[Nix-dev] NixOS on Azure?

[Ross Gardler (MS OPEN TECH)]

I'm not sure if you mean the initial connection for the end user (i.e. someone deploying from your image) or for your preparation of the image. 

If you mean the end user then the user provides either an SSH key or a password when the deploy the image. This is handled by either the Azure portal or the cross platform CLI we provide.

If you mean for the preparation then you use the credentials you set up in preparing the image and then deprovision the image, which removes all keys (amongst other things) and provides the hooks for the Azure portal/CLI to add in a new set of keys.

Both processes are documented in http://msopentech.com/blog/2014/05/14/deploy-customize-freebsd-virtual-machine-image-microsoft-azure/ (which is about FreeBSD but the process is the same for Linux).

Ross

Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc.
A subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation
MS Open Tech is hiring! Ask me for details if anyone you know is interested (http://aka.ms/msopentechjobs)

-----Original Message-----
From: Shea Levy [mailto:shea at shealevy.com] 
Sent: Friday, September 5, 2014 8:46 PM
To: Ross Gardler (MS OPEN TECH)
Cc: nix-dev at lists.science.uu.nl
Subject: Re: [Nix-dev] NixOS on Azure?

How is the initial connection managed? Does Azure provide a console, or some interface to provide the VM with an SSH public key, or some such?

On Fri, Sep 05, 2014 at 11:03:34PM +0000, Ross Gardler (MS OPEN TECH) wrote:
> That's correct Azure images are VHD's. I've not tried the route you propose, so can't promise it will work. Certainly worth a try though.
> 
> Sent from my Windows Phone
> ________________________________
> From: Shea Levy<mailto:shea at shealevy.com>
> Sent: ‎9/‎5/‎2014 3:58 PM
> To: Ross Gardler (MS OPEN TECH)<mailto:Ross.Gardler at microsoft.com>
> Cc: nix-dev at lists.science.uu.nl<mailto:nix-dev at lists.science.uu.nl>
> Subject: Re: [Nix-dev] NixOS on Azure?
> 
> Hi Ross,
> 
> Am I reading [1] correctly that Azure VMs are started from VHDs? If 
> so, we already have a function for creating virutalbox images that 
> converts a raw image containing a base NixOS system to VDI using 
> qemu-img, so it should be straightforward to tweak that to create a VHD instead.
> 
> [1]: 
> http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/virtual-machin
> es-linux-create-upload-vhd/
> 
> ~Shea
> 
> On Fri, Sep 05, 2014 at 09:32:58PM +0000, Ross Gardler (MS OPEN TECH) wrote:
> > I see that NixOS has images available for some of the popular clouds, but not for Azure. I'd love to see a NixOS image on VM Depot<http://vmdepot.msopentech.com/>. VM Depot is a community managed repository of virtual machines for Azure. We have something like 8 different Linux distros and around 1700 images built on those distros (ranging from developer stacks through to end user applications).
> >
> > The first step to getting folks to publish NixOS based images is to have a base distribution of NixOS available and, preferably, updated every time there is an official release of NixOS. Is anyone here interested in creating and upload an image to VM Depot? I'm happy to help guide the process.
> >
> > Some common questions for the curious:
> >
> >
> > 1)      Does it cost anything to store an image on VM Depot? No - all storage costs are paid by Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc (my employer)
> >
> > 2)      Does it cost anything to publish an image on VM Depot? Probably not - You will need an Azure subscription to temporarily store the image and there will be bandwidth charges for the initial copy. However, there are mechanisms by which we can ensure open source projects have sufficient Azure credits to do this without receiving a bill. Create a free Windows Azure trial subscription<http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/?WT.mc_id=AA4C1C935> to get started straight away (one month, $200 credit)
> >
> > 3)      Are there an restrictions on what can be uploaded to VM Depot? - Short answer - if its open source then no there are no restrictions. Long answer is in the Terms of Use http://vmdepot.msopentech.com/ToU.htm
> >
> > 4)      Why would I want to upload an image to VM Depot? It is easy for people to deploy a VM from VM Depot to Azure. This means it is easy for people to experiment with your project. More people experimenting means more users, more users means more potential contributors to the project and more potential customers for those employing contributors.
> >
> > 5)      How do I get started creating a new VM based on an existing distribution? See http://msopentech.com/blog/2014/05/14/deploy-customize-freebsd-virtual-machine-image-microsoft-azure/ for a description of the general process (need not be FreeBSD as the starting image, the process is the same for any of the other images available)
> >
> > 6)      How do I get started creating a new base distribution VM? http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/virtual-machines-linux-tutorial/
> >
> > 7)      Who can I contact for assistance? Ross Gardler - ross.gardler at microsoft.com
> >
> > Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc.
> > A subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation MS Open Tech is 
> > hiring<http://aka.ms/msopentechjobs>! Ask me for details if anyone 
> > you know is interested (http://aka.ms/msopentechjobs)
> >
> 
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>