Azure Stack is Azure technology built on vetted hardware and distributed by approved vendors that bring Azure cloud technology into your data center. The vendors manage the hardware and the Microsoft manages the software.
Prerequisites :
- Check for the prerequisites and considerations for the Azure Stack hub deployment here.
- Make sure there are minimum 5 hard drives including OS disk (200 GB) with each 350 GB. (This can be achieved using smart array controller)
- Deploy the OS only through Intelligence provisioning (best practice), which helps in proper installation of drives.
- Make sure the attached physical/ logical disks can be pooled.
Azure stack deