Azure Artist Anywhere (AAA) Deployment Framework

Azure Artist Anywhere (AAA) is a modular & configurable Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solution deployment framework
for Azure HPC Rendering & Visualization. Enable remote artist creativity and productivity with global Azure scale and
distribution from regions to extended location (low latency) edge zones with Azure HPC VMs and Azure GPU VMs.

The following design principles are implemented throughout each AAA solution deployment framework module.

• Defense-in-depth layered security model with integration of core security services including Managed Identity,
  Key Vault, Private Link / Endpoints, Private DNS, Network Security Groups, NAT Gateway, Monitor, Bastion, etc
• Any custom software or 3rd-party software is supported in a Compute Gallery custom image repository
• Both Multi-Region and Edge Zone deployments are supported via a Virtual Network per region / zone
• Clean separation of Terraform configuration files (config.*.auto.tfvars) and implementation files (*.tf)

Module Name	Module Description	Required for Burst Render? (Compute Only)	Required for Full Solution? (Compute & Storage)
0 Global Foundation	Defines global config (Azure Region) and foundational services (Terraform State Storage, Managed Identity, etc).	Yes	Yes
1 Virtual Network	Deploys Virtual Network with VPN or ExpressRoute gateway services.	Yes, if Virtual Network is not yet deployed	Yes, if Virtual Network is not yet deployed
2 Image Builder	Deploys Image Builder and Compute Gallery with image customize scripts.	No, use your custom image config here	No, use your custom image config here
3 File Storage	Deploys native (Blob [NFS], Files, NetApp Files, Qumulo, Lustre) or hosted (Weka, Hammerspace) storage with optional file load.	No	Yes
4 File Cache	Deploys HPC Cache or Avere vFXT cache clusters for highly-scalable storage file caching near compute.	Yes	No
5 Render Manager	Deploys Virtual Machines for render job scheduling and management.	No	No
6 Render Farm	Deploys Virtual Machine Scale Sets for scalable render farm compute.	Yes	Yes
7 Artist Workstation	Deploys Virtual Machines for remote artist workstations with HP Anyware.	No	No

Local Installation Process

The following installation process is required for local deployment orchestration.

1. Make sure the Azure CLI is installed locally and accessible in your PATH environment variable.
2. Make sure the Terraform CLI is installed locally and accessible in your PATH environment variable.
3. Run az login locally to authenticate into your Azure account. This is how Terraform connects to Azure.
4. Run az account show to ensure your current Azure subscription context is set as expected.
   To change your current Azure subscription context, run az account set --subscription <subscriptionId>
5. Clone this GitHub repo to your local workstation for module configuration and deployment orchestration.

Module Configuration & Deployment

For each module, here is the recommended configuration and deployment process.

1. Review and edit the config values in config.\*.auto.tfvars as needed for your target deployment.
   • For module 0 Global Foundation, review and edit the following config files.
     • module/backend.config
     • module/variables.tf
   • For modules 2 Image Builder, 5 Render Manager, 6 Render Farm and 7 Artist Workstation,
     • Make sure you have sufficient compute cores quota available on your Azure subscription for each configured virtual machine size.
     • By default, Spot is enabled in module 6 Render Farm configuration. Therefore, Spot cores quota should be approved for your Azure subscription and target region(s).
   • For modules 5 Render Manager, 6 Render Farm and 7 Artist Workstation, make sure each image config references the correct custom image in your Azure subscription.
2. For module 0 Global Foundation, run terraform init to initialize the module local directory (append -upgrade if older providers are detected).
3. For all modules except 0 Global Foundation, run terraform init -backend-config ../0.Global.Foundation/config/backend.config to initialize the module local directory (append -upgrade if older providers are detected).
4. Run terraform apply to generate the Terraform deployment Plan (append -destroy to delete Azure resources).
5. Review the Terraform deployment Plan before confirming to add, change and/or destroy Azure resources.
   • For module 2 Image Builder to build virtual machine images, use the Azure portal or Image Builder CLI to start image build runs as needed.

Render Job Samples

The following sample images were rendered on Azure via multiple render farm, engine and job submission options.

Disney Moana Island

The following Disney Moana Island scene was rendered on Azure via the Physically-Based Ray Tracer (PBRT) v4 render engine.

To render the Disney Moana Island scene on an Azure Linux render farm, the following job submission command can be submitted from a Linux and/or Windows artist workstation.

deadlinecommand -SubmitCommandLineJob -name moana-island -executable pbrt -arguments "--outfile /mnt/content/pbrt/moana/island-v4.png /mnt/content/pbrt/moana/island/pbrt-v4/island.pbrt"

To render the Disney Moana Island scene on an Azure Windows render farm, the following job submission command can be submitted from a Linux and/or Windows artist workstation.

deadlinecommand -SubmitCommandLineJob -name moana-island -executable pbrt.exe -arguments "--outfile X:\pbrt\moana\island-v4.png X:\pbrt\moana\island\pbrt-v4\island.pbrt"

Blender Splash Screen

The following Blender 3.4 Splash screen was rendered on Azure via the Blender render engine.

To render the Blender Splash screen on an Azure Linux render farm, the following job submission command can be submitted from a Linux and/or Windows artist workstation.

deadlinecommand -SubmitCommandLineJob -name blender-splash -executable blender -arguments "--background /mnt/content/blender/3.4/splash.blend --render-output /mnt/content/blender/3.4/splash --enable-autoexec --render-frame 1"

To render the Blender Splash screen on an Azure Windows render farm, the following job submission command can be submitted from a Linux and/or Windows artist workstation.

deadlinecommand -SubmitCommandLineJob -name blender-splash -executable blender.exe -arguments "--background X:\blender\3.4\splash.blend --render-output X:\blender\3.4\splash --enable-autoexec --render-frame 1"

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.

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This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

Trademarks

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