Chapter 16. Preparing and uploading VHD images to Microsoft Azure

Procedure

1. Import the Microsoft repository key:

   $ sudo rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft-2025.asc

2. Create a packages-microsoft-com-prod repository:

   [azure-cli]
   name=Azure CLI
   baseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/packages.microsoft.com/rhel/10/prod/
   enabled=1
   gpgcheck=1
   gpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc

3. Install Microsoft Azure CLI. The downloaded version of the Microsoft Azure CLI package can vary depending on the currently available version.

   $ sudo dnf install azure-cli

4. Run Microsoft Azure CLI:

   $ az login

   The terminal shows the following message: Note, we have launched a browser for you to login. For old experience with device code, use az login --use-device-code. Then, the terminal opens the Login from where you can log in.

   Note

   If you are running a remote (SSH) session, the login page link does not open in the browser. In this case, you can copy the link to a browser and log in to authenticate your remote session. To sign in, use a web browser to open the Login page and enter the device code to authenticate.

5. List the keys for the storage account in Microsoft Azure and make note of the value key1 from the output of the previous command.

   $ az storage account keys list --resource-group <resource_group_name> --account-name <account_name>

   Replace resource-group-name with the name of your Microsoft Azure resource group and storage-account-name with the name of your Microsoft Azure storage account.

   1. To list the available resources using the following command:

      $ az resource list

6. Create a storage container:

   $ az storage container create --account-name <storage_account_name> \
   --account-key <key1_value> --name <storage_account_name>

   Replace storage-account-name with the name of the storage account.

Procedure

1. Create a azure.toml blueprint, and add the following information to it:

   provider = "azure"
   
   [settings]
   storageAccount = "<your-storage-account-name>"
   storageAccessKey = "<storage-access-key-you-copied-in-the-Azure-portal>"
   container = "<your-storage-container-name>"

2. Build the image, passing the following arguments:

   $ image-builder build <your-blueprint> vhd <your-image-key> azure.toml

   Replace <your-image-key> with the name of the image that you want.

3. Push the image to Microsoft Azure and create an instance from it:

   $ az storage blob upload --account-name <account-name> --container-name <container-name> --file <image-disk>.vhd --name image-disk.vhd --type page

4. After the upload to the Microsoft Azure Blob storage completes, create a Microsoft Azure image from it. The images that you create with RHEL image builder generate hybrid images that support V1 = BIOS and V2 = UEFI. Use --hyper-v-generation to specify instance type. V1 is the default.

   $ az image create --resource-group resource_group_name --name image-disk.vhd --os-type linux --location location \
   --source https://$account_name.blob.core.windows.net/container_name/image-disk.vhd
   - Running

Verification

1. Create an instance either with the Microsoft Azure portal, or a command similar to the following:

   $ az vm create --resource-group resource_group_name --location location --name vm_name --image image-disk.vhd(--admin-username azure-user --generate-ssh-keys*
   - Running

2. Use your private key by using SSH to access the resulting instance. Log in as azure-user.

Procedure

1. In the RHEL image builder dashboard, select your blueprint, click the Images tab, and click Create Image to create your customized .vhd image.
2. Select Microsoft Azure (.vhd) from the Type drop-down, check Upload to Azure, enter the Image Size, and click Next.
3. Enter your Storage account name and your Storage access key then, click Next.
4. Review the configuration and click Create. The RHEL image builder and upload processes start.
5. In the Microsoft Azure portal navigate to Storage accounts > Containers and verify if your .vhd is present.

Verification

1. In the Azure portal search bar, type Images and click +Create. Configure the following details:

   • Select your resource group and enter an image name.
   • Set OS type to Linux and VM generation to Gen 2.
   • Under Storage Blob, browse to select your VHD file.
   • Choose an Account Type, for example, Standard SSD.
2. Click Review + Create, and then Create. Wait for the image creation to complete.
3. Click Go to resource, then click Create VM. Enter a VM name, configure the Size and Administrator account sections, then click Review + Create and Create.

4. After the deployment finishes, retrieve the public IP address and connect by using SSH.

   $ ssh <username>@<public-IP-address>