Create and manage virtual machines with DevTest Labs using the Azure CLI

This quickstart will guide you through creating, starting, connecting, updating, and cleaning up a development machine in your lab.

Before you begin:

• If a lab has not been created, instructions can be found here.

• Install the Azure CLI. To start, run az login to create a connection with Azure.

Create and verify the virtual machine

Before you execute DevTest Labs related commands, set the appropriate Azure context by using the az account set command:

az account set --subscription 11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111

The command to create a virtual machine is: az lab vm create. The resource group for the lab, lab name, and virtual machine name are all required. The rest of the arguments change depending on the type of virtual machine.

The following command creates a Windows-based image from Azure Market Place. The name of the image is the same as you would see when creating a virtual machine using the Azure portal.

az lab vm create --resource-group DtlResourceGroup --lab-name MyLab --name 'MyTestVm' --image "Visual Studio Community 2017 on Windows Server 2016 (x64)" --image-type gallery --size 'Standard_D2s_v3' --admin-username 'AdminUser' --admin-password 'Password1!'

The following command creates a virtual machine based on a custom image available in the lab:

az lab vm create --resource-group DtlResourceGroup --lab-name MyLab --name 'MyTestVm' --image "My Custom Image" --image-type custom --size 'Standard_D2s_v3' --admin-username 'AdminUser' --admin-password 'Password1!'

The image-type argument has changed from gallery to custom. The name of the image matches what you see if you were to create the virtual machine in the Azure portal.

The following command creates a VM from a marketplace image with ssh authentication:

az lab vm create --lab-name sampleLabName --resource-group sampleLabResourceGroup --name sampleVMName --image "Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS" --image-type gallery --size Standard_DS1_v2 --authentication-type  ssh --generate-ssh-keys --ip-configuration public 

You can also create virtual machines based on formulas by setting the image-type parameter to formula. If you need to choose a specific virtual network for your virtual machine, use the vnet-name and subnet parameters. For more information, see az lab vm create.

Verify that the VM is available.

Use the az lab vm show command to verify that the VM is available before you start and connect to it.

az lab vm show --lab-name sampleLabName --name sampleVMName --resource-group sampleResourceGroup --expand 'properties($expand=ComputeVm,NetworkInterface)' --query '{status: computeVm.statuses[0].displayStatus, fqdn: fqdn, ipAddress: networkInterface.publicIpAddress}'

{
  "fqdn": "lisalabvm.southcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com",
  "ipAddress": "13.85.228.112",
  "status": "Provisioning succeeded"
}

Start and connect to the virtual machine

The following example command starts a VM:

az lab vm start --lab-name sampleLabName --name sampleVMName --resource-group sampleLabResourceGroup

Connect to a VM: SSH or Remote Desktop.

ssh userName@ipAddressOrfqdn 

Update the virtual machine

The following sample command applies artifacts to a VM:

az lab vm apply-artifacts --lab-name  sampleLabName --name sampleVMName  --resource-group sampleResourceGroup  --artifacts @/artifacts.json

[
  {
    "artifactId": "/artifactSources/public repo/artifacts/linux-java",
    "parameters": []
  },
  {
    "artifactId": "/artifactSources/public repo/artifacts/linux-install-nodejs",
    "parameters": []
  },
  {
    "artifactId": "/artifactSources/public repo/artifacts/linux-apt-package",
    "parameters": [
      {
        "name": "packages",
        "value": "abcd"
      },
      {
        "name": "update",
        "value": "true"
      },
      {
        "name": "options",
        "value": ""
      }
    ]
  } 
]

List artifacts available in the lab

To list artifacts available in a VM in a lab, run the following commands.

Cloud Shell - PowerShell: notice the use of the backtick (`) before the $ in $expand (i.e. `$expand):

az lab vm show --resource-group <resourcegroupname> --lab-name <labname> --name <vmname> --expand "properties(`$expand=artifacts)" --query "artifacts[].{artifactId: artifactId, status: status}"

Cloud Shell - Bash: notice the use of the slash (\) character in front of $ in the command.

az lab vm show --resource-group <resourcegroupname> --lab-name <labname> --name <vmname> --expand "properties(\$expand=artifacts)" --query "artifacts[].{artifactId: artifactId, status: status}"

Sample output:

[
  {
    "artifactId": "/subscriptions/<subscription ID>/resourceGroups/<resource group name>/providers/Microsoft.DevTestLab/labs/<lab name>/artifactSources/public repo/artifacts/windows-7zip",
    "status": "Succeeded"
  }
]

Stop and delete the virtual machine

The following sample command stops a VM.

az lab vm stop --lab-name sampleLabName --name sampleVMName --resource-group sampleResourceGroup

Delete a VM.

az lab vm delete --lab-name sampleLabName --name sampleVMName --resource-group sampleResourceGroup

Next steps

See the following content: Azure CLI documentation for Azure DevTest Labs.