通过捕获的图像以编程方式创建Azure VM

Question

Using Azure Powershell the above is relatively straight-forward:

$image = "captured-vm-image-xx" 
New-AzureService -ServiceName $servicename -Location $region
$config = New-AzureVMConfig -Name $servicename -InstanceSize ExtraSmall -AvailabilitySetName $avsetname -ImageName $image
New-AzureVM -ServiceName $servicename -VMs $config -VNetName $vnetname -WaitForBoot 

Now I'm trying to port the code above to C# using the Azure 2.4 SDK:

var vmname = ComputeClusterMasterName(clusterName);

var p1 = new VirtualMachineCreateDeploymentParameters
{
    Name = vmname, 
    Roles = new List<Role>
    {  
        new Role() 
        {
            RoleType = "PersistentVMRole",
            RoleName = vmname,
            RoleSize = "ExtraSmall",
            ConfigurationSets = new List<ConfigurationSet>(),
        },
    },
    DeploymentSlot = DeploymentSlot.Production,
    Label = vmname
};

await client.VirtualMachines.CreateDeploymentAsync(clusterName, p1);

var parms = new VirtualMachineCreateParameters();
parms.AvailabilitySetName = clusterName;
parms.RoleName = vmname;
parms.RoleSize = "ExtraSmall";
parms.VMImageName = "captured-vm-image-xx";
await client.VirtualMachines.CreateAsync(cloudServiceName, vmname, parms);

When I run the code above CreateDeploymentAsync fails with:

BadRequest: Property 'OSDisk' for entity type 'PersistentVMRole' with name 'c1cmdb' is null or empty.

Yes, I've omitted that property but why do I have to specify it in the first place??

Answer 1

It looks like your CreateDeploymentAsync() call is attempting to create a new VM (aka Role) without specifying some of the required fields. When a deployment is created, it also spins up its first virtual machine(s).

You have to specify the missing information in your original role because there isn't enough information in your request to create a virtual machine. If you compare the interfaces of Role and VirtualMachineCreateParameters , you should notice a lot of parallels- they share more or less the same responsibility. Have you tried specifying your actual VM from a VmImage in the Role in your initial call instead? You might have more luck that way. :)

Answer 2

Just for anyone struggling with this problem. Turns out Greg answer hinted the right approach that's why I've marked as the correct answer.

When creating a VM from an captured image, all you have to do is to create a deployment using that image:

var args = new VirtualMachineCreateDeploymentParameters
{
    Name = vmname,
    Roles = new List<Role>
    {  
        new Role
        {
            RoleType = "PersistentVMRole",
            RoleName = vmname,
            RoleSize = "ExtraSmall",
            ConfigurationSets = new List<ConfigurationSet>(),
            VMImageName = "captured-vm-image-xx",
            ProvisionGuestAgent = true,
        },
    },
    DeploymentSlot = DeploymentSlot.Production,
    Label = vmname,
};

await client.VirtualMachines.CreateDeploymentAsync(clusterName, args);

There's no need to call CreateAsync because that method has a totally different purpose: It's for adding another virtual machine to an existing deployment. The naming is simply misleading.

Working with the Azure SDK for .Net so far has been an excerise in frustration due to the lack of documentation and samples.