This blog post was originally stretched out into a few sections. It never came into fruition. Leaving this here as a reference for anyone else trying similar things.

• Creating and configuring Azure to work with Terraform.
• Terraforming a Azure resource group using Azure Resource Manager (ARM).
• Configuring a base image.
• Using Terraform and Ansible to deploy an infrastructure.

This second section deals with using Terraform and configuring a base image, for future use.

the first terraform apply

The first run of Terraform will be to create the vm_image Resource Group.

Clone the repository if you haven’t already (or create your own):

git clone git@github.com:bonovoxly/terraforms.git

• Step into the ./terraforms/ARM/vm_image directory:

cd terraforms/ARM/vm_image

• Source the azure_credentials.sh file (loads Azure variables as environment variables from ~/.azure/credentials).

source ./azure_credentials.sh

• Run Terraform plan and apply it:

% terraform plan

% terraform apply

It may take a few minutes to create the resource group and all associated objects. Take a look at the Terraform files here.

configure the base VM image

With the vm_image resource group created, the next step is to configure the instance. Get the IP address from the Azure portal.

• SSH to the instance.
• Run the following:

% sudo waagent -force -deprovision+user
% exit

• Configure Azure CLI:

% azure config mode arm
% azure login

• Shutdown the VM:

% azure vm deallocate -g vmimage -n vmtarget
info:    Executing command vm deallocate
+ Looking up the VM "vmtarget"
+ Deallocating the virtual machine "vmtarget"
info:    vm deallocate command OK

• Generalize the VM:

% azure vm generalize -g vmimage -n vmtarget
info:    Executing command vm generalize
+ Looking up the VM "vmtarget"
+ Generalizing the virtual machine "vmtarget"
info:    vm generalize command OK

links

• https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/virtual-machines-linux-capture-image/