How to create HPC Cluster based on Azure CycleCloud
Installing Azure CLI
- Login to the machine using privileged account.
- Download the latest build of Azure CLI:
- Windows download instruction and location:
- Linux download instruction and location:
Login to the Azure subscription
- Run the command below to login to the Azure subscription:
- az login
- List available subscriptions:
- az account list --output table
- Change the context to a specific Azure subscription:
- az account set --subscription "My Subscription"
- Note: Replace "My Subscription” with the relevant subscription name
- Run the command below to verify the currently selected Azure subscription:
- az account show
Configure CycleCloud pre-requirements
- From a command prompt, run the command below to configure a service principal:
- az ad sp create-for-rbac --name CycleCloudApp-MySubscription --years 1
- Note: Replace CycleCloudApp-MySubscription with a unique name, relevant to the target Azure subscription
- Document the command output (appId, displayName, name, password, tenant)
- From Linux command prompt, run the command below to generate SSH key pair:
- ssh-keygen -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa -m pem -t rsa -N "" -b 4096
Deploy the Azure CycleCloud
- Login to the Azure Portal:
- From the left pane click on Subscriptions -> from the main pane, click on “global subscriptions filter” -> make sure the target Azure subscription is the only subscription selected
- Inside the top search pane, write “Marketplace”
- Inside the “Search the Marketplace” field, write “Azure CycleCloud”
- Click on Create:
- Subscription: Select the target subscription name
- Resource group: Select “Create new”
- Virtual machine name: Specify here the Azure CycleCloud VM name
- Region: Specify a region close to your location (such as West Europe)
- Note: For full list of regions, see:
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/global-infrastructure/locations/
- Availability options: Leave the default settings
- Image: Leave the default “Azure CycleCloud”
- Size: For small HPC cluster, you may select Standard D2s v3 (2 vCPU, 8GB), otherwise, leave the default Standard D4s v3 (4 vCPU, 16GB)
- Authentication type: SSH public key
- Username: Specify here a username for the cluster admin account (for SSH login to the machine)
- Note: Remember to document this detail for future use
- SSH public key: Paste here the content of the SSH public key (id_rsa.pub) previously created
- Click Next: Disks
- OS disk type – For test purpose or small scale cluster, select “Standard SSD”
- For production or large scale cluster, select “Premium SSD”
- Click Next: Networking
- Virtual network: Leave default settings
- Subnet: Leave default settings
- Configure network security group: Click on “Create new” -> leave the default settings -> click OK
- Click Next: Management
- Boot diagnostics: Select Off
- Click Next: Advanced -> click Next: Tags
- Name: Specify here Project
- Value: Specify here Azure subscription name
- Click Next: Review + create
- Click on Create
- Wait for the deployment process to complete
- When the deployment process completes, click on Go to resource
- From the newly created VM “Overview” page, locate the Public IP address and document it.
Azure CycleCloud Initial Setup
- Open a Browser, and go the URL below:
- https://My_CycleCloud_IP
- Note 1: Replace My_CycleCloud_IP with the public IP address of the CycleCloud VM
- Note 2: Ignore the SSL certificate warning (by default CycleCloud is deployed with self-signed certificate)
- Site name: specify here unique name for the cluster
- Click Next
- Select “I agree” and click Next
- User ID: Specify an admin account for managing the CycleCloud
- Name: Specify a full name for the CycleCloud admin account
- Password: Specify here complex password for the CycleCloud admin account and confirm the password
- SSH public key: Paste here the content of the SSH public key (id_rsa.pub)
- Click on Done
- On the “No Account Configured” page, click on “Click here”
- Account Name: Specify here the service principal name previously created
- Tenant ID: Specify here the “tenant” information of the service principal
- Application ID: Specify here appId of the service principal
- Application Secret: Specify here the service principal password
- Click on “Validate Credentials”
- Default Location: Select the same region where the CycleCloud was deployed into (such as West Europe)
- Resource Group: Select the resource group where the CycleCloud was deployed into
- Storage Account: Specify a name for a storage account (up to 24 characters, lowercase and numbers)
- Click on Save