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Quickstart: Create a cluster with the Azure Linux Container Host for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

The Azure Linux container host for AKS delivers fast boot times, predictable updates, and strong security defaults with tight AKS lifecycle integration. Microsoft owns the full stack from kernel to CVE response, simplifying operations and reducing customer overhead. For more information, see Azure Linux for AKS.

In this quickstart, you learn how to:

  • Install the Kubernetes CLI, kubectl.
  • Create an Azure resource group.
  • Create and deploy an Azure Linux Container Host cluster.
  • Configure kubectl to connect to your Azure Linux Container Host cluster.

Note

Azure Linux 4.0 is now in preview and is strictly limited to evaluation and testing purposes. It's not suitable for production use.

Prerequisites

  • You need the latest version of Azure CLI. Run az --version to find the version. If you need to install or upgrade, see Install Azure CLI.

Set environment variables

Set the following environment variables to ensure consistent naming across your deployment. In this quickstart, we set the resource group name to testAzureLinuxResourceGroup, the cluster name to testAzureLinuxCluster, and the location to EastUS2.

export RESOURCE_GROUP=testAzureLinuxResourceGroup
export CLUSTER_NAME=testAzureLinuxCluster
export LOCATION=EastUS2

Create a resource group

To create a cluster with the Azure Linux Container Host, you use:

  • An Azure resource group: A logical container into which Azure resources are deployed and managed.
  • AKS: A hosted Kubernetes service that allows you to quickly create a production ready Kubernetes cluster.

When creating a resource group, you're required to specify a location. This location is:

  • The storage location of your resource group metadata.
  • Where your resources run in Azure if you don't specify another region when creating a resource.

Create the resource group using the az group create command with the resource group name and region environment variables you set earlier.

az group create --name $RESOURCE_GROUP --location $LOCATION

Example output:

{
  "id": "/subscriptions/xxxxx/resourceGroups/testAzureLinuxResourceGroup",
  "location": "EastUS2",
  "managedBy": null,
  "name": "testAzureLinuxResourceGroup",
  "properties": {
    "provisioningState": "Succeeded"
  },
  "tags": null,
  "type": "Microsoft.Resources/resourceGroups"
}

Create an Azure Linux Container Host cluster

Create an AKS cluster using the az aks create command with the --os-sku parameter to provision the Azure Linux Container Host with an Azure Linux image. The following example creates an Azure Linux Container Host cluster named testAzureLinuxCluster in the resource group testAzureLinuxResourceGroup:

az aks create --name $CLUSTER_NAME --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP --os-sku AzureLinux

Example output:

{
  "id": "/subscriptions/xxxxx/resourceGroups/testAzureLinuxResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters/testAzureLinuxCluster",
  "location": "EastUS2",
  "name": "testAzureLinuxCluster",
  "properties": {
    "provisioningState": "Succeeded"
  },
  "type": "Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters"
}

After a few minutes, the command completes and returns JSON-formatted information about the cluster.

Connect to the cluster using kubectl

  1. Configure kubectl to connect to your Kubernetes cluster using the az aks get-credentials command. The following example gets credentials for the Azure Linux Container Host cluster using the resource group and cluster name created earlier:

    az aks get-credentials --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP --name $CLUSTER_NAME

  2. Verify the connection to your cluster using the kubectl get nodes command to return a list of the cluster nodes:

    kubectl get nodes

    Example output:

    NAME                           STATUS   ROLES   AGE     VERSION
aks-nodepool1-00000000-0       Ready    agent   10m     v1.34.4
aks-nodepool1-00000000-1       Ready    agent   10m     v1.34.4

    All nodes show a Ready status, confirming your Azure Linux Container Host cluster is running and reachable.

Clean up resources

If you don't plan to continue using this cluster, delete the resource group to avoid ongoing charges using the az group delete command. Deleting the resource group removes the AKS cluster and all associated resources.

az group delete --name $RESOURCE_GROUP --yes --no-wait

Related content

Now that you have a running Azure Linux Container Host cluster, you can:

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