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Quickstart: Provisioning your CAEVES instance in Microsoft Azure

Step-by-Step: Provisioning via Azure Marketplace

 

Provisioning Your CAEVES Instance in Microsoft Azure

The CAEVES instance is a hardened server appliance that delivers intelligent deep storage capabilities directly into your Azure environment—with no manual setup required.

This guide walks you through deploying the CAEVES VM using our Azure Marketplace Quickstart offering.

 

What is the CAEVES Instance?

  • A virtual machine with CAEVES software preinstalled

  • Acts as both a deep storage interface and a data migration engine

  • Supports multi-protocol file sharing (SMB & NFS)

  • Preserves NTFS permissions & ACLs via Active Directory or Entra ID

  • Enables real-time caching, intelligent data tiering, and snapshotting

  • Perfect for hybrid and public Microsoft Azure datacenters

 

 

Step 1: Launch the Quickstart Deployment

  • Go to the CAEVES Quickstart Application in Azure Marketplace

  • Review the Getting Started instructions

  • Click Create

 

 

Step 2: Basic Setup

  • Select your Azure Subscription, Resource Group, and Region

  • ⚠️ Deploy near your data & AI workloads to minimize latency

  • Associate your previously created CAEVES subscription

 

 

Step 3: Configure the Virtual Machine

  • Name your CAEVES VM instance

  • Choose a VM size (we pre-select the recommended size)

  • Set the Data Disk Size (default: 1TB)

    • Used for metadata, cache, and snapshots

    • Minimum: 128GB (~10 million files)

    • Recommended: 1TB (~50+ million files)

     

  • Create a local admin account (for troubleshooting only)

 

 

Step 4: Network Configuration

  • Choose an existing or new Virtual Network and Subnet

  • Assign a Public IP Address (optional)

    • We recommend disabling public IP and using a Bastion Host for RDP access

     

  • See the CAEVES KB for IP allocation best practices

 

 

Step 5: Active Directory & Security

  • Choose Workgroup or Domain-joined mode

  • Join via:

    • Traditional Active Directory

    • Microsoft Entra ID Domain Services

     

  • A system-managed identity will be created by default for Entra ID integration

 

 

Step 6: Configure CAEVES Cloud Object Storage

  • Provision a CAEVES Storage Account

    • Hosts all object data and associated snapshots

    • Includes a Metadata Table used by:

      • CAEVES Copilot Connector (for RAG search & M365 integration)

      • Microsoft 365 Search indexing

       

 

 

Step 7: Configure Snapshots & Retention Policies

  • Enable VSS (Volume Shadow Copy) by default

    • Supports Previous Versions file restore

     

  • Activate Metadata Snapshot Scheduling

    • Snapshots ~10% of your data disk size to object storage

    • Used for disaster recovery and instance rebuilds

     

  • Review snapshot sizing, retention tiers, and cost estimates in the CAEVES KB

 

 

Step 8: Final Review & Deployment

  • Supply your phone number

  • Review your full deployment configuration

  • Click Create to start the provisioning process

 

⏱️ Deployment takes ~5–10 minutes and includes:

  • CAEVES Virtual Machine

  • Cloud Object Storage & Metadata Services

  • All dependencies auto-provisioned

 

 

After Deployment

Once complete, you can:

  • Validate the instance status

  • Begin migrating legacy file data to CAEVES