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Control updates with Maintenance Configurations and the Azure CLI

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Applies to: ✔️ Linux VMs ✔️ Windows VMs ✔️ Flexible scale sets ✔️ Uniform scale sets

You can use the Maintenance Configurations feature to control when to apply platform updates to various Azure resources. This article covers the Azure CLI options for using this feature. For more information about the benefits of using Maintenance Configurations, its limitations, and other management options, see Managing platform updates with Maintenance Configurations.

Important

Specific scopes support certain machine types and schedules. Be sure to select the right scope for your virtual machine (VM).

Create a maintenance configuration

The first step in creating a maintenance configuration is creating a resource group as a container for your configuration. This example creates a resource group named myMaintenanceRG in eastus. If you already have a resource group that you want to use, you can skip this part and replace the resource group name with your own in the rest of the examples.

az group create \
   --location eastus \
   --name myMaintenanceRG

After you create the resource group, use az maintenance configuration create to create a maintenance configuration.

Host

This example creates a maintenance configuration named myConfig scoped to host machines, with a scheduled window of 5 hours on the fourth Monday of every month:

az maintenance configuration create \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myConfig \
   --maintenance-scope host \
   --location eastus \
   --maintenance-window-duration "05:00" \
   --maintenance-window-recur-every "Month Fourth Monday" \
   --maintenance-window-start-date-time "2020-12-30 08:00" \
   --maintenance-window-time-zone "Pacific Standard Time"

Using --maintenance-scope host ensures that the maintenance configuration is used for controlling updates to the host infrastructure. If you try to create a configuration with the same name but in a different location, you'll get an error. Configuration names must be unique to your resource group.

To check if you successfully created the maintenance configuration, you can query for available maintenance configurations by using az maintenance configuration list:

az maintenance configuration list 
   --query "[].{Name:name, ID:id}" 
   --output table

You can express maintenance recurrence as daily, weekly, or monthly. Here are some examples:

  • Daily: A maintenance-window-recur-every value of "Day" or "3Days".
  • Weekly: A maintenance-window-recur-every value of "3Weeks" or "Week Saturday,Sunday".
  • Monthly: A maintenance-window-recur-every value of "Month day23,day24" or "Month Last Sunday" or Month Fourth Monday.

Virtual machine scale sets

This example creates a maintenance configuration named myConfig with the OS image scope for virtual machine scale sets, with a scheduled window of 5 hours on the fourth Monday of every month:

az maintenance configuration create \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myConfig \
   --maintenance-scope osimage \
   --location eastus \
   --maintenance-window-duration "05:00" \
   --maintenance-window-recur-every "Month Fourth Monday" \
   --maintenance-window-start-date-time "2020-12-30 08:00" \
   --maintenance-window-time-zone "Pacific Standard Time"

Guest VMs

This example creates a maintenance configuration named myConfig scoped to guest machines (VMs and Azure Arc-enabled servers), with a scheduled window of 2 hours every 20 days. Learn more about maintenance configurations on guest VMs.

az maintenance configuration create \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myConfig \
   --maintenance-scope InGuestPatch \
   --location eastus \
   --maintenance-window-duration "02:00" \
   --maintenance-window-recur-every "20days" \
   --maintenance-window-start-date-time "2022-12-30 07:00" \
   --maintenance-window-time-zone "Pacific Standard Time" \
   --install-patches-linux-parameters package-name-masks-to-exclude="ppt" package-name-masks-to-include="apt" classifications-to-include="Other" \
   --install-patches-windows-parameters kb-numbers-to-exclude="KB123456" kb-numbers-to-include="KB123456" classifications-to-include="FeaturePack" \
   --reboot-setting "IfRequired" \
   --extension-properties InGuestPatchMode="User"

Assign the configuration

Use az maintenance assignment create to assign the configuration to your machine.

