Can we attach custom image to existing virtual machine scaleset ( uniform )

sns 9,231

Can we attach custom image to existing virtual machine scaleset , pLease note here scaleset here is uniform orchestration

Please clarify.

1 answer

kobulloc-MSFT 26,131 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2023-08-02T17:22:01.57+00:00
Hello, @sns !

Can I use a custom image on an existing Uniform Orchestration Virtual Machine Scale Set?

There are modifications that you can make to Uniform Orchestration Virtual Machine Scale Sets. It's possible to change the image that your scale set uses however there are some limitations with az vmss update (namely it only supports image upgrades that updates the minor version of an image, ex: Windows Server 1.0 to 1.1):

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machine-scale-sets/virtual-machine-scale-sets-upgrade-scale-set#examples

Alternatively, you may want to change the image your scale set uses. For example, you may want to update or change a custom image used by your scale set. You can change the image your scale set uses by updating the image reference ID property. The image reference ID property is not part of a list, so you can directly modify this property with one of the following commands:

az vmss update \ --resource-group myResourceGroup \ --name myScaleSet \ --set virtualMachineProfile.storageProfile.imageReference.id=/subscriptions/{subscriptionID}/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.Compute/images/myNewImage

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sns 9,231 Reputation points

2023-08-03T11:05:10.0033333+00:00

Hi Kobulloc,

Thank you for the response.

As I mentioned before VM scale set (uniform) is already there. ( FYI: it is being used by ADO from agent pool )

and our team is working on new VM and to make it as a custom image they are with some GIt hub link and also using some Java script and other PowerShell scripts to get available required software's on that new VM, I am not completely sure on that. If you have any idea on this please enlighten me.

However Please clarify below 2 questions:

1.

so whatever may be finally I need to grab Image reference ID from respective team , am I correct?

2.

this is only modification ( updating Image reference id) I should do to update VM Uniform scale set? am I correct?

kobulloc-MSFT 26,131 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2023-08-03T17:42:39.42+00:00

Hello, @sns !

Thank you for clarifying the existing Uniform VMSS as that does change things (and I should call out that we currently highly recommend using Flexible orchestration mode for any deployments). DevOps complicates things a bit as that's supported in another forum but we'll do the best we can to bridge the gap.

Since this is an existing deployment, I've created my own Uniform VMSS and am going through the options as I look at your questions.

To answer your questions:

so whatever may be finally I need to grab Image reference ID from respective team , am I correct?
Using az vmss update, you'll need the image that will be used for the update in addition to some of the usual things like resource group, scale set, and subscription ID. It sounds like there may be some restrictions on the image upgrades that are supported and I can get clarity on this however I think the real solution may be the answer to the next question.

this is only modification ( updating Image reference id) I should do to update VM Uniform scale set? am I correct?
This is true if you want to update the image but it sounds like what you really want to do is to add some software (Visual Studio, etc.). If that is the case, then Azure Custom Script Extension or VM Applications are probably what you should be using. I believe you have separate questions where you ask about that and I'd be happy to go through that process with you.

sns 9,231 Reputation points

2023-08-04T06:22:55.31+00:00

Hi Kobulloc,

My organization supports only uniform mode. not flexible

so considering unfirm mode, we will use following command to update the image with existing scale set, and once image is updated we use custom script for additional softwares, that makes sense right?

only thing I should collect the Image reference ID which you are mentioning. Please let correct if this sentence is wrong.

az vmss update \ --resource-group myResourceGroup \ --name myScaleSet \ --set virtualMachineProfile.storageProfile.imageReference.id=/subscriptions/{subscriptionID}/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.Compute/images/myNewImage

kobulloc-MSFT 26,131 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2023-08-08T01:34:29.07+00:00

Hello, @sns !

I reached out to the VMSS team and there are some limitations to updating a custom image with az vmss update that won't work for managing software (namely it only supports image upgrades that updates the minor version of an image, ex: Windows Server 1.0 to 1.1) as it sounds like you are trying to accomplish from other posts.

So while this is the correct process for updating an image, this is likely not what you are looking for. Recommendations for managing software updates include VM Applications, Azure Image Builder, and perhaps Custom Script Extension. You have separate posts on these subjects so I'll follow up there.
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Can we attach custom image to existing virtual machine scaleset ( uniform )

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