Azure Container Instances libraries for Python
Use the Microsoft Azure Container Instances libraries for Python to create and manage Azure Container Instances. Learn more by reading the Azure Container Instances overview.
Use the management library to create and manage Azure Container Instances in Azure.
Install the management package via pip:
pip install azure-mgmt-containerinstance
If you'd like to see the following code examples in context, you can find them in the following GitHub repository:
Azure-Samples/aci-docs-sample-python
One of the easiest ways to authenticate SDK clients (like the Azure Container Instances and Resource Manager clients in the following example) is with file-based authentication. File-based authentication queries the AZURE_AUTH_LOCATION environment variable for the path to a credentials file. To use file-based authentication:
Create a credentials file with the Azure CLI or Cloud Shell:
az ad sp create-for-rbac --role Contributor --sdk-auth > my.azureauthIf you use the Cloud Shell to generate the credentials file, copy its contents into a local file that your Python application can access.
Set the
AZURE_AUTH_LOCATIONenvironment variable to the full path of the generated credentials file. For example (in Bash):export AZURE_AUTH_LOCATION=/home/yourusername/my.azureauth
Once you've created the credentials file and populated the AZURE_AUTH_LOCATION environment variable, use the get_client_from_auth_file method of the client_factory module to initialize the ResourceManagementClient and ContainerInstanceManagementClient objects.
# Authenticate the management clients with Azure.
# Set the AZURE_AUTH_LOCATION environment variable to the full path to an
# auth file. Generate an auth file with the Azure CLI or Cloud Shell:
# az ad sp create-for-rbac --sdk-auth > my.azureauth
auth_file_path = getenv('AZURE_AUTH_LOCATION', None)
if auth_file_path is not None:
print("Authenticating with Azure using credentials in file at {0}"
.format(auth_file_path))
aciclient = get_client_from_auth_file(
ContainerInstanceManagementClient)
resclient = get_client_from_auth_file(ResourceManagementClient)
else:
print("\nFailed to authenticate to Azure. Have you set the"
For more details about the available authentication methods in the Python management libraries for Azure, see Authenticate with the Azure Management Libraries for Python.
This example creates a container group with a single container
def create_container_group(aci_client, resource_group,
container_group_name, container_image_name):
"""Creates a container group with a single container.
Arguments:
aci_client {azure.mgmt.containerinstance.ContainerInstanceManagementClient}
-- An authenticated container instance management client.
resource_group {azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models.ResourceGroup}
-- The resource group in which to create the container group.
container_group_name {str}
-- The name of the container group to create.
container_image_name {str}
-- The container image name and tag, for example:
microsoft\aci-helloworld:latest
"""
print("Creating container group '{0}'...".format(container_group_name))
# Configure the container
container_resource_requests = ResourceRequests(memory_in_gb=1, cpu=1.0)
container_resource_requirements = ResourceRequirements(
requests=container_resource_requests)
container = Container(name=container_group_name,
image=container_image_name,
resources=container_resource_requirements,
ports=[ContainerPort(port=80)])
# Configure the container group
ports = [Port(protocol=ContainerGroupNetworkProtocol.tcp, port=80)]
group_ip_address = IpAddress(ports=ports,
dns_name_label=container_group_name,
type="Public")
group = ContainerGroup(location=resource_group.location,
containers=[container],
os_type=OperatingSystemTypes.linux,
ip_address=group_ip_address)
# Create the container group
aci_client.container_groups.create_or_update(resource_group.name,
container_group_name,
group)
# Get the created container group
container_group = aci_client.container_groups.get(resource_group.name,
container_group_name)
print("Once DNS has propagated, container group '{0}' will be reachable at"
" http://{1}".format(container_group_name,
This example creates a container group with two containers: an application container and a sidecar container.
def create_container_group_multi(aci_client, resource_group,
container_group_name,
container_image_1, container_image_2):
"""Creates a container group with two containers in the specified
resource group.