Isolated VM

Apply the configuration to an isolated host VM by using the ID of the configuration. Specify --resource-type virtualMachines. Supply the name of the VM for --resource-name, the VM's resource group for --resource-group, and the location of the VM for --location.

az maintenance assignment create \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --location eastus \
   --resource-name myVM \
   --resource-type virtualMachines \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --configuration-assignment-name myConfig \
   --maintenance-configuration-id "/subscriptions/{subscription ID}/resourcegroups/myMaintenanceRG/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/maintenanceConfigurations/myConfig"

Dedicated host

To apply a configuration to a dedicated host, you need to include --resource-type hosts, --resource-parent-name with the name of the host group, and --resource-parent-type hostGroups.

The parameter --resource-id is the ID of the host. You can use az-vm-host-get-instance-view to get the ID of your dedicated host.

az maintenance assignment create \
   --resource-group myDHResourceGroup \
   --resource-name myHost \
   --resource-type hosts \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --configuration-assignment-name myConfig \
   --maintenance-configuration-id "/subscriptions/{subscription ID}/resourcegroups/myDhResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/maintenanceConfigurations/myConfig" \
   --location eastus \
   --resource-parent-name myHostGroup \
   --resource-parent-type hostGroups

Virtual machine scale sets

az maintenance assignment create \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --location eastus \
   --resource-name myVMSS \
   --resource-type virtualMachineScaleSets \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --configuration-assignment-name myConfig \
   --maintenance-configuration-id "/subscriptions/{subscription ID}/resourcegroups/myMaintenanceRG/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/maintenanceConfigurations/myConfig"

Guest VMs

az maintenance assignment create \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --location eastus \
   --resource-name myVM \
   --resource-type virtualMachines \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --configuration-assignment-name myConfig \
   --maintenance-configuration-id "/subscriptions/{subscription ID}/resourcegroups/myMaintenanceRG/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/maintenanceConfigurations/myConfig"

Check the configuration

You can verify that the configuration was applied correctly, or check to see what configuration is currently applied, by using az maintenance assignment list.

Isolated VM

az maintenance assignment list \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myVM \
   --resource-type virtualMachines \
   --query "[].{resource:resourceGroup, configName:name}" \
   --output table

Dedicated host

az maintenance assignment list \
   --resource-group myDHResourceGroup \
   --resource-name myHost \
   --resource-type hosts \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --resource-parent-name myHostGroup \
   --resource-parent-type hostGroups \
   --query "[].{ResourceGroup:resourceGroup,configName:name}" \
   --output table

Virtual machine scale sets

az maintenance assignment list \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myVMSS \
   --resource-type virtualMachines \
   --query "[].{resource:resourceGroup, configName:name}" \
   --output table

Guest VMs

az maintenance assignment list \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myVM \
   --resource-type virtualMachines \
   --query "[].{resource:resourceGroup, configName:name}" \
   --output table

Check for pending updates

Use az maintenance update list to see if there are pending updates. Update --subscription to be the ID for the subscription that contains the VM.

If there are no updates, the command returns an error message that contains the text Resource not found...StatusCode: 404.

If there are updates, the command returns only one, even if multiple updates are pending. The data for this update is returned in an object:

[
  {
    "impactDurationInSec": 9,
    "impactType": "Freeze",
    "maintenanceScope": "Host",
    "notBefore": "2020-03-03T07:23:04.905538+00:00",
    "resourceId": "/subscriptions/a0a0a0a0-bbbb-cccc-dddd-e1e1e1e1e1e1/resourcegroups/DemoRG/providers/Microsoft.Compute/hostGroups/demoHostGroup/hosts/myHost",
    "status": "Pending"
  }
]

Isolated VM

Check for pending updates for an isolated VM. In this example, the output is formatted as a table for readability:

az maintenance update list \
   --subscription {subscription ID} \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRg \
   --resource-name myVM \
   --resource-type virtualMachines \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --output table

Dedicated host

Check for pending updates for a dedicated host. In this example, the output is formatted as a table for readability. Replace the values for the resources with your own.

az maintenance update list \
   --subscription {subscription ID} \
   --resource-group myHostResourceGroup \
   --resource-name myHost \
   --resource-type hosts \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --resource-parentname myHostGroup \
   --resource-parent-type hostGroups \
   --output table

Apply updates

Use az maintenance apply update to apply pending updates. On success, this command returns JSON that contains the details of the update. Calls to apply updates can take up to 2 hours to complete.

