"Failed to mount the Azure file share" looks like a false alarm?

[evergrn_tree]

Hi,

I have been using Azure and the Azure shell (Bash) on the Azure portal for nearly half a year.

Yesterday when I started the Azure shell, I got this warning message:

Warning: Failed to mount the Azure file share. Your cloud drive won't be available.
Your Cloud Shell session will be ephemeral so no files or system changes will persist beyond your current session.

As far as I know, I never unmounted or changed any permission of the storage account to the clouddrive folder.

However, I found that my cloud drive (mounted to the clouddrive/ folder) was still accessible, and the files I created there could still be found when I started another Cloud Shell session.

I tried to reset my user settings and remount the same storage account to the clouddrive/ folder, and restarted the Bash Cloud Shell again. The warning message still appeared while the clouddrive/ could still be accessible.

So I wonder if the warning message was a false alarm, or if it referred to something else. May I ask if there is any command I can run to display the mounting log that resulted in the warning message, so I can check if it is really a false alarm?

Best Regards,

Benny (@evergrn_tree).

[#2]

hello did you see this link?
Visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-shell/persisting-shell-storage#mount-a-new-clouddrive


did you set a Read-lock on your cloud-shell storage account?
if yes change it to a Delete-lock

[#3]

@evergrn_tree 

I made an account for the sole purpose of replying to you. I just spent the better part of an hour creating and recreating storage by various means to troubleshoot this EXACT issue.

It was only when I came upon your thread that I realized it was in fact a false alarm (I'm relatively new to all this and I realize I could have just tested this earlier by creating a text file or something and confirming it wasn't an issue at all).

Still I can't explain why this is happening and I'm still trying to figure it out for the sake of closure lol. I tried unmounting and remounting the file share with the bash menu, having Azure create one for me, trying to mount it via shell commands all to no avail.

Best wishes,

-Felipe

[#4]

@evergrn_tree 

Sometimes, network glitches or transient issues can trigger such warnings as well

[#5]

Thanks for the reply, I just checked the cloud-shell storage account, as well as its resource group and subscription. There were no locks at all. I tried to unmount and remount the account, but the warning was still there while the storage account still worked and persisted.

[#6]

Thank you Felipe, I am also new to the Azure cloud. Seems to me the false alarm error is still there after a few days.

[#7]

I suppose it was (and still is) a glitch, the warning still exists after a few days, but knowing that it is a false alarm I shall simply ignore it. Thanks!

[#8]

I have been noticing exactly this behavior on various customer tenants for a few days now.

[#9 · Accepted solution]

@evergrn_tree 

Hi Benny,

It sounds like you might be dealing with a transient issue or a glitch in the Cloud Shell environment. The warning message you encountered, "Failed to mount the Azure file share," usually suggests there was a problem mounting the file share at that moment. However, since your Cloud Shell session is still able to access the files and your data persists across sessions, it might indeed be a false alarm or a temporary issue.

To investigate further, you can check the logs for more detailed information. Unfortunately, Azure Cloud Shell does not provide direct access to mounting logs in the standard interface. However, you can follow these steps to get more information:

1. Check Azure Activity Logs:

   • Go to the Azure portal.
   • Navigate to Monitor > Activity log.
   • Look for any related events around the time the warning message appeared. This might give you insight into any issues with the file share mounting process.

2. Review Storage Account Logs:

   • Go to the Azure portal.
   • Navigate to your Storage account.
   • Under Monitoring, check Diagnostic settings and ensure that logging is enabled. If logs are enabled, you can review them for any errors or warnings related to file share access.

3. Azure Cloud Shell Storage Logs:

   • While Cloud Shell doesn’t provide direct access to detailed storage logs, you can try running a few diagnostic commands to see if they reveal more about the state of the storage:
     bash

     df -h ls -l /clouddrive/
   • These commands will show you the current disk usage and contents of the mounted directory, respectively.

4. Azure Support:

   • If the issue persists and you need more detailed analysis, consider reaching out to Azure Support for assistance. They might be able to provide more specific logs and help diagnose the issue.

It’s good to keep an eye on this and see if the warning continues to appear or if it was just a one-time glitch. If the access issues persist or if you notice any other anomalies, further investigation will be needed.

Best, Celvin

[#10]

can you also ensure there are no Read or Delete locks applied?

[#11]

Hi Calvin,

Thank you very much for your detailed answer. The Azure Activity Log shows nothing special, just one item called List Storage Account Keys (which does not look like a warning). The Storage Account Log was disabled, while df -h shows the clouddrive was mounted with 84% usage (1.0 GB free space). The warning still shows up, while things are still working correctly at the moment, so it still seems like a false alarm.

Best Regards,
Benny.

[#12]

Hi Sedat,

I used the Azure Portal to check the cloud-shell storage account, as well as its resource group and subscription. There were no locks at all. Is there anywhere I need to check as well?

My .yaml code for AKS may have applied locks, but only to other storage accounts I created (like the blob storage accounts), but never to the storage account that was mounted to the cloud-shell.

Best Regards,
Benny.

[#13]

Dear all,

Just would like to let you know that the warning message did not appear today when I started the Cloud Shell. So it is really likely a false alarm. Thanks!

Best Regards,
Benny (@evergrn_tree).

[#14]

@FelipeHernandez64 

I found mine gave this warning when the security on the "File Share" got changed to Custom or Maximum.

AES-128-GCM is required to be checked otherwise the clouddrive will not connect. 

See screenshotFile Share security settings