Azure container Instance in a Vnet doesn't support static IP or DNS name

Md Farman Khan 36 Reputation points
2020-12-16T14:09:59.507+00:00

Hi,

I am deploying containers in ACI group in a private V-Net and the main problem which I am facing is that this doesn't support a DNS name label and also I can't set a static IP to it. As the IP is not static and there is no DNS name label, when we stop the containers then there is no guarantee that the private IP will remain the same when we start it again.

As the ACI group IP is required to access the apps running in the containers through an API end point and on the instance of IP change we have to change the IP everywhere again, which is not feasible.

Another disadvantage is that, as we can't set a pre-defined IP address for ACI the IP address will only be known after the ACI is started in Azure. This way we can't provide the ACI IP/URI as our environment variable in ACI YAML script which is required in our app to send the app API URI to other apps.

The above problems will be resolved if we deploy ACI publicly, but as this method has no restriction and no NSG support, we can no way afford to expose our Application APIs in the open internet.

Please suggest how to tackle this issue of absence of static IP or DNS name label in an ACI in private V-Net.

Thank You.

Azure Container Instances
Azure Container Instances
An Azure service that provides customers with a serverless container experience.
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  1. Adam Day 6 Reputation points
    2021-04-13T19:20:02.173+00:00

    The best solution we could come up for this issue with was to create a Private DNS zone, give the container's service principal or identity Private DNS Zone Contributor access, and run the following as part of the entrypoint script for the container:

    az network private-dns record-set a update --name <name> -g <resource-group> -z <zone-name> --set aRecords[0].ipv4Address=$(hostname -i)
    

    I'd imagine a similar solution will work using other APIs or with public DNS Zones.

    This is the only way that currently seems to handle the rotation of the the IPs on container startup.

    Note, I'd really like to see similar functionality built into the Container Instance offering to make them more functional out of the box.

    1 person found this answer helpful.

  2. KarishmaTiwari-MSFT 20,307 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2020-12-23T01:35:39.43+00:00

    This can be achieved by registering the IP address of your ACI container in your DNS. Please try that and let me know if you have any questions.


  3. Clark Bolton 1 Reputation point
    2022-02-24T18:07:56.803+00:00

    YAML file to accomplish this

    location: centralus
    name: dns-zone-test-a
    properties:
    initContainers:

    • name: inita
      properties:
      image: mcr.microsoft.com/azure-cli:latest
      # redirection of output to a file for these commands is optional...a nice to have to confirm what's working
      command: ['/bin/sh', '-c', 'az login --service-principal -u $SP_APPID -p $SP_PASSWORD --tenant $SP_TENANT > /scripts/outsp_a.txt;
      az container show -n $ACI_NAME -g $RG --query ''ipAddress.ip'' -o tsv > /scripts/swac_a.txt;
      my_private_ip=$(az container show -n $ACI_NAME -g $RG --query ''ipAddress.ip'' -o tsv);
      az network private-dns record-set a create -n $HOSTNAME -z $DNS_ZONE_NAME -g $RG > /scripts/crzone_a.txt;
      az network private-dns record-set a add-record --record-set-name $HOSTNAME -z $DNS_ZONE_NAME -g $RG -a $my_private_ip > /scripts/addzone_a.txt;']
      environmentVariables:
    • name: RG
      value: myResourceGroup
    • name: SP_APPID # service principal with the permissions to update private DNS zone
      value: 5xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    • name: SP_PASSWORD # service principal password
      secureValue: byyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
    • name: SP_TENANT
      value: bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
    • name: DNS_ZONE_NAME
      value: dns-zone-mine.com
    • name: HOSTNAME
      value: dns-zone-test-a
    • name: ACI_NAME
      value: dns-zone-test-a
      volumeMounts: # needed only if redirecting the output from the commands above to a file
    • name: initscript
      mountPath: /scripts/
      containers: # any docker container you want
    • name: cab-a
      properties:
      image: MyRegistry.azurecr.io/contest1:latest
      ports:
    • port: 80
      protocol: TCP
      resources:
      requests:
      cpu: 1.0
      memoryInGB: 1.5
      imageRegistryCredentials: # Credentials to pull a private image
    • server: MyRegistry.azurecr.io
      username: MyUserRegistry
      password: 5xxxxxxxxxxxxx
      volumes: # only needed if redirecting the output from the commands above to a file
    • name: initscript
      azureFile:
      readOnly: false
      shareName: initscript
      storageAccountName: myStorage
      storageAccountKey: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
      ipAddress:
      ports:
    • port: 80
      protocol: TCP
      type: private
      osType: Linux
      subnetIds:
    • id: /subscriptions/xxxxyyyyyzzzzz/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/MyVNet/subnets/MyTestSubnet
      name: default

    dnsConfig: # DNS configuration for container group: not needed likely for this test, and may interfere with private DNS zone usage

    nameServers:

    - 192.168.1.44

    tags: null
    type: Microsoft.ContainerInstance/containerGroups


  4. Sl76 1 Reputation point
    2022-04-01T21:50:47.37+00:00

    Another workable solution is using a function app:

    1. Create a http trigger.
    2. Create a Powershell script to query your ACIs current private IP address and update your private zone record.
    3. You will need the Az.ContainerInstance and Az.Privatedns modules as requirements.
    4. Get your function URL (Trigger).
    5. You will need curl or wget or similar on the container to be able to call the URL from the container.
    6. Now you have two choices, you can use an initcontainer as detailed above or what I did is I modified the docker-entrypoint.sh and popped the http trigger URL in there.
    7. Everytime the ACI reboots the trigger will fire and update the IP.
    8. A managed identity on the function app will handle DNS write permissions too so no need for a service principle and the hassle of expiring secrets.

    Hope this helps!

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  5. Garry Taylor 26 Reputation points
    2022-04-29T16:51:37.14+00:00

    Do we know if or when this is going to be resolved as VNET integration for ACI is in GA release.
    I don't see how anyone can use a private ACI when the IP hops (unless they have some other dapr / service discovery platform).

    Container Instances needs to support static private IPs otherwise it's pointless and in some cases a security issue. The IP can be swapped with another container-group and therefore grant access via Azure App Gateway. This is a nightmare!

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