Vagrant Azure Provider

Gem Version

This is a Vagrant 1.6.0+ plugin that adds Microsoft Azure provider to Vagrant, allowing Vagrant to control and provision machines in Microsoft Azure.

Usage

Install Vagrant 1.6.0 or higher - Download Vagrant

Install the vagrant-azure plugin using the standard Vagrant 1.1+ installation methods. After installing the plugin, you can vagrant up and use azure provider. For example:

C:\> vagrant plugin install vagrant-azure
...
C:\> vagrant up --provider=azure
...

You'll need an azure box before you can do vagrant up though.

Quick Start

You can use the dummy box and specify all the required details manually in the config.vm.provider block in your Vagrantfile. Add the dummy box with the name you want:

C:\> vagrant box add azure https://github.com/msopentech/vagrant-azure/raw/master/dummy.box
...

Now edit your Vagrantfile as shown below and provide all the values as explained.

Vagrant.configure('2') do |config|
    config.vm.box = 'azure'

    config.vm.provider :azure do |azure|
        azure.mgmt_certificate = 'YOUR AZURE MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE'
        azure.mgmt_endpoint = 'https://management.core.windows.net'
        azure.subscription_id = 'YOUR AZURE SUBSCRIPTION ID'
        azure.storage_acct_name = 'NAME OF YOUR STORAGE ACCOUNT' # optional. A new one will be generated if not provided.

        azure.vm_image = 'NAME OF THE IMAGE TO USE'
        azure.vm_user = 'PROVIDE A USERNAME' # defaults to 'vagrant' if not provided
        azure.vm_password = 'PROVIDE A VALID PASSWORD' # min 8 characters. should contain a lower case letter, an uppercase letter, a number and a special character

        azure.vm_name = 'PROVIDE A NAME FOR YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE' # max 15 characters. contains letters, number and hyphens. can start with letters and can end with letters and numbers
        azure.cloud_service_name = 'PROVIDE A NAME FOR YOUR CLOUD SERVICE' # same as vm_name. leave blank to auto-generate
        azure.deployment_name = 'PROVIDE A NAME FOR YOUR DEPLOYMENT' # defaults to cloud_service_name
        azure.vm_location = 'PROVIDE A LOCATION FOR VM' # e.g., West US
      azure.private_key_file = 'PATH TO YOUR KEY FILE'
      azure.certificate_file = 'PATH TO YOUR CERTIFICATE FILE'

      # Provide the following values if creating a *Nix VM
      azure.ssh_port = 'A VALID PUBLIC PORT'

      # Provide the following values if creating a Windows VM
      azure.winrm_transport = [ 'http', 'https' ] # this will open up winrm ports on both http (5985) and http (5986) ports
      azure.winrm_https_port = 'A VALID PUBLIC PORT' # customize the winrm https port, instead of 5986
      azure.winrm_http_port = 'A VALID PUBLIC PORT' # customize the winrm http port, insted of 5985

      azure.tcp_endpoints = '3389:53389' # opens the Remote Desktop internal port that listens on public port 53389. Without this, you cannot RDP to a Windows VM.
    end

    config.ssh.username = 'YOUR USERNAME' # the one used to create the VM
    config.ssh.password = 'YOUR PASSWORD' # the one used to create the VM
end

Now you can run

C:\> vagrant up --provider=azure

This will bring up an Azure VM as per the configuration options set above.

You can now either SSH (if its a *Nix VM) using vagrant ssh, RDP (if its a Windows VM) using vagrant rdp or PowerShell vagrant powershell.

Normally, a lot of this options, e.g., vm_image, will be embedded in a box file and you just have to provide minimal options in the Vagrantfile. Since, we're using a dummy box, there are no pre-configured defaults.

Azure Boxes

The vagrant-azure plugin provides the ability to use azure boxes with Vagrant. Please see the example box provided in example_box/ directory and follow the instructions there to build an azure box.

Please see Vagrant Docs for more details.

Configuration

The vagrant-azure provide exposes a few Azure specific configration options:

  • mgmt_certificate - Your Azure Management certificate which has been uploaded to the Azure portal for your account.
  • mgmt_endpoint - Azure Management endpoint. https://management.core.windows.net
  • subscription_id - Your Azure Subscription ID.
  • storage_acct_name - The Storage account to use when creating VMs.
  • vm_user - The username to create the VM with. Defaults to vagrant.
  • vm_password - The password to set for the user created with the VM.
  • vm_image - The name of the image to be used when creating the VM.
  • vm_name - The name of the created VM.
  • vm_size - The size of the created VM.
  • vm_virtual_network_name - The name of a virtual network to connect to
  • cloud_service_name - The name of the cloud service under which to create the VM.
  • deployment_name - The name to give the deployment in the cloud service and add the VM to.
  • vm_location - The location to create the cloud service, storage account.
  • private_key_file - The private key file to use for SSH and if WinRM is enabled over HTTP/S.
  • certificate_file - The certificate file to use for SSH and if WinRM is enabled over HTTP/S.
  • ssh_port - To map the internal SSH port 22 to a different public port.
  • winrm_transport - Enables or disables WinRm. Allowed values are http and https.
  • winrm_https_port To map the internal WinRM https port 5986 to a different public port.
  • winrm_http_port To map the internal WinRM http port 5985 to a different public port.
  • tcp_endpoints - To open any additional ports. E.g., 80 opens port 80 and 80,3389:53389 opens port 80 and 3389. Also maps the interal port 3389 to public port 53389

