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user2713516
Asked: 2016-07-06 00:19:53 +0800 CST

Replicate Azure VM's to use with load balancer

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I want to have multiple VM's for my webtier and a load balancer configured in Azure. Currently I have 1 VM and load balancer working, I can easily create a 2nd VM and get it to work with the load balancer, but then I'd have to fully re-configure the 2nd VM even though it is identical to the first VM.

How can I easily copy/replicate my main VM and create a 2nd or 3rd VM that is identical so I can provide a multi-VM setup? It's not just about the VM technical configuration, but mostly about the software installed and IIS config for instance.

I'm using Azure's new Resource Manager.

replication virtual-machines azure

1 Answers

  1. Cloning an Azure VM is done by using normal operations for preparing a machine for imaging.

    Windows machines will need to be sysprepped and then captured.
    There are ways to do this either through the GUI or through Powershell / CLI.
    But whatever method you choose, you will need access to the VM in question.

    Linux machines will need to be prepared by the azure linux agent, waagent.
    The linux agent will deprovision your machine, and prepare it for capturing.
    sudo waagent -deprovision+user
    You can then deallocate the resources, and generalize + capture the machine.

    From the azure documentation for capturing Linux VM's:

    Make sure you are in Resource Manager mode:

    azure config mode arm

    Stop the VM which you already deprovisioned by using the following command:

    azure vm deallocate -g <your-resource-group-name> -n <your-virtual-machine-name>

    Generalize the VM with the following command:

    azure vm generalize –g <your-resource-group-name> -n <your-virtual-machine-name>

    Now capture the image and a local file template with the following command:

    azure vm capture <your-resource-group-name> <your-virtual-machine-name> <your-vhd-name-prefix> -t <your-template-file-name.json>

    This command creates a generalized OS image, using the VHD name prefix you specify for the VM disks. The image VHD files get created by default in the same storage account that the original VM used. The -t option creates a local JSON file template you can use to create a new VM from the image.

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