Using Azure Blob Storage for sas7bdat files with SAS Viya – Part 1
Azure Data Lake (ADLS) Blob Storage is a cloud-based distributed file storage service. Often the question is asked, can we use the Azure Blob Storage to store sas7bdat files and access them from the SAS Viya applications? When a customer migrates from a traditional SAS 9.4 to the SAS Viya environment, they like to bring existing sas7bdat data files to cloud storage and access them from the SAS Compute Server and the CAS environment.
In short, the answer to the above question is Yes!
An Azure Storage Account (ADLS2) with Hierarchical-namespace is a POSIX-compliant. The Azure Blob storage supports the Network File System (NFS) 3.0 protocol. This support provides Linux file system compatibility at object storage and enables Linux clients to mount a container in blob storage.
The Azure Blob Storage Container Storage Interface (CSI) driver is a CSI specification-compliant driver used by AKS to manage the lifecycle of Azure Blob Storage. The CSI is a standard for exposing block and file storage systems to containerized applications on Kubernetes.
With NFS 3.0 protocol and Hierarchical namespace enabled on an Azure Storage Account (ADLS2) and Azure Blob Storage CSI driver enabled on the AKS cluster, you can create a Persistent Volume (PV) and Persistence Volume Claim (PVC) against Azure Blob Storage using azureblob-nfs-premium storage class. The Azure CSI Blob Driver has two storage classes (azureblob-nfs-premium and azureblob-fuse-premium) for blob storage. The PVC can be mounted to the SAS Compute Pod and CAS Pods using either of the storage classes. This enables SAS Viya users to use Azure Blob Storage to store sas7bdat files and access them from the SAS Compute Server and CAS environment.
Access to Azure Blob storage from SAS Compute Server and CAS is a vital step for customers migrating from SAS 9.4 to Viya and looking to store the sas7bdat file at ADLS blob storage. The sas7bdat data files saved by the SAS Compute Server can be accessed by CAS and vice versa.
The data access path from ADLS2 Blob storage to SAS Compute Server and CAS.
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The AKS Cluster is enabled with the CSI Blob driver and Storage class.
The Azure Storage Account (ADLS2) is enabled with Hierarchical Name Space, NFS 3. 0 protocol, and selected network access.
The Azure Blob Storage (ADLS2) with sas7bdat files.
The SAS Compute Server reads and writes sas7bdat files to Azure Blob Storage (ADLS2).
The CAS load/save data from sas7bdat files located at Azure Blob Storage (ADLS2). The sas7bdat files saved by the SAS Compute Server load to CAS.
Stay tuned in for configuration details for Azure Storage Account and AKS to mount the Azure Blob Storage to SAS Viya Compute and CAS Pods to access sas7bdat files.
Important Links:
Use Azure Blob storage Container Storage Interface (CSI) driver
Create and use a volume with Azure Blob storage in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
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