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Create a Linux virtual machines in Azure using Ansible

This article presents a sample Ansible playbook for configuring a Linux virtual machine.

In this article, you learn how to:

  • Create a resource group
  • Create a virtual network
  • Create a public IP address
  • Create a network security group
  • Create a virtual network interface card
  • Create a virtual machine

1. Configure your environment

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

2. Create an SSH key pair

  1. Run the following command. When prompted, specify the files to be created in the following directory: /home/azureuser/.ssh/authorized_keys.

    ssh-keygen -m PEM -t rsa -b 4096

  2. Copy the contents of the public key file. By default, the public key file is named id_rsa.pub. The value is a long string starting with "ssh-rsa ". You'll need this value in the next step.

3. Implement the Ansible playbook

  1. Create a directory in which to test and run the sample Ansible code and make it the current directory.

  2. Create a file named main.yml and insert the following code. Replace the <key_data> placeholder with the public key value from the previous step.

    - name: Create Azure VM
 hosts: localhost
 connection: local
 tasks:
 - name: Create resource group
 azure_rm_resourcegroup:
 name: myResourceGroup
 location: eastus
 - name: Create virtual network
 azure_rm_virtualnetwork:
 resource_group: myResourceGroup
 name: myVnet
 address_prefixes: "10.0.0.0/16"
 - name: Add subnet
 azure_rm_subnet:
 resource_group: myResourceGroup
 name: mySubnet
 address_prefix: "10.0.1.0/24"
 virtual_network: myVnet
 - name: Create public IP address
 azure_rm_publicipaddress:
 resource_group: myResourceGroup
 allocation_method: Static
 name: myPublicIP
 register: output_ip_address
 - name: Public IP of VM
 debug:
 msg: "The public IP is {{ output_ip_address.state.ip_address }}."
 - name: Create Network Security Group that allows SSH
 azure_rm_securitygroup:
 resource_group: myResourceGroup
 name: myNetworkSecurityGroup
 rules:
 - name: SSH
 protocol: Tcp
 destination_port_range: 22
 access: Allow
 priority: 1001
 direction: Inbound
 - name: Create virtual network interface card
 azure_rm_networkinterface:
 resource_group: myResourceGroup
 name: myNIC
 virtual_network: myVnet
 subnet: mySubnet
 public_ip_name: myPublicIP
 security_group: myNetworkSecurityGroup
 - name: Create VM
 azure_rm_virtualmachine:
 resource_group: myResourceGroup
 name: myVM
 vm_size: Standard_DS1_v2
 admin_username: azureuser
 ssh_password_enabled: false
 ssh_public_keys:
 - path: /home/azureuser/.ssh/authorized_keys
 key_data: "<key_data>"
 network_interfaces: myNIC
 image:
 offer: 0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy
 publisher: Canonical
 sku: 22_04-lts
 version: latest

4. Run the playbook

Run ansible-playbook to run the Ansible playbook.

ansible-playbook main.yml

5. Verify the results

Run az vm list to verify the VM was created.

az vm list -d -o table --query "[?name=='myVM']"

6. Connect to the VM

Run the SSH command to connect to your new Linux VM. Replace the <ip-address> placeholder with the IP address from the previous step.

ssh azureuser@<ip_address> -i /home/azureuser/.ssh/authorized_keys/id_rsa

Clean up resources

  1. Save the following code as delete_rg.yml.

    ---
- hosts: localhost
 tasks:
 - name: Deleting resource group - "{{ name }}"
 azure_rm_resourcegroup:
 name: "{{ name }}"
 state: absent
 register: rg
 - debug:
 var: rg

  2. Run the playbook using the ansible-playbook command. Replace the placeholder with the name of the resource group to be deleted. All resources within the resource group will be deleted.

    ansible-playbook delete_rg.yml --extra-vars "name=<resource_group>"

    Key points:

    • Because of the register variable and debug section of the playbook, the results display when the command finishes.

Next steps

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