Certificate generation

We will use makecert.exe distributed as part of the in the Windows 7 SDK. The following commands will create the required certificates and insert them into the current user’s personal store.

  • makecert.exe -r -pe -a sha1 -n "CN=My Azure Management Certificate" -ss My -sr CurrentUser -len 2048 -sky exchange -sp "Microsoft Enhanced RSA and AES Cryptographic Provider" -sy 24

  • makecert.exe -r -pe -a sha1 -n "CN=My Azure RDP Certificate" -ss My -sr CurrentUser -len 2048 -sky exchange -sp "Microsoft Enhanced RSA and AES Cryptographic Provider" -sy 24

  • makecert.exe -r -pe -a sha1 -n "CN=My Azure SSL Certificate" -ss My -sr CurrentUser -len 2048 -sky exchange -sp "Microsoft Enhanced RSA and AES Cryptographic Provider" -sy 24

In order to have more details with images in Windows, access: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/cclayton/archive/2012/03/21/windows-azure-and-x509-certificates.aspx

As Windows Azure is constantly being updated, the Windows Azure images used in this tutorial might be out-of-date.

New Commands for azure provider

The azure provider introduces the following new vagrant commands.

  • rdp - To connect to a Windows VM using RDP. E.g., C:\> vagrant up --provider=azure ... C:\> vagrant rdp

Multi Machine

The options for multi machines are similar to Vagrant, please refer to the vagrant doc at http://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/multi-machine/index.html

Example Multi Machine Vagrantfile (for building out 3 Windows Virtual Machines)


Vagrant.configure('2') do |config|
  config.vm.box = 'azure'
  config.vm.boot_timeout = 1000

  do_common_azure_stuff = Proc.new do |azure|
        azure.mgmt_certificate = 'YOUR AZURE MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE'
        azure.mgmt_endpoint = 'https://management.core.windows.net'
        azure.subscription_id = 'YOUR AZURE SUBSCRIPTION ID'
        azure.storage_acct_name = 'NAME OF YOUR STORAGE ACCOUNT' # optional. A new one will be generated if not provided.

        azure.vm_image = 'NAME OF THE IMAGE TO USE'
        azure.vm_user = 'PROVIDE A USERNAME' # defaults to 'vagrant' if not provided
        azure.vm_password = 'PROVIDE A VALID PASSWORD' # min 8 characters. should contain a lower case letter, an uppercase letter, a number and a special character

        azure.vm_name = 'PROVIDE A NAME FOR YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE' # max 15 characters. contains letters, number and hyphens. can start with letters and can end with letters and numbers
        azure.cloud_service_name = 'PROVIDE A NAME FOR YOUR CLOUD SERVICE' # same as vm_name. leave blank to auto-generate
        azure.deployment_name = 'PROVIDE A NAME FOR YOUR DEPLOYMENT' # defaults to cloud_service_name
        azure.vm_location = 'PROVIDE A LOCATION FOR VM' # e.g., West US

        azure.winrm_transport = %w(https)
  end

  config.vm.define 'first' do |cfg|
    config.vm.provider :azure do |azure|
      azure.vm_name = 'PROVIDE A NAME FOR YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE'
      azure.tcp_endpoints = '3389:53389' # opens the Remote Desktop internal port that listens on public port 53389. Without this, you cannot RDP to a Windows VM.
      azure.winrm_https_port = 5986
      do_common_azure_stuff.call azure
    end
  end

  config.vm.define 'second' do |cfg|
    cfg.vm.provider :azure do |azure|
      azure.vm_name = 'PROVIDE A NAME FOR YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE'
      azure.tcp_endpoints = '3389:53390'
      azure.winrm_https_port = 5987
      do_common_azure_stuff.call azure
    end
  end

  config.vm.define 'third' do |cfg|
    cfg.vm.provider :azure do |azure|
      azure.vm_name = 'PROVIDE A NAME FOR YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE'
      azure.tcp_endpoints = '3389:53391'
      azure.winrm_https_port = 5988
      do_common_azure_stuff.call azure
    end
  end

  # Executes powershell on the remote machine and returns the hostname
  config.vm.provision 'shell', inline: 'hostname'

end