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How to programmatically manage updates for Azure Arc-enabled servers

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This article walks you through the process of using the Azure REST API to trigger an assessment and an update deployment on your Azure Arc-enabled servers with Azure Update Manager in Azure. If you're new to Azure Update Manager and you want to learn more, see overview of Update Manager. To use the Azure REST API to manage Azure virtual machines, see How to programmatically work with Azure virtual machines.

Update Manager in Azure enables you to use the Azure REST API for access programmatically. Additionally, you can use the appropriate REST commands from Azure PowerShell and Azure CLI.

Support for Azure REST API to manage Azure Arc-enabled servers is available through the Update Manager virtual machine extension.

Update assessment

To trigger an update assessment on your Azure Arc-enabled server, specify the following POST request:

POST on `subscriptions/subscriptionId/resourceGroups/resourceGroupName/providers/Microsoft.HybridCompute/machines/machineName/assessPatches?api-version=2020-08-15-preview`
{
}

To specify the POST request, you can use the Azure CLI az rest command.

az rest --method post --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/subscriptionId/resourceGroups/resourceGroupName/providers/Microsoft.HybridCompute/machines/machineName/assessPatches?api-version=2020-08-15-preview --body @body.json

The format of the request body for version 2020-08-15 is as follows:

{
}

Update deployment

To trigger an update deployment to your Azure Arc-enabled server, specify the following POST request:

POST on `subscriptions/subscriptionId/resourceGroups/resourceGroupName/providers/Microsoft.HybridCompute/machines/machineName/installPatches?api-version=2020-08-15-preview`

Request body

The following table describes the elements of the request body:

Property Description
maximumDuration Maximum amount of time in minutes the OS update operation can take. It must be an ISO 8601-compliant duration string such as PT100M.
rebootSetting Flag to state if you should reboot the machine and if the Guest OS update installation needs it for completion. Acceptable values are: IfRequired, NeverReboot, AlwaysReboot.
windowsParameters Parameter options for Guest OS update on machine running a supported Microsoft Windows Server operating system.
windowsParameters - classificationsToInclude List of categories or classifications of OS updates to apply, as supported and provided by Windows Server OS. Acceptable values are: Critical, Security, UpdateRollUp, FeaturePack, ServicePack, Definition, Tools, Update
windowsParameters - kbNumbersToInclude List of Windows Update KB IDs that are available to the machine and that you need install. If you've included any 'classificationsToInclude', the KBs available in the category are installed. 'kbNumbersToInclude' is an option to provide list of specific KB IDs over and above that you want to get installed. For example: 1234
windowsParameters - kbNumbersToExclude List of Windows Update KB Ids that are available to the machine and that should not be installed. If you've included any 'classificationsToInclude', the KBs available in the category will be installed. 'kbNumbersToExclude' is an option to provide list of specific KB IDs that you want to ensure don't get installed. For example: 5678
linuxParameters Parameter options for Guest OS update when machine is running supported Linux distribution
linuxParameters - classificationsToInclude List of categories or classifications of OS updates to apply, as supported & provided by Linux OS's package manager used. Acceptable values are: Critical, Security, Others. For more information, see Linux package manager and OS support.
linuxParameters - packageNameMasksToInclude List of Linux packages that are available to the machine and need to be installed. If you've included any 'classificationsToInclude', the packages available in the category will be installed. 'packageNameMasksToInclude' is an option to provide list of packages over and above that you want to get installed. For example: mysql, libc=1.0.1.1, kernel*
linuxParameters - packageNameMasksToExclude List of Linux packages that are available to the machine and should not be installed. If you've included any 'classificationsToInclude', the packages available in the category will be installed. 'packageNameMasksToExclude' is an option to provide list of specific packages that you want to ensure don't get installed. For example: mysql, libc=1.0.1.1, kernel*

To specify the POST request, you can use the following Azure REST API call with valid parameters and values.

POST on 'subscriptions/subscriptionI/resourceGroups/resourceGroupName/providers/Microsoft.HybridCompute/machines/machineName/installPatches?api-version=2020-08-15-preview

{
        "maximumDuration": "PT120M",
        "rebootSetting": "IfRequired",
        "windowsParameters": {
          "classificationsToInclude": [
            "Security",
            "UpdateRollup",
            "FeaturePack",
            "ServicePack"
          ],
          "kbNumbersToInclude": [
            "11111111111",
            "22222222222222"
          ],
          "kbNumbersToExclude": [
            "333333333333",
            "55555555555"
          ]
        }
  }'

Create a maintenance configuration schedule

To create a maintenance configuration schedule, specify the following PUT request:

PUT on `/subscriptions/<subscriptionId>/resourceGroups/<resourceGroup>/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/maintenanceConfigurations/<maintenanceConfigurationsName>?api-version=2021-09-01-preview`

Request body

The following table describes the elements of the request body:

