size for the new virtual machine, keeping in mind that the recommended minimums are 16 GB of memory and 4 CPU cores.
  The General Purpose family machines are a good fit for ScaleArc
• On the Inbound port rules page:
• Select inbound ports SSH (22), HTTP (80) and HTTPS (443)
• Click Select to continue.
  
• On the Settings page:
• Configure the network settings
• Click OK to continue
• On the Summary page, revise the configuration and click OK to create the ScaleArc virtual machine.
7. Once deployment is complete navigate to the ScaleArc IP in the browser and initialize it using the Initialize ScaleArc guide.