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Quickstart: Create an Ubuntu Data Science Virtual Machine using Bicep

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This quickstart will show you how to create an Ubuntu Data Science Virtual Machine using Bicep. Data Science Virtual Machines are cloud-based virtual machines preloaded with a suite of data science and machine learning frameworks and tools. When deployed on GPU-powered compute resources, all tools and libraries are configured to use the GPU.

Bicep is a domain-specific language (DSL) that uses declarative syntax to deploy Azure resources. It provides concise syntax, reliable type safety, and support for code reuse. Bicep offers the best authoring experience for your infrastructure-as-code solutions in Azure.

Prerequisites

An Azure subscription. If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.

Review the Bicep file

The Bicep file used in this quickstart is from Azure Quickstart Templates.

@description('Username for Administrator Account')
param adminUsername string

@description('The name of you Virtual Machine.')
param vmName string = 'vmName'

@description('Location for all resources.')
param location string = resourceGroup().location

@description('Choose between CPU or GPU processing')
@allowed([
  'CPU-4GB'
  'CPU-7GB'
  'CPU-8GB'
  'CPU-14GB'
  'CPU-16GB'
  'GPU-56GB'
])
param cpu_gpu string = 'CPU-4GB'

@description('Name of the VNET')
param virtualNetworkName string = 'vNet'

@description('Name of the subnet in the virtual network')
param subnetName string = 'subnet'

@description('Name of the Network Security Group')
param networkSecurityGroupName string = 'SecGroupNet'

@description('Type of authentication to use on the Virtual Machine. SSH key is recommended.')
@allowed([
  'sshPublicKey'
  'password'
])
param authenticationType string = 'sshPublicKey'

@description('SSH Key or password for the Virtual Machine. SSH key is recommended.')
@secure()
param adminPasswordOrKey string

var networkInterfaceName = '${vmName}NetInt'
var virtualMachineName = vmName
var publicIpAddressName = '${vmName}PublicIP'
var subnetRef = resourceId('Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets', virtualNetworkName, subnetName)
var nsgId = networkSecurityGroup.id
var osDiskType = 'StandardSSD_LRS'
var storageAccountName = 'storage${uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)}'
var storageAccountType = 'Standard_LRS'
var storageAccountKind = 'Storage'
var vmSize = {
  'CPU-4GB': 'Standard_B2s'
  'CPU-7GB': 'Standard_D2s_v3'
  'CPU-8GB': 'Standard_D2s_v3'
  'CPU-14GB': 'Standard_D4s_v3'
  'CPU-16GB': 'Standard_D4s_v3'
  'GPU-56GB': 'Standard_NC6_Promo'
}
var linuxConfiguration = {
  disablePasswordAuthentication: true
  ssh: {
    publicKeys: [
      {
        path: '/home/${adminUsername}/.ssh/authorized_keys'
        keyData: adminPasswordOrKey
      }
    ]
  }
}

resource networkInterface 'Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces@2021-05-01' = {
  name: networkInterfaceName
  location: location
  properties: {
    ipConfigurations: [
      {
        name: 'ipconfig1'
        properties: {
          subnet: {
            id: subnetRef
          }
          privateIPAllocationMethod: 'Dynamic'
          publicIPAddress: {
            id: publicIpAddress.id
          }
        }
      }
    ]
    networkSecurityGroup: {
      id: nsgId
    }
  }
  dependsOn: [
    virtualNetwork
  ]
}

resource networkSecurityGroup 'Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups@2021-05-01' = {
  name: networkSecurityGroupName
  location: location
  properties: {
    securityRules: [
      {
        name: 'JupyterHub'
        properties: {
          priority: 1010
          protocol: 'Tcp'
          access: 'Allow'
          direction: 'Inbound'
          sourceAddressPrefix: '*'
          sourcePortRange: '*'
          destinationAddressPrefix: '*'
          destinationPortRange: '8000'
        }
      }
      {
        name: 'RStudioServer'
        properties: {
          priority: 1020
          protocol: 'Tcp'
          access: 'Allow'
          direction: 'Inbound'
          sourceAddressPrefix: '*'
          sourcePortRange: '*'
          destinationAddressPrefix: '*'
          destinationPortRange: '8787'
        }
      }
      {
        name: 'SSH'
        properties: {
          priority: 1030
          protocol: 'Tcp'
          access: 'Allow'
          direction: 'Inbound'
          sourceAddressPrefix: '*'
          sourcePortRange: '*'
          destinationAddressPrefix: '*'
          destinationPortRange: '22'
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

resource virtualNetwork 'Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks@2021-05-01' = {
  name: virtualNetworkName
  location: location
  properties: {
    addressSpace: {
      addressPrefixes: [
        '10.0.0.0/24'
      ]
    }
    subnets: [
      {
        name: subnetName
        properties: {
          addressPrefix: '10.0.0.0/24'
          privateEndpointNetworkPolicies: 'Enabled'
          privateLinkServiceNetworkPolicies: 'Enabled'
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

resource publicIpAddress 'Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses@2021-05-01' = {
  name: publicIpAddressName
  location: location
  sku: {
    name: 'Basic'
    tier: 'Regional'
  }
  properties: {
    publicIPAllocationMethod: 'Dynamic'
  }
}

resource storageAccount 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2021-08-01' = {
  name: storageAccountName
  location: location
  sku: {
    name: storageAccountType
  }
  kind: storageAccountKind
}

resource virtualMachine 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines@2021-11-01' = {
  name: '${virtualMachineName}-${cpu_gpu}'
  location: location
  properties: {
    hardwareProfile: {
      vmSize: vmSize[cpu_gpu]
    }
    storageProfile: {
      osDisk: {
        createOption: 'FromImage'
        managedDisk: {
          storageAccountType: osDiskType
        }
      }
      imageReference: {
        publisher: 'microsoft-dsvm'
        offer: 'ubuntu-1804'
        sku: '1804-gen2'
        version: 'latest'
      }
    }
    networkProfile: {
      networkInterfaces: [
        {
          id: networkInterface.id
        }
      ]
    }
    osProfile: {
      computerName: virtualMachineName
      adminUsername: adminUsername
      adminPassword: adminPasswordOrKey
      linuxConfiguration: ((authenticationType == 'password') ? json('null') : linuxConfiguration)
    }
  }
}

output adminUsername string = adminUsername

The following resources are defined in the Bicep file:

Deploy the Bicep file

  1. Save the Bicep file as main.bicep to your local computer.

  2. Deploy the Bicep file using either Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell.

    az group create --name exampleRG --location eastus
az deployment group create --resource-group exampleRG --template-file main.bicep --parameters adminUsername=<admin-user> vmName=<vm-name>

    Note

    Replace <admin-user> with the username for the administrator account. Replace <vm-name> with the name of your virtual machine.

    When the deployment finishes, you should see a message indicating the deployment succeeded.

Review deployed resources

Use the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell to list the deployed resources in the resource group.

az resource list --resource-group exampleRG

Clean up resources

When no longer needed, use the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell to delete the resource group and its resources.

az group delete --name exampleRG

Next steps

In this quickstart, you created a Data Science Virtual Machine using Bicep.

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