create azure vm using python with generalized image in existing rg, vnet, subnet with no public ip

Question

I am able to create an image via az cli commands with:

az vm create --resource-group $RG2 \
--name $VM_NAME --image $(az sig image-version show \
--resource-group $RG \
--gallery-name $SIG \
--gallery-image-definition $SIG_IMAGE_DEFINITION \
--gallery-image-version $VERSION \
--query id -o tsv) \
--size $SIZE \
--public-ip-address "" \
--assign-identity $(az identity show --resource-group $RG2 --name $IDENTITY --query id -o tsv) \
--ssh-key-values $SSH_KEY_PATH \
--authentication-type ssh \
--admin-username admin

This works great. I am trying to do the same with python.
I see examples where they are creating everything in that, resource groups, nics, subnets, vnets etc but that is not what I need. I am literally trying to do what this az cli is doing. Is there a way to do this with python?

How do we address the setting of public ip to nothing so it does not set one? I want it to use the vnet, subnet, etc that the resource groups already has defined just like the az cli.

Answer 1

You can modify the example script in our doc to do this. Essentially, you need to get rid of step 4. and modify step 5 to not send a public IP when creating the NIC. This has been validated in my own subscription.

# Import the needed credential and management objects from the libraries.
from azure.identity import AzureCliCredential
from azure.mgmt.resource import ResourceManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.network import NetworkManagementClient
from azure.mgmt.compute import ComputeManagementClient
import os

print(f"Provisioning a virtual machine...some operations might take a minute or two.")

# Acquire a credential object using CLI-based authentication.
credential = AzureCliCredential()

# Retrieve subscription ID from environment variable.
subscription_id = os.environ["AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID"]


# Step 1: Provision a resource group

# Obtain the management object for resources, using the credentials from the CLI login.
resource_client = ResourceManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

# Constants we need in multiple places: the resource group name and the region
# in which we provision resources. You can change these values however you want.
RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME = "PythonAzureExample-VM-rg"
LOCATION = "westus2"

# Provision the resource group.
rg_result = resource_client.resource_groups.create_or_update(RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME,
    {
        "location": LOCATION
    }
)


print(f"Provisioned resource group {rg_result.name} in the {rg_result.location} region")

# For details on the previous code, see Example: Provision a resource group
# at https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/developer/python/azure-sdk-example-resource-group


# Step 2: provision a virtual network

# A virtual machine requires a network interface client (NIC). A NIC requires
# a virtual network and subnet along with an IP address. Therefore we must provision
# these downstream components first, then provision the NIC, after which we
# can provision the VM.

# Network and IP address names
VNET_NAME = "python-example-vnet"
SUBNET_NAME = "python-example-subnet"
IP_NAME = "python-example-ip"
IP_CONFIG_NAME = "python-example-ip-config"
NIC_NAME = "python-example-nic"

# Obtain the management object for networks
network_client = NetworkManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

# Provision the virtual network and wait for completion
poller = network_client.virtual_networks.begin_create_or_update(RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME,
    VNET_NAME,
    {
        "location": LOCATION,
        "address_space": {
            "address_prefixes": ["10.0.0.0/16"]
        }
    }
)

vnet_result = poller.result()

print(f"Provisioned virtual network {vnet_result.name} with address prefixes {vnet_result.address_space.address_prefixes}")

# Step 3: Provision the subnet and wait for completion
poller = network_client.subnets.begin_create_or_update(RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME, 
    VNET_NAME, SUBNET_NAME,
    { "address_prefix": "10.0.0.0/24" }
)
subnet_result = poller.result()

print(f"Provisioned virtual subnet {subnet_result.name} with address prefix {subnet_result.address_prefix}")

# Step 4: Provision an IP address and wait for completion
# Removed as not needed

# Step 5: Provision the network interface client
poller = network_client.network_interfaces.begin_create_or_update(RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME,
    NIC_NAME, 
    {
        "location": LOCATION,
        "ip_configurations": [ {
            "name": IP_CONFIG_NAME,
            "subnet": { "id": subnet_result.id }
        }]
    }
)

nic_result = poller.result()

print(f"Provisioned network interface client {nic_result.name}")

# Step 6: Provision the virtual machine

# Obtain the management object for virtual machines
compute_client = ComputeManagementClient(credential, subscription_id)

VM_NAME = "ExampleVM"
USERNAME = "azureuser"
PASSWORD = "ChangePa$$w0rd24"

print(f"Provisioning virtual machine {VM_NAME}; this operation might take a few minutes.")

# Provision the VM specifying only minimal arguments, which defaults to an Ubuntu 18.04 VM
# on a Standard DS1 v2 plan with a public IP address and a default virtual network/subnet.

poller = compute_client.virtual_machines.begin_create_or_update(RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME, VM_NAME,
    {
        "location": LOCATION,
        "storage_profile": {
            "image_reference": {
                "publisher": 'Canonical',
                "offer": "UbuntuServer",
                "sku": "16.04.0-LTS",
                "version": "latest"
            }
        },
        "hardware_profile": {
            "vm_size": "Standard_DS1_v2"
        },
        "os_profile": {
            "computer_name": VM_NAME,
            "admin_username": USERNAME,
            "admin_password": PASSWORD
        },
        "network_profile": {
            "network_interfaces": [{
                "id": nic_result.id,
            }]
        }        
    }
)

vm_result = poller.result()

print(f"Provisioned virtual machine {vm_result.name}")

Answer 2

resource_name = f"myserver{random.randint(1000, 9999)}"    
VNET_NAME = "myteam-vpn-vnet"
SUBNET_NAME = "myteam-subnet"
IP_NAME = resource_name + "-ip"
IP_CONFIG_NAME = resource_name + "-ip-config"
NIC_NAME = resource_name + "-nic"

Subnet=network_client.subnets.get(resource_group_name, VNET_NAME, SUBNET_NAME)

# Step 5: Provision the network interface client
poller = network_client.network_interfaces.begin_create_or_update(resource_group_name,
    NIC_NAME, 
    {
        "location": location,
        "ip_configurations": [{
            "name": IP_CONFIG_NAME,
            "subnet": { "id": Subnet.id },
            
        }]
    }
) 
nic_result = poller.result()

Yes, we removed steps 4 and 5 above as suggested. The nic was then applied in the vm creation as such:

"network_profile": {
            "network_interfaces": [
                {
                    "id": nic_result.id
                }
            ]
        },