Is there a way to attach the same disk to multiple Azure VMs

Question

I have created a VHD for data and attached it to one Virtual Machine instance. Is there a way to attach that disk again to another VM? I basically want a shared drive for multiple VMs.

I see an "attach VHD" option in Server Manager for 2008 R2, but the only location I have to put in is my URL, and that is obviously wrong. When I try to attach the disk to another vm using the Attach Disk option in the management portal, it doesn't show this vhd in the list of available vhds. I know there are utilities in powershell which can do things, does anyone know if that would work?

Answer 1

Azure Files is a feature introduced in 2014, that allows mounting the same VHD in multiple VMs over SMB 2.1.
Unfortunately I have no experience with it.

Answer 2

No you cannot not do this I believe. If you need to have shared storage best bet is Blob storage.

You could though create a share on from one of your VM's and allow access that way. But this has headaches with security and setup.

I would use blob storage.

Answer 3

The underlying Hyper-V can do this. It's introduced in Server 2012 R2 and called Shared VHDX. I was told Azure Web sites is using this mechanism. Unfortunatly it's not (yet?) available for virtual machines. The only option I think of now is that you setup file sharing (SMB) and have your VMs in the same virtual network so that they can access this file share.