Create and Customize an ARM64 Azure VM from an Azure Compute Gallery

This guide will walk you through the process of creating a virtual machine (VM) and a new image from an Azure Compute Image Gallery based on an existing VM. The process is divided into four steps:

Set up the Environment
Create a VNET, subnet, and VM
Create a new customized VM image in an Azure compute gallery, based on the VM you just created
Create a VM from the image gallery

Prerequisites

An Azure account with a subscription ID. Sign up for a free account here.
Install the Azure CLI. Follow the instructions here.

Step 1: Set up the Environment

Export the following environment variables, replacing <your ...> with your actual values:

export RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME=<your resource group name>
export LOCATION=<your location>
export NETWORK_SUBNET_NAME=<your subnet name>
export NETWORK_NAME=<your vnet name>
export NETWORK_SECURITY_GROUP=<your NSG name>
export VM_NAME=<your VM name>
export SOURCE_VM_NAME=<your source VM name>
export SOURCE_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME=<your source resource group name>
export TARGET_VM_NAME=<your target VM name>
export VM_IMAGE=<your VM image name>
export VM_IMAGE_VERSION=<your VM image version>
export IMAGE_GALLERY_NAME=<your image gallery name>

Set your subscription ID:

export SUBSCRIPTION_ID=<your subscription ID: az account image show>

Set the ARM64 image to use for the VM:

export sourcearmimage=<your ARM image name>
export sourcearmimagename=<your ARM image name>

Step 2: Create a VNET, Subnet, and VM

Create a resource group:

az group create --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME --location $LOCATION

Create a VNET:

az network vnet create --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME --location $LOCATION --name $NETWORK_NAME --address-prefixes 172.0.0.0/16

Create a subnet:

az network vnet subnet create --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME --vnet-name $NETWORK_NAME --address-prefixes 172.0.0.0/24 --name $NETWORK_SUBNET_NAME

Create a VM:

az vm create \
   --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME \
   --location $LOCATION \
   --name $SOURCE_VM_NAME \
   --image $sourcearmimagename \
   --vnet-name $NETWORK_NAME \
   --subnet $NETWORK_NAME \
   --public-ip-sku Standard \
   --generate-ssh-keys \
   --specialized

Install Cassandra on the new VM via the serial console:

# Replace 'ubuntu_release' with the actual Ubuntu release number
Ubuntu_release=`lsb_release -rs`
wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/${ubuntu_release}/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb
sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install msopenjdk-8

echo "deb http://www.apache.org/dist/cassandra/debian 311x main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cassandra.sources.list
curl https://www.apache.org/dist/cassandra/KEYS | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt update
sudo apt install cassandra
sudo service cassandra start
sudo service cassandra status
cqlsh

Step 3: Create a New Customized VM Image in an Azure Compute Gallery, Based on the VM You Just Created

Create an Azure Compute image gallery:

az sig create --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME --gallery-name $IMAGE_GALLERY_NAME

Create the Image Definition and add it to the gallery:

az sig image-definition create \
   --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME \
   --location $LOCATION \
   --gallery-name $IMAGE_GALLERY_NAME \
   --gallery-image-definition $VM_IMAGE \
   --publisher Canonical \
   --offer UbuntuServer \
   --sku ${sourcearmimagename} \
   --os-type Linux \
   --os-state specialized \
   --hyper-v-generation V2 \
   --architecture Arm64

Get the ID of the source VM to use as an image:

az vm get-instance-view -g $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME -n $VM_NAME --query id

Create the Image Version:

az sig image-version create \
   --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME \
   --location $LOCATION \
   --gallery-name $IMAGE_GALLERY_NAME \
   --gallery-image-definition $VM_IMAGE \
   --gallery-image-version $VM_IMAGE_VERSION \
   --target-regions "East US" \
   --replica-count 1 \
   --virtual-machine "/subscriptions/${SUBSCRIPTION_ID}/resourceGroups/${SOURCE_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME}/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/${SOURCE_VM_NAME}"

Step 4: Create a VM from the Image Gallery

Create a VM:

az vm create \
   --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME \
   --location $LOCATION \
   --name $TARGET_VM_NAME \
   --image "/subscriptions/${SUBSCRIPTION_ID}/resourceGroups/${RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME}/providers/Microsoft.Compute/galleries/${IMAGE_GALLERY_NAME}/images/${IMAGE_GALLERY_NAME}" \
   --vnet-name $NETWORK_NAME \
   --subnet $NETWORK_NAME \
   --public-ip-sku Standard \
   --generate-ssh-keys \
   --specialized

To view the created VM in the Azure portal, navigate to:

https://portal.azure.com/?feature.customportal=false#@microsoft.onmicrosoft.com/resource/subscriptions/c5bd7244-ab30-4473-8e88-d4d58b246c94/resourceGroups/armvmdemo/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/armvmfromgallery/overview

Connect to the VM via the serial console to see the running app.

Optional: Open Ports for HTTP Access

az vm open-port --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME \
   --location $LOCATION \
   --name $TARGET_VM_NAME \
   --port 2222,8080 --priority 100

That's it! You've successfully created a VM, a new customized VM image in an Azure Compute Gallery based on the existing VM, and a new VM from the image gallery.

You may want to explore additional customization options based on your specific requirements. Some examples include:

Installing additional software packages.
Configuring system settings.
Setting up database or application servers.
Connecting the VM to other Azure services.

Remember to monitor and maintain the VM by regularly checking its performance, security, and updating the installed software.

FilesExpand file tree

ampere-deploy-to-vm-with-gallery.md

Latest commit

History