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Prepare Red Hat Enterprise Azure Marketplace image for Azure Local VMs

This article explains how to prepare a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Azure Marketplace image for use with Azure Local virtual machines (VMs). By following these steps, you ensure your VM has the latest security updates, support, and integration features.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

Sign in and set subscription

  1. Connect to a machine on your Azure Local instance.

  2. Sign in and enter the following command:

    az login --use-device-code

  3. Set your subscription.

    az account set --subscription <Subscription ID>

Set up and prepare an Azure VM

To set up and prepare an Azure VM, follow these steps:

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal.

  2. In the left pane, select Virtual Machines. Next, select Create, and then select Virtual Machine.

  3. Browse the available images and choose your preferred RHEL LVM Gen2 version.

    Screenshot of the Azure portal image selection page.

  4. Enter the required details in the wizard and finish setting up the Azure VM.

    Note

    Avoid username conflicts by creating the Azure VM with a username you don't use on Azure Local. If you use the same username (for example, "usernameA") on both the Azure VM and Azure Local, and then reuse the VHD, the VM keeps the original sign-in information. For the best results, set up Azure Local VMs with different credentials (such as "usernameB").

  5. After the VM is deployed, go to the VM overview page, select the Connect option, and then select Serial console.

    Screenshot of the Serial console sign in option in Azure portal.

  6. Connect to the VM with your credentials and follow these steps:

    1. Sign in to the VM as the root user.

      sudo su

    2. Clean the cloud-init default configuration because it isn't relevant for Azure Local VMs.

      sudo yum clean all
sudo cloud-init clean

      Example output:

      [contosotest@localhost ~]$ sudo yum clean all
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
17 files removed
[contosotest@localhost ~]$ sudo cloud-init clean

    3. Remove the cloud-init logs and temporary files.

      sudo rm -rf /var/lib/cloud/ /var/log/* /tmp/*

    4. Clean VM-specific details.

      sudo rm -f /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/*
sudo rm -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host*
sudo rm /etc/lvm/devices/system.devices

Change the data source of the VM image

To change the data source of the VM image, follow these steps:

  1. Change the directory to the following path and list the files to locate the data source file 91-azure_datasource.cfg

    cd /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/
ls

    Example output:

    [root@rhelsysprep cloud.cfg.d]# ls 
05_logging.cfg  10-azure-kvp.cfg  91-azure_datasource.cfg  README

  2. Open the 91-azure_datasource.cfg file.

    cat 91-azure_datasource.cfg

    Example output:

    datasource_list: [ Azure ]
datasource:
  Azure:
    apply network config: False

  3. Open and update the datasource_list from Azure to NoCloud.

    vi 91-azure_datasource.cfg

    1. To edit the file, press i.

    2. Remove the datasource and update the details from datasource_list: [Azure] to datasource_list: [NoCloud].

    3. Save the file by pressing the Esc key followed by :x and press Enter.

      Example output:

      datasource_list: [NoCloud]
~??
~

  4. Verify that the file was updated.

    cat 91-azure_datasource.cfg

  5. Remove the bash history.

    sudo rm -f ~/.bash_history
export HISTSIZE=0
exit

  6. Stop the Azure VM as the configuration changes are now complete.

Export an Azure VM OS disk to a VHD on the Azure Local cluster

To export an Azure VM OS disk to a VHD on the Azure Local cluster, follow these steps:

  1. In the Azure portal for your Azure Local resource, go to the VM overview. Under Settings, select Disks, and then select the Disks name link.

    Screenshot of the OS disk details page.

  2. Under Settings, select Disk Export, and then select Generate URL to generate a secure URL for the disk.

    Screenshot of the disk export option with secure URL generation.

  3. Copy the generated secure URL link for the next step.

Create an Azure Local image

Before creating an Azure Local image from a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Azure Marketplace VM, ensure that the Azure Marketplace image terms for the Red Hat offer are accepted in the Azure subscription connected to your Azure Local instance. Accepting image terms is a one-time, subscription-level Azure Marketplace action.

Note

Run any Azure CLI commands used to accept image terms from an Azure-connected management environment (such as Azure Cloud Shell, Linux, or Windows Subsystem for Linux). Do not run these commands on Azure Local cluster hosts or inside the virtual machine.

To create an Azure Local image, use the SAS token.

$rg="<resource-group>"
$cl="/subscriptions/<sub>/resourcegroups/$rg/providers/microsoft.extendedlocation/customlocations/<customlocation-name>"
$sas='"https://EXAMPLE.blob.storage.azure.net/EXAMPLE/abcd<sas-token>"'

az stack-hci-vm image create -g $rg --custom-location $cl --name "<IMAGE-NAME>" --os-type "Linux" --image-path $sas

Create an Azure Local VM

Create an Azure Local VM using the Azure Local VM image you created. For details, see Create Azure Local virtual machines enabled by Azure Arc.

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