Property Description
id Fully qualified identifier of the resource
location Gets or sets location of the resource
name Name of the resource
properties.extensionProperties Gets or sets extensionProperties of the maintenanceConfiguration
properties.maintenanceScope Gets or sets maintenanceScope of the configuration
properties.maintenanceWindow.duration Duration of the maintenance window in HH:mm format. If not provided, default value will be used based on maintenance scope provided. Example: 05:00.
properties.maintenanceWindow.expirationDateTime Effective expiration date of the maintenance window in YYYY-MM-DD hh:MM format. The window is created in the time zone provided to daylight savings according to that time zone. You must set the expiration date to a future date. If not provided, it will be set to the maximum datetime 9999-12-31 23:59:59.
properties.maintenanceWindow.recurEvery Rate at which a Maintenance window is expected to recur. The rate can be expressed as daily, weekly, or monthly schedules. You can format daily schedules as recurEvery: [Frequency as integer]['Day(s)']. If no frequency is provided, the default frequency is 1. Daily schedule examples are recurEvery: Day, recurEvery: 3Days. Weekly schedule are formatted as recurEvery: [Frequency as integer]['Week(s)'] [Optional comma separated list of weekdays Monday-Sunday]. Weekly schedule examples are recurEvery: 3Weeks, recurEvery: Week Saturday, Sunday. You can format monthly schedules as [Frequency as integer]['Month(s)'] [Comma separated list of month days] or [Frequency as integer]['Month(s)'] [Week of Month (First, Second, Third, Fourth, Last)] [Weekday Monday-Sunday]. Monthly schedule examples are recurEvery: Month, recurEvery: 2Months, recurEvery: Month day23, day24, recurEvery: Month Last Sunday, recurEvery: Month Fourth Monday.
properties.maintenanceWindow.startDateTime Effective start date of the maintenance window in YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm format. You can set the start date to either the current date or future date. The window will be created in the time zone provided and adjusted to daylight savings according to that time zone.
properties.maintenanceWindow.timeZone Name of the timezone. You can obtain the list of timezones by executing [System.TimeZoneInfo]:GetSystemTimeZones() in PowerShell. Example: Pacific Standard Time, UTC, W. Europe Standard Time, Korea Standard Time, Cen. Australia Standard Time.
properties.namespace Gets or sets namespace of the resource
properties.visibility Gets or sets the visibility of the configuration. The default value is 'Custom'
systemData Azure Resource Manager metadata containing createdBy and modifiedBy information.
tags Gets or sets tags of the resource
type Type of the resource

To specify the POST request, you can use the following Azure REST API call with valid parameters and values.

PUT on '/subscriptions/0f55bb56-6089-4c7e-9306-41fb78fc5844/resourceGroups/atscalepatching/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/maintenanceConfigurations/TestAzureInGuestAdv2?api-version=2021-09-01-preview

{
  "location": "eastus2euap",
  "properties": {
    "namespace": null,
    "extensionProperties": {
      "InGuestPatchMode" : "User"
    },
    "maintenanceScope": "InGuestPatch",
    "maintenanceWindow": {
      "startDateTime": "2021-08-21 01:18",
      "expirationDateTime": "2221-05-19 03:30",
      "duration": "01:30",
      "timeZone": "India Standard Time",
      "recurEvery": "Day"
    },
    "visibility": "Custom",
    "installPatches": {
      "rebootSetting": "IfRequired",
      "windowsParameters": {
        "classificationsToInclude": [
          "Security",
          "Critical",
          "UpdateRollup"
        ]
      },
      "linuxParameters": {
        "classificationsToInclude": [
          "Other"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}'

Associate a VM with a schedule

To associate a VM with a maintenance configuration schedule, specify the following PUT request:

PUT on `<ARC or Azure VM resourceId>/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/configurationAssignments/<configurationAssignment name>?api-version=2021-09-01-preview`

To specify the PUT request, you can use the following Azure REST API call with valid parameters and values.

PUT on '/subscriptions/0f55bb56-6089-4c7e-9306-41fb78fc5844/resourceGroups/atscalepatching/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/win-atscalepatching-1/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/configurationAssignments/TestAzureInGuestAdv?api-version=2021-09-01-preview

{
  "properties": {
    "maintenanceConfigurationId": "/subscriptions/0f55bb56-6089-4c7e-9306-41fb78fc5844/resourcegroups/atscalepatching/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/maintenanceConfigurations/TestAzureInGuestIntermediate2"
  },
  "location": "eastus2euap"
}'

Remove machine from the schedule

To remove a machine from the schedule, get all the configuration assignment names for the machine that you have created to associate the machine with the current schedule from the Azure Resource Graph as listed:

maintenanceresources
| where type =~ "microsoft.maintenance/configurationassignments"
| where properties.maintenanceConfigurationId =~ "<maintenance configuration Resource ID>"
| where properties.resourceId =~ "<Machine Resource Id>"
| project name, id

After you obtain the name from above, delete the configuration assignment by following the DELETE request -

DELETE on `<ARC or Azure VM resourceId>/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/configurationAssignments/<configurationAssignment name>?api-version=2021-09-01-preview`

Next steps

  • To view update assessment and deployment logs generated by Update Manager, see query logs.
  • To troubleshoot issues, see the Troubleshoot Update Manager.