Isolated VM

Create a request to apply updates to an isolated VM:

az maintenance applyupdate create \
   --subscription {subscriptionID} \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myVM \
   --resource-type virtualMachines \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute

Dedicated host

Apply updates to a dedicated host:

az maintenance applyupdate create \
   --subscription {subscriptionID} \
   --resource-group myHostResourceGroup \
   --resource-name myHost \
   --resource-type hosts \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --resource-parent-name myHostGroup \
   --resource-parent-type hostGroups

Virtual machine scale sets

Apply updates to a scale set:

az maintenance applyupdate create \
   --subscription {subscriptionID} \
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myVMSS \
   --resource-type virtualMachineScaleSets \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute

Check the status of applying updates

You can check on the progress of the updates by using az maintenance applyupdate get.

To see results for the last update, use default as the update name. Or replace myUpdateName with the name of the update that was returned when you ran az maintenance applyupdate create.

Status         : Completed
ResourceId     : /subscriptions/b1b1b1b1-cccc-dddd-eeee-f2f2f2f2f2f2/resourcegroups/TestShantS/providers/Microsoft.Comp
ute/virtualMachines/DXT-test-04-iso
LastUpdateTime : 1/1/2020 12:00:00 AM
Id             : /subscriptions/b1b1b1b1-cccc-dddd-eeee-f2f2f2f2f2f2/resourcegroups/TestShantS/providers/Microsoft.Comp
ute/virtualMachines/DXT-test-04-iso/providers/Microsoft.Maintenance/applyUpdates/default
Name           : default
Type           : Microsoft.Maintenance/applyUpdates

LastUpdateTime is the time when the update finished, whether you initiated the update or the platform initiated it because you didn't use the self-maintenance window. If an update was never applied through Maintenance Configurations, LastUpdateTime shows the default value.

Isolated VM

az maintenance applyupdate get \
   --subscription {subscriptionID} \ 
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myVM \
   --resource-type virtualMachines \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --apply-update-name myUpdateName \
   --query "{LastUpdate:lastUpdateTime, Name:name, ResourceGroup:resourceGroup, Status:status}" \
   --output table

Dedicated host

az maintenance applyupdate get \
   --subscription {subscriptionID} \ 
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myHost \
   --resource-type hosts \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --resource-parent-name myHostGroup \ 
   --resource-parent-type hostGroups \
   --apply-update-name myUpdateName \
   --query "{LastUpdate:lastUpdateTime, Name:name, ResourceGroup:resourceGroup, Status:status}" \
   --output table

Virtual machine scale sets

az maintenance applyupdate get \
   --subscription {subscriptionID} \ 
   --resource-group myMaintenanceRG \
   --resource-name myVMSS \
   --resource-type virtualMachineScaleSets \
   --provider-name Microsoft.Compute \
   --apply-update-name myUpdateName \
   --query "{LastUpdate:lastUpdateTime, Name:name, ResourceGroup:resourceGroup, Status:status}" \
   --output table

Delete a maintenance configuration

To delete a maintenance configuration, use az maintenance configuration delete. Deleting the configuration removes the maintenance control from the associated resources.

az maintenance configuration delete \
   --subscription 1111abcd-1a11-1a2b-1a12-123456789abc \
   -resource-group myResourceGroup \
   --resource-name myConfig

Next steps

To learn more, see Maintenance for virtual machines in Azure.