You are here: Installation > Microsoft Azure VM installations > Creating VM instances in Azure

Creating VM instances in Azure

To deploy a Pexip Infinity Management Node or a Conferencing Node within Azure you must create an Azure VM instance and then use that instance to host that Pexip node.

This section describes how to create a VM instance from a prepared disk image. You must create a separate VM instance for each Pexip node.

Note that you must deploy the Management Node in your Pexip Infinity platform before deploying any Conferencing Nodes.

Creating a VM instance

To create a VM instance in Azure (for either the Management Node or a Conferencing Node):

  1. In the same storage account that contains the prepared disk images, create a new storage container to hold the instance disk.

  2. Create a new resource group to hold the instance.

    Each VM instance (i.e. the Management Node and each Conferencing Node) must be deployed in its own storage container and its own resource group.

  3. Deploy the instance into the new storage container and resource group.

    This procedure describes how to do this via the Azure portal using an ARM template provided by Pexip.

    1. Decide which ARM template to use from the table below, and then use the "launch in Azure Portal" link to launch the template (after signing in to Azure if necessary).

    2. Complete the template Parameters and select OK:

      Name Description
      vmImageURI

      The URI of the prepared VM disk image (e.g. https://mystorageaccount.blob.core.windows.net/vm-images/my-machine-image.vhd).

      This should refer to either the Management Node or Conferencing Node prepared disk image, depending on which type of node you want to install.
      storageContainerName The name of the storage container to hold the instance disk.
      dnsDomainNameLabel

      The domain name label (i.e. hostname) for the Virtual Machine.

      When deploying an instance with a public IP address, this label must be the host part only — the name must not contain any periods.
      ipAddress The statically-assigned private IP address for the Virtual Machine.
      adminCredential

      For password-based authentication templates, this is the password for logging into the Virtual Machine. Note that Azure requires a strong password (such as a mix of upper case, lower case and numeric characters).

      For SSH key-based templates, this is the public SSH key for logging into the Virtual Machine (e.g. ssh-rsa AAA.... user@host).
      vmSize The size of the Virtual Machine (Standard_A2 or Standard_D4_v2).
      networkName The name of the Virtual Network to connect to.
      networkSubnetName The name of the Virtual Network subnet in which to place the Virtual Machine.
      networkSecurityGroupName The name of the Network Security Group to apply to the Virtual Machine.
      networkResourceGroup The name of the Resource Group containing the Virtual Network and Network Security Group.
    3. Select the Resource group to hold the instance.
    4. Review and confirm the legal terms.
    5. Select Create to deploy the instance.

  4. It can sometimes take several minutes for your instance to be created and start running. You can use the Azure portal to monitor the status of your new instance.

    If the instance deployment fails, review the Azure event diagnostics to help identify the problem.

  5. You can now complete the deployment of the Pexip node.

    See either Deploying a Management Node in Azure or Deploying a Conferencing Node in Azure as appropriate, depending on the type of node you are deploying (and according to the vmImageURI you selected in the ARM template).

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates for deploying a VM instance

Pexip provides ARM templates which may be used to deploy a VM instance into a resource group (step 3 above). These templates may be used from PowerShell or the Azure CLI. Alternatively, you can use the templates to deploy an instance via the Azure Portal.

The templates allow you to choose whether to deploy an instance with either password-based or SSH-key based authentication, and with either no public address or a dynamically-allocated public address. Every template enables boot diagnostics for the Virtual Machine instance.

You should pick the template most suitable for your needs. Every template can be used to launch either a Management Node or a Conferencing Node instance.

Name Authentication Public IP address Template URL Resources created
virtual-machine-password-dynamic-public-ip Password based Yes
(dynamically allocated)

https://pexipas.blob.core.windows.net/templates/20160330/virtual-machine-password-dynamic-public-ip.json

(launch in Azure Portal)
  • Public IP address
  • Network interface
  • Virtual Machine
virtual-machine-password-no-public-ip Password based No

https://pexipas.blob.core.windows.net/templates/20160330/virtual-machine-password-no-public-ip.json

(launch in Azure Portal)
  • Network interface
  • Virtual Machine
virtual-machine-sshkey-dynamic-public-ip SSH key based Yes
(dynamically allocated)

https://pexipas.blob.core.windows.net/templates/20160330/virtual-machine-sshkey-dynamic-public-ip.json

(launch in Azure Portal)
  • Public IP address
  • Network interface
  • Virtual Machine
virtual-machine-sshkey-no-public-ip SSH key based No

https://pexipas.blob.core.windows.net/templates/20160330/virtual-machine-sshkey-no-public-ip.json

(launch in Azure Portal)
  • Network interface
  • Virtual Machine

© 2017 Pexip AS