Arguments:
aci_client {azure.mgmt.containerinstance.ContainerInstanceManagementClient}
-- An authenticated container instance management client.
resource_group {azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models.ResourceGroup}
-- The resource group in which to create the container group.
container_group_name {str}
-- The name of the container group to create.
container_image_1 {str}
-- The first container image name and tag, for example:
microsoft\aci-helloworld:latest
container_image_2 {str}
-- The second container image name and tag, for example:
microsoft\aci-tutorial-sidecar:latest
"""
print("Creating container group '{0}'...".format(container_group_name))
# Configure the containers
container_resource_requests = ResourceRequests(memory_in_gb=2, cpu=1.0)
container_resource_requirements = ResourceRequirements(
requests=container_resource_requests)
container_1 = Container(name=container_group_name + '-1',
image=container_image_1,
resources=container_resource_requirements,
ports=[ContainerPort(port=80)])
container_2 = Container(name=container_group_name + '-2',
image=container_image_2,
resources=container_resource_requirements)
# Configure the container group
ports = [Port(protocol=ContainerGroupNetworkProtocol.tcp, port=80)]
group_ip_address = IpAddress(
ports=ports, dns_name_label=container_group_name, type='Public')
group = ContainerGroup(location=resource_group.location,
containers=[container_1, container_2],
os_type=OperatingSystemTypes.linux,
ip_address=group_ip_address)
# Create the container group
aci_client.container_groups.create_or_update(resource_group.name,
container_group_name, group)
# Get the created container group
container_group = aci_client.container_groups.get(resource_group.name,
container_group_name)
This example creates a container group with a single task-based container. This example demonstrates several features:
Command line override - A custom command line, different from that which is specified in the container's Dockerfile
CMDline, is specified. Command line override allows you to specify a custom command line to execute at container startup, overriding the default command line baked-in to the container. Regarding executing multiple commands at container startup, the following applies:If you want to run a single command with several command-line arguments, for example
echo FOO BAR, you must supply them as a string list to thecommandproperty of the Container. For example:command = ['echo', 'FOO', 'BAR']If, however, you want to run multiple commands with (potentially) multiple arguments, you must execute a shell and pass the chained commands as an argument. For example, this executes both an
echoand atailcommand:command = ['/bin/sh', '-c', 'echo FOO BAR && tail -f /dev/null']Environment variables - Two environment variables are specified for the container in the container group. Use environment variables to modify script or application behavior at runtime, or otherwise pass dynamic information to an application running in the container.
Restart policy - The container is configured with a restart policy of "Never," useful for task-based containers that are executed as part of a batch job.
Operation polling with AzureOperationPoller - After the create method is invoked, the operation is polled to determine when it has completed and the container group's logs can be obtained.
container_group.ip_address.fqdn))
def run_task_based_container(aci_client, resource_group, container_group_name,
container_image_name, start_command_line=None):
"""Creates a container group with a single task-based container who's
restart policy is 'Never'. If specified, the container runs a custom
command line at startup.
Arguments:
aci_client {azure.mgmt.containerinstance.ContainerInstanceManagementClient}
-- An authenticated container instance management client.
resource_group {azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models.ResourceGroup}
-- The resource group in which to create the container group.
container_group_name {str}
-- The name of the container group to create.
container_image_name {str}
-- The container image name and tag, for example:
microsoft\aci-helloworld:latest
start_command_line {str}
-- The command line that should be executed when the
container starts. This value can be None.
"""
# If a start command wasn't specified, use a default
if start_command_line is None:
start_command_line = "python wordcount.py http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html"
