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Quickstart - Create a Windows Virtual Machine Scale Set with Bicep
Learn how to quickly create a Windows virtual machine scale with Bicep to deploy a sample app and configures autoscale rules
ju-shim
jushiman
quickstart
virtual-machine-scale-sets
windows
06/14/2024
mimckitt
subject-armqs, mode-arm, devx-track-bicep

Quickstart: Create a Windows Virtual Machine Scale Set with Bicep

A Virtual Machine Scale Set allows you to deploy and manage a set of auto-scaling virtual machines. You can scale the number of VMs in the Virtual Machine Scale Set manually, or define rules to autoscale based on resource usage like CPU, memory demand, or network traffic. An Azure load balancer then distributes traffic to the VM instances in the Virtual Machine Scale Set. In this quickstart, you create a Virtual Machine Scale Set and deploy a sample application with Bicep.

[!INCLUDE About Bicep]

Prerequisites

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

Review the Bicep file

The Bicep file used in this quickstart is from Azure Quickstart Templates.

:::code language="bicep" source="~/quickstart-templates/demos/vmss-windows-webapp-dsc-autoscale/main.bicep":::

The following resources are defined in the Bicep file:

Define a scale set

To create a Virtual Machine Scale Set with a Bicep file, you define the appropriate resources. The core parts of the Virtual Machine Scale Set resource type are:

Property Description of property Example template value
type Azure resource type to create Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets
name The scale set name myScaleSet
location The location to create the scale set East US
sku.name The VM size for each scale set instance Standard_A1
sku.capacity The number of VM instances to initially create 2
upgradePolicy.mode VM instance upgrade mode when changes occur Automatic
imageReference The platform or custom image to use for the VM instances Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
osProfile.computerNamePrefix The name prefix for each VM instance myvmss
osProfile.adminUsername The username for each VM instance azureuser
osProfile.adminPassword The password for each VM instance P@ssw0rd!

To customize a Virtual Machine Scale Set Bicep file, you can change the VM size or initial capacity. Another option is to use a different platform or a custom image.

Add a sample application

To test your Virtual Machine Scale Set, install a basic web application. When you deploy a Virtual Machine Scale Set, VM extensions can provide post-deployment configuration and automation tasks, such as installing an app. Scripts can be downloaded from GitHub or provided to the Azure portal at extension run-time. To apply an extension to your Virtual Machine Scale Set, add the extensionProfile section to the resource example above. The extension profile typically defines the following properties:

  • Extension type
  • Extension publisher
  • Extension version
  • Location of configuration or install scripts
  • Commands to execute on the VM instances

The Bicep file uses the PowerShell DSC extension to install an ASP.NET MVC app that runs in IIS.

An install script is downloaded from GitHub, as defined in url. The extension then runs InstallIIS from the IISInstall.ps1 script, as defined in function and Script. The ASP.NET app itself is provided as a Web Deploy package, which is also downloaded from GitHub, as defined in WebDeployPackagePath:

Deploy the Bicep file

  1. Save the Bicep file as main.bicep to your local computer.

  2. Deploy the Bicep file using either Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell.

    CLI

    az group create --name exampleRG --location eastus
az deployment group create --resource-group exampleRG --template-file main.bicep --parameters vmssName=<vmss-name>

    PowerShell

    New-AzResourceGroup -Name exampleRG -Location eastus
New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -ResourceGroupName exampleRG -TemplateFile ./main.bicep -vmssName "<vmss-name>"

    Replace <vmss-name> with the name of the Virtual Machine Scale Set. It must be 3-61 characters in length and globally unique across Azure. You'll be prompted to enter adminPassword.

    [!NOTE] When the deployment finishes, you should see a message indicating the deployment succeeded. It can take 10-15 minutes for the Virtual Machine Scale Set to be created and apply the extension to configure the app.

Validate the deployment

To see your Virtual Machine Scale Set in action, access the sample web application in a web browser. Obtain the public IP address of your load balancer using Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell.

CLI

az network public-ip show --resource-group exampleRG

PowerShell

Get-AzPublicIpAddress -ResourceGroupName exampleRG | Select IpAddress

Enter the public IP address of the load balancer in to a web browser in the format http://publicIpAddress/MyApp. The load balancer distributes traffic to one of your VM instances, as shown in the following example:

Running IIS site

Clean up resources

When no longer needed, use the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell to remove the resource group and its resources.

CLI

az group delete --name exampleRG

PowerShell

Remove-AzResourceGroup -Name exampleRG

Next steps

In this quickstart, you created a Windows Virtual Machine Scale Set with a Bicep file and used the PowerShell DSC extension to install a basic ASP.NET app on the VM instances. To learn more, continue to the tutorial for how to create and manage Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets.

[!div class="nextstepaction"] Create and manage Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets