Public Preview of Edge Storage Accelerator

Release Summary

We are thrilled to announce the Limited Public Preview of Edge Storage Accelerator (ESA), a 1P storage system designed for Arc-connected Kubernetes clusters.  ESA is a cloud-native persistent storage service that provides fault-tolerance and high availability for Kubernetes clusters hosting stateful applications such as Azure IoT Operations, homegrown apps, and other Arc Extensions.  Use standard Kubernetes APIs to easily attach any containerized application handling file data to Azure Blob storage.  Leverage the unlimited cloud storage capacity of Azure Blob for applications running at the edge.  With flexible deployment options, simplicity in connection through a CSI driver, and platform neutrality validated across various Arc Kubernetes platforms, ESA transforms the landscape of edge storage solutions.

Highlights

• Simple App Connection: Seamlessly connect your application pod to an ESA volume using our CSI driver to provision Persistent Volumes pointing at your Azure Blob Storage. 
• Easy to Integrate: The ESA integrates with Azure IoT Operations Data Processor using standard Kubernetes APIs, simplifying the uploading of edge-originating data to Azure. 
• Platform Flexibility: ESA is an Arc Kubernetes container-native storage solution compatible with any Arc Kubernetes-supported platform. Validation has been conducted for specific platforms including Ubuntu + CNCF K3s/K8s, Windows IoT + AKS-EE, and Azure Stack HCI + AKS-HCI. 
• File Synchronization to Azure: ESA automatically syncs files written at the edge to a storage account and container target, allowing automatic tiering to Azure Blob (block blob, ADLSgen-2) in the cloud. 
• “Local Latency” Operations: Experience local latency for read and write operations, ensuring an optimal experience for Arc services, including Azure IoT Operations. 
• Fault-Tolerance: ESA, when configured on a 3-node (or larger) cluster, ensures data replication between nodes (triplication), providing high availability and resiliency to single node failures. 

• Observable: ESA supports industry-standard Kubernetes monitoring logs and metrics facilities.  ESA will also support Azure Monitor Agent, providing insights into system performance.

Impact of "Limited" on Public Preview

• No Azure Update: There will be no official Azure Update post for the public announcement.
• Publication of Microsoft Documents: Microsoft will publish the relevant documentation on its official channels.  These documents are available today and can be found here.
• Request to Access Preview: Because we still want to learn about customers use-cases and environments, we request that those that are interested complete this questionnaire prior to being allow-listed.  Once your response has been submitted, one of the ESA PMs will get in touch with you!

ESA Jumpstart Scenario

Edge Storage Accelerator has collaborated with the Arc Jumpstart team to implement a scenario where a computer vision AI model detects defects in bolts by analyzing video from a supply line video feed streamed over RTSP.  The identified defects are then stored in a container within a storage account using ESA.

In this automated setup, ESA is deployed on an AKS Edge Essentials single-node running in an Azure virtual machine.  An ARM template is provided to create the necessary Azure resources and configure the LogonScript.ps1 custom script extension.  This extension handles AKS Edge Essentials cluster creation, Azure Arc onboarding for the Azure VM and AKS Edge Essentials cluster, and Edge Storage Accelerator deployment.  Once AKS Edge Essentials is deployed, ESA is installed as a Kubernetes service that exposes a CSI driven storage class for use by applications in the Edge Essentials Kubernetes cluster.

If you’re interested in learning more:

• Visit the ESA Jumpstart documentation to try it yourself!
• Check out the ESA Jumpstart Architecture Diagrams

Try Out ESA Today!

🧪 For access to the preview, please complete this questionnaire about your environment and use-case(s).  We want to provide assurance that our customers will be successful in their testing!  Once you have submitted your responses, one of the ESA PMs will get back to you with an update on your request!  Please note that this preview is NOT to be used for production workloads/use-cases.

If you have already participated in the Edge Storage Accelerator Private Preview, you do not need to complete another questionnaire as you have already been allow-listed.  Edge Storage Accelerator Public Preview documentation can be found here.

🪲 If you found a bug or have an issue, please complete the Edge Storage Accelerator Request Support Form.