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CLI example: Create and manage a Linux pool in Azure Batch

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This script demonstrates some of the commands available in the Azure CLI to create and manage a pool of Linux compute nodes in Azure Batch.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

Prerequisites

Sample script

Launch Azure Cloud Shell

The Azure Cloud Shell is a free interactive shell that you can use to run the steps in this article. It has common Azure tools preinstalled and configured to use with your account.

To open the Cloud Shell, just select Try it from the upper right corner of a code block. You can also launch Cloud Shell in a separate browser tab by going to https://shell.azure.com.

When Cloud Shell opens, verify that Bash is selected for your environment. Subsequent sessions will use Azure CLI in a Bash environment, Select Copy to copy the blocks of code, paste it into the Cloud Shell, and press Enter to run it.

Sign in to Azure

Cloud Shell is automatically authenticated under the initial account signed-in with. Use the following script to sign in using a different subscription, replacing <Subscription ID> with your Azure Subscription ID. If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

subscription="<subscriptionId>" # add subscription here

az account set -s $subscription # ...or use 'az login'

For more information, see set active subscription or log in interactively

To create a Linux pool in Azure Batch

# Create and manage a Linux pool in Azure Batch

# Variable block
let "randomIdentifier=$RANDOM*$RANDOM"
location="East US"
[[ "$RESOURCE_GROUP" == '' ]] && resourceGroup="msdocs-batch-rg-$randomIdentifier" || resourceGroup="${RESOURCE_GROUP}"
tag="manage-pool-linux"
batchAccount="msdocsbatch$randomIdentifier"

# Create a resource group.
echo "Creating $resourceGroup in "$location"..."
az group create --name $resourceGroup --location "$location" --tag $tag

# Create a Batch account.
echo "Creating $batchAccount"
az batch account create --resource-group $resourceGroup --name $batchAccount --location "$location"

# Authenticate Batch account CLI session.
az batch account login --resource-group $resourceGroup --name $batchAccount --shared-key-auth

# Retrieve a list of available images and node agent SKUs.
az batch pool supported-images list --query "[?contains(imageReference.offer,'ubuntuserver') && imageReference.publisher == 'canonical'].{Offer:imageReference.offer, Publisher:imageReference.publisher, Sku:imageReference.sku, nodeAgentSkuId:nodeAgentSkuId}[-1]" --output tsv

# Create a new Linux pool with a virtual machine configuration. The image reference 
# and node agent SKUs ID can be selected from the ouptputs of the above list command.
# The image reference is in the format: {publisher}:{offer}:{sku}:{version} where {version} is
# optional and defaults to 'latest'."

az batch pool create --id mypool-linux --vm-size Standard_A1 --image canonical:ubuntuserver:18_04-lts-gen2 --node-agent-sku-id "batch.node.ubuntu 18.04"

# Resize the pool to start some VMs.
az batch pool resize --pool-id mypool-linux --target-dedicated 5

# Check the status of the pool to see when it has finished resizing.
az batch pool show --pool-id mypool-linux

# List the compute nodes running in a pool.
az batch node list --pool-id mypool-linux

# returns [] if no compute nodes are running

To reboot a batch node

If a particular node in the pool is having issues, it can be rebooted or reimaged. The ID of the node can be retrieved with the list command above. A typical node ID is in the format tvm-xxxxxxxxxx_1-<timestamp>.

az batch node reboot \
    --pool-id mypool-linux \
    --node-id tvm-123_1-20170316t000000z

To delete a batch node

One or more compute nodes can be deleted from the pool, and any work already assigned to it can be re-allocated to another node.

az batch node delete \
    --pool-id mypool-linux \
    --node-list tvm-123_1-20170316t000000z tvm-123_2-20170316t000000z \
    --node-deallocation-option requeue

Clean up resources

Use the following command to remove the resource group and all resources associated with it using the az group delete command - unless you have an ongoing need for these resources. Some of these resources may take a while to create, as well as to delete.

az group delete --name $resourceGroup

Sample reference

This script uses the following commands. Each command in the table links to command-specific documentation.

Command Notes
az group create Creates a resource group in which all resources are stored.
az batch account create Creates the Batch account.
az batch account login Authenticates against the specified Batch account for further CLI interaction.
az batch pool node-agent-skus list Lists available node agent SKUs and image information.
az batch pool create Creates a pool of compute nodes.
az batch pool resize Resizes the number of running VMs in the specified pool.
az batch pool show Displays the properties of a pool.
az batch node list Lists all the compute node in the specified pool.
az batch node reboot Reboots the specified compute node.
az batch node delete Deletes the listed nodes from the specified pool.
az group delete Deletes a resource group including all nested resources.

Next steps

For more information on the Azure CLI, see Azure CLI documentation.