Connect an existing Linux server to Azure Arc

The following Jumpstart scenario will guide you on how to connect an Linux server to Azure Arc using a simple shell script.

Prerequisites

  • Install or update Azure CLI to version 2.49.0 and above. Use the below command to check your current installed version.

    az --version

  • Create Azure service principal (SP)

    To connect a server to Azure Arc, an Azure service principal assigned with the “Contributor” role is required. To create it, login to your Azure account run the below command (this can also be done in Azure Cloud Shell).

    az login
subscriptionId=$(az account show --query id --output tsv)
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "<Unique SP Name>" --role "Contributor" --scopes /subscriptions/$subscriptionId

    For example:

    az login
subscriptionId=$(az account show --query id --output tsv)
az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "JumpstartArc" --role "Contributor" --scopes /subscriptions/$subscriptionId

    Output should look like this:

    {
"appId": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"displayName": "JumpstartArc",
"password": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"tenant": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
}

    NOTE: If you create multiple subsequent role assignments on the same service principal, your client secret (password) will be destroyed and recreated each time. Therefore, make sure you grab the correct password.

    NOTE: The Jumpstart scenarios are designed with as much ease of use in-mind and adhering to security-related best practices whenever possible. It is optional but highly recommended to scope the service principal to a specific Azure subscription and resource group as well considering using a less privileged service principal account

  • Azure Arc-enabled servers depends on the following Azure resource providers in your subscription in order to use this service. Registration is an asynchronous process, and registration may take approximately 10 minutes.

    • Microsoft.HybridCompute

    • Microsoft.GuestConfiguration

    • Microsoft.HybridConnectivity

      az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.HybridCompute'
az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.GuestConfiguration'
az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.HybridConnectivity'

      You can monitor the registration process with the following commands:

      az provider show --namespace 'Microsoft.HybridCompute'
az provider show --namespace 'Microsoft.GuestConfiguration'
az provider show --namespace 'Microsoft.HybridConnectivity'

  • Create a new Azure resource group where you want your server(s) to show up.

    Screenshot showing Azure Portal with empty resource group

  • Download the az_connect_linux shell script.

  • Change the environment variables according to your environment.

    Screenshot showing az_connect_linux shell script

  • Copy the script to the designated server using your preferred tool of choice (or copy/paste the script to a new file inside the server). Below example shows copy the script from MacOS to the server using SCP.

    Screenshot showing scp being run

Deployment

Run the script using the . ./az_connect_linux.sh command.

NOTE: The extra dot is due to the script having an export function and needs to have the vars exported in the same shell session as the rest of the commands.

Upon completion, you will have your Linux server, connected as a new Azure Arc resource inside your resource group.

Screenshot showing az_connect_linux script being run

Screenshot showing Azure Portal with Azure Arc-enabled resource

Screenshot showing Azure Portal with Azure Arc-enabled resource detail

Delete the deployment

The most straightforward way is to delete the server via the Azure Portal, just select server and delete it.

Screenshot showing delete resource function in Azure Portal

If you want to nuke the entire environment, just delete the Azure resource group.

Screenshot showing delete resource group function in Azure Portal