# Configure some environment variables in the container which the
# wordcount.py or other script can read to modify its behavior.
env_var_1 = EnvironmentVariable(name='NumWords', value='5')
env_var_2 = EnvironmentVariable(name='MinLength', value='8')
print("Creating container group '{0}' with start command '{1}'"
.format(container_group_name, start_command_line))
# Configure the container
container_resource_requests = ResourceRequests(memory_in_gb=1, cpu=1.0)
container_resource_requirements = ResourceRequirements(
requests=container_resource_requests)
container = Container(name=container_group_name,
image=container_image_name,
resources=container_resource_requirements,
command=start_command_line.split(),
environment_variables=[env_var_1, env_var_2])
# Configure the container group
group = ContainerGroup(location=resource_group.location,
containers=[container],
os_type=OperatingSystemTypes.linux,
restart_policy=ContainerGroupRestartPolicy.never)
# Create the container group
result = aci_client.container_groups.create_or_update(resource_group.name,
container_group_name,
group)
# Wait for the container create operation to complete. The operation is
# "done" when the container group provisioning state is one of:
# Succeeded, Canceled, Failed
while result.done() is False:
sys.stdout.write('.')
time.sleep(1)
# Get the provisioning state of the container group.
container_group = aci_client.container_groups.get(resource_group.name,
container_group_name)
if str(container_group.provisioning_state).lower() == 'succeeded':
print("\nCreation of container group '{}' succeeded."
.format(container_group_name))
else:
print("\nCreation of container group '{}' failed. Provisioning state"
"is: {}".format(container_group_name,
container_group.provisioning_state))
# Get the logs for the container
logs = aci_client.container.list_logs(resource_group.name,
container_group_name,
This example lists the container groups in a resource group and then prints a few of their properties.
When you list container groups,the instance_view of each returned group is None. To get the details of the containers within a container group, you must then get the container group, which returns the group with its instance_view property populated. See the next section, Get an existing container group, for an example of iterating over a container group's containers in its instance_view.
print("Logs for container '{0}':".format(container_group_name))
print("{0}".format(logs.content))
def list_container_groups(aci_client, resource_group):
"""Lists the container groups in the specified resource group.
Arguments:
aci_client {azure.mgmt.containerinstance.ContainerInstanceManagementClient}
-- An authenticated container instance management client.
resource_group {azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models.ResourceGroup}
-- The resource group containing the container group(s).
"""
print("Listing container groups in resource group '{0}'...".format(
resource_group.name))
This example gets a specific container group from a resource group, and then prints a few of its properties (including its containers) and their values.
The get operation returns a container group with its instance_view populated, which allows you to iterate over each container in the group. Only the get operation populates the instance_vew property of the container group--listing the container groups in a subscription or resource group doesn't populate the instance view due to the potentially expensive nature of the operation (for example, when listing hundreds of container groups, each potentially containing multiple containers). As mentioned previously in the List container groups section, after a list, you must subsequently get a specific container group to obtain its container instance details.
resource_group.name)
for container_group in container_groups:
print(" {0}".format(container_group.name))
def print_container_group_details(aci_client, resource_group, container_group_name):
"""Gets the specified container group and then prints a few of its properties and their values.
Arguments:
aci_client {azure.mgmt.containerinstance.ContainerInstanceManagementClient}
-- An authenticated container instance management client.
resource_group {azure.mgmt.resource.resources.models.ResourceGroup}
-- The name of the resource group containing the container
group.
container_group_name {str}
-- The name of the container group whose details should be
printed.
"""
print("Getting container group details for container group '{0}'..."
.format(container_group_name))
container_group = aci_client.container_groups.get(resource_group.name,
container_group_name)
print("------------------------")
print("Name: {0}".format(container_group.name))
print("State: {0}".format(container_group.provisioning_state))
print("FQDN: {0}".format(container_group.ip_address.fqdn))
print("IP: {0}".format(container_group.ip_address.ip))
print("Region: {0}".format(container_group.location))
This example deletes several container groups from a resource group, as well as the resource group.
# Clean up resources
input("Press ENTER to delete all resources created by this sample: ")
aciclient.container_groups.delete(resource_group_name,
container_group_name)
aciclient.container_groups.delete(resource_group_name,
multi_container_group_name)
aciclient.container_groups.delete(resource_group_name,
task_container_group_name)
resclient.resource_groups.delete(resource_group_name)
The source code for the preceding examples can be found on GitHub:
More Azure Container Instances code samples:
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