Create an Azure Compute Fleet using Azure CLI

This article steps through using the Azure CLI to create and deploy a Compute Fleet resource

Make sure that you've installed the latest Azure CLI and are logged in to an Azure account with az login.

Launch Azure Cloud Shell

The Azure Cloud Shell is a free interactive shell that you can use to run the steps in this article. It has common Azure tools preinstalled and configured to use with your account.

To open the Cloud Shell, select Open Cloud Shell from the upper right corner of a code block. You can also launch Cloud Shell in a separate browser tab by going to https://shell.azure.com/cli. Select Copy to copy the blocks of code, paste it into the Cloud Shell, and press enter to run it.

Prerequisites

• If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.
• Before using Compute Fleet, complete the feature registration and configure role-based access controls (RBAC).

Feature registration

Register the Azure Compute Fleet resource provider with your subscription using Azure CLI. Registration can take up to 30 minutes to successfully show as registered.

az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.AzureFleet'

Define environment variables

Define environment variables as follows.

export RANDOM_ID="$(openssl rand -hex 3)"
export MY_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME="myFleetResourceGroup$RANDOM_ID"
export REGION=EastUS
export MY_FLEET_NAME="myFleet$RANDOM_ID"
export MY_USERNAME=azureuser
export MY_VNET_NAME="myVNet$RANDOM_ID"
export NETWORK_PREFIX="$(($RANDOM % 254 + 1))"
export MY_VNET_PREFIX="10.$NETWORK_PREFIX.0.0/16"
export MY_VM_SN_NAME="myVMSN$RANDOM_ID"
export MY_VM_SN_PREFIX="10.$NETWORK_PREFIX.0.0/24"

Create a resource group

A resource group is a logical container into which Azure resources are deployed and managed. All resources must be placed in a resource group. The following command creates a resource group with the previously defined $MY_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME and $REGION parameters.

az group create --name $MY_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME --location $REGION

Create virtual network and subnet

Now you'll create a virtual network using the previously defined $MY_VNET_PREFIX, $MY_VM_SN_NAME, and $MY_VM_SN_PREFIX parameters.

az network vnet create  --name $MY_VNET_NAME  --resource-group $MY_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME --location $REGION  --address-prefix $MY_VNET_PREFIX  --subnet-name $MY_VM_SN_NAME --subnet-prefix $MY_VM_SN_PREFIX

The following command gets the subnet ARM ID.

export MY_SUBNET_ID="$(az network vnet subnet show \
  --resource-group $MY_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME \
  --vnet-name $MY_VNET_NAME \
  --name $MY_VM_SN_NAME \
  --query id --output tsv)"

Set up the admin password

Set up a password that meets the password requirements for Azure VMs.

export ADMIN_PASSWORD="Azure compliant password"

Create a Compute Fleet

Set up the compute profile which is applied to the underlying VMs.

export COMPUTE_PROFILE="{ 'baseVirtualMachineProfile': { 'storageProfile': { 'imageReference': { 'publisher':'canonical', 'offer':'0001-com-ubuntu-server-focal', 'sku': '20_04-lts-gen2', 'version': 'latest' } }, 'osProfile': { 'computerNamePrefix': 'vm', 'adminUsername': '$MY_USERNAME', 'adminPassword': '$ADMIN_PASSWORD'}, 'networkProfile': { 'networkInterfaceConfigurations': [{ 'name': 'nic', 'primary': 'true', 'enableIPForwarding': 'true', 'ipConfigurations': [{ 'name': 'ipc', 'subnet': { 'id': '$MY_SUBNET_ID' } }] }], 'networkApiVersion': '2020-11-01'} } }"

az compute-fleet create --name $MY_FLEET_NAME --resource-group $MY_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME --location $REGION \
    --spot-priority-profile "{ 'capacity': 5 }" \
    --regular-priority-profile "{ 'capacity': 5 }" \
    --compute-profile "$COMPUTE_PROFILE" \
    --vm-sizes-profile "[{ 'name': 'Standard_F1s' }]"

Clean up resources (optional)

To avoid Azure charges, you should clean up unneeded resources. When you no longer need your Compute Fleet and other resources, delete the resource group and all its resources with az group delete. The --no-wait parameter returns control to the prompt without waiting for the operation to complete. The --yes parameter confirms that you wish to delete the resources without another prompt to do so.

Next steps

Learn how to modify a Compute Fleet.