Chapter 5. Installing RHEL AI on Microsoft Azure

Procedure

1. Log in to Azure by running the following command:

   $ az login

2. Log in with the azcopy tool:

   $ keyctl new_session

   $ azcopy login

3. Configure various Azure environment variables and create your Azure storage container.

   1. Create an environment variable defining the location of your instance with the following command:

      $ AZ_LOCATION=eastus

   2. Create the AZ_RESOURCE_GROUP environment variable. For example:

      $ AZ_RESOURCE_GROUP=Default
      $ az group create --name ${AZ_RESOURCE_GROUP} --location ${AZ_LOCATION}

   3. Create the Azure storage account:

      $ AZ_STORAGE_ACCOUNT=<YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME>

      $ az storage account create \
      --name ${AZ_STORAGE_ACCOUNT} \
      --resource-group ${AZ_RESOURCE_GROUP} \
      --location ${AZ_LOCATION} \
      --sku Standard_LRS

   4. Create the Azure storage container. Run the following commands:

      $ AZ_STORAGE_CONTAINER=<BUCKET_NAME>

      $ az storage container create \
      --name ${AZ_STORAGE_CONTAINER} \
      --account-name ${AZ_STORAGE_ACCOUNT} \
      --public-access off

   5. Get the Subscription ID from the Azure account list by running the following command:

      $ az account list --output table

   6. Create the AZ_SUBSCRIPTION_ID variable. For example:

      $ AZ_SUBSCRIPTION_ID=46c08fb3-83c5-4b59-8372-bf9caf15a681

   7. Grant azcopy write permission to user into the storage container. For example:

      $ az role assignment create \
      --assignee user@example.com \
      --role "Storage Blob Data Contributor" \
      --scope /subscriptions/${AZ_SUBSCRIPTION_ID}/resourceGroups/${AZ_RESOURCE_GROUP}/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/${AZ_STORAGE_ACCOUNT}/blobServices/default/containers/${AZ_STORAGE_CONTAINER}

4. Download the Azure VHD image from Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI page.

5. Unzip the vhd.gz file with the following command:

   $ gunzip <DOWNLOADED_AZURE_GZ_IMAGE>

6. Set the Azure image name:

   $ IMAGE_NAME=rhel-ai-azure

7. Upload the VHD file to the Azure storage container by running the following command:

   $ AZ_VHD_URL="https://${AZ_STORAGE_ACCOUNT}.blob.core.windows.net/${AZ_STORAGE_CONTAINER}/$(basename ${vhd_file})"
   $ azcopy copy "$vhd_file" "$AZ_VHD_URL"

8. Create an Azure image from the uploaded VHD file. Run the following command:

   $ az image create --resource-group $AZ_RESOURCE_GROUP \
   --name "$IMAGE_NAME" \
   --source "${AZ_VHD_URL}" \
   --location ${AZ_LOCATION} \
   --os-type Linux \
   --hyper-v-generation V2

Procedure

1. Log in to your Azure account:

   $ az login

2. Select the instance profile that you want to use for the deployment. List all the profiles in the required region by running the following command:

   $ az vm list-sizes --location <REGION> --output table

3. Creating the Azure instance.#

   1. Configure environment variables for the instance.

      NAME=my-rhelai-instance
      AZ_LOCATION=eastus
      AZ_RESOURCE_GROUP=<YOUR_AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP>
      AZ_ADMIN_USERNAME=azureuser
      AZ_VM_SIZE=Standard_ND96isr_H100_v5
      AZ_IMAGE=my-rhelai-image
      SSHPUBKEY=$HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
      DISK_SIZE=1024

4. Launch the RHEL AI instance by running the following command:

   $ az vm create \
   --resource-group $AZ_RESOURCE_GROUP \
   --name ${NAME} \
   --image ${AZ_IMAGE} \
   --size ${AZ_VM_SIZE} \
   --location ${AZ_LOCATION} \
   --admin-username ${AZ_ADMIN_USERNAME} \
   --ssh-key-values @$SSHPUBKEY \
   --authentication-type ssh \
   --nic-delete-option Delete \
   --accelerated-networking true \
   --os-disk-size-gb 1024 \
   --os-disk-name ${NAME}-${AZ_LOCATION}