CycleCloud ARM

Deploying Azure CycleCloud into a subscription using an Azure Resource Manager template

Introduction

• This repo contains an ARM template for deploying Azure CycleCloud.

• The template deploys a VNET with 3 separate subnets:

  1. cycle: The subnet in which the CycleCloud server is started in.
  2. compute: A /22 subnet for the HPC clusters
  3. user: The subnet for creating login nodes.

• Provisions a VM in the cycle subnet and installs Azure CycleCloud on it.

Pre-requisites

1. Service Principal

   • Azure CycleCloud requires a service principal with contributor access to your Azure subscription.

   • The simplest way to create one is using the Azure CLI in Cloud Shell, which is already configured with your Azure subscription:

     $ az ad sp create-for-rbac --name CycleCloudApp --years 1
     {
             "appId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
             "displayName": "CycleCloudApp",
             "name": "http://CycleCloudApp",
             "password": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
             "tenant": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
     }

     • Save the output -- you'll need the appId, password and tenant.

   • Alternatively, follow these instructions to create a Service Principal

     • In this case, the authentication key is the password

2. An SSH key

   • An SSH key is needed to log into the CycleCloud VM and clusters
   • Specify a SSH public key, and that will be used in all CycleCloud Clusters as well as the application server.
   • See section below for instructions on creating an SSH key if you do not have one.

Deploying Azure CycleCloud

From the Azure Portal

• Click on the button above to deploy Azure Cyclecloud into your subscription.

• Required Fields:

  • Tenant Id: The Tenant ID as listed in the service principal
  • Application Id: The Application ID of the service principal
  • Application Secret: The Application Password or Authentication Key of the service principal
  • SSH Public Key: The public key used to log into the CycleCloud VM
  • Username: The username for the CycleCloud VM. We suggest you use your username in the Azure portal, sans domain @domain.com

Using the AZ CLI

• Clone the repo

  $ git clone https://github.com/CycleCloudCommunity/cyclecloud_arm.git

• Edit and update the parameters in params.azuredeploy.json

• Create a Resource Group, specifying a group name and location:

  $ az group create --name AzureCycleCloud --location ${LOCATION}

• Deploy the template:

  $ az deployment group create --name "azure_cyclecloud_deployment" --resource-group AzureCycleCloud --template-file azuredeploy.json --parameters params.azuredeploy.json

The deployment process runs an installation script as a custom script extension, which installs and sets up CycleCloud. This process takes between 5-8mins

Login to the CycleCloud application server

• To connect to the CycleCloud webserver, first retrieve the FQDN of the CycleServer VM from the Azure Portal, then browse to https://cycleserverfqdn/.

You could also reach the webserver through the VM's public IP address:

    $ az network public-ip show -g ${RESOURCE-GROUP} -n cycle-ip --query dnsSettings.fqdn

• The first time you access the webserver, the Azure CycleCloud End User License Agreement will be displayed, and you will be prompted to accept it.

• After that, you will be prompted to create an admin user for the application server. For convenience, it is recommended that you use the same username specified in the parameters.

Initialize the CycleCloud CLI

• The CycleCloud CLI is required for importing custom cluster templates and projects, and is installed in the Azure CycleCLoud VM.

• To use the CLI, SSH into the VM with the private key that matches the public key supplied in the parameter file. The SSH user is username specified in the parameters.

• Once on the CycleCloud server, initialize the CycleCloud CLI. The username and password are the ones you created and entered in the web UI in the section above.

• $ cyclecloud initialize --batch --url=https://localhost --verify-ssl=false --username=${USERNAME} --password=${PASSWORD}

• Test the CycleCloud CLI

  $ cyclecloud locker list

Trouble with SSH

• Both Bash and Powershell variants of the Azure Cloud Shell have the SSH client tools installed.

• To generate an ssh-key:

• To obtain the public key of the generated key, run the following command and copy the output:

  PS Azure:\> cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

• You may also SSH into the VM from Cloud Shell:

  PS Azure:> ssh username@cyclecloud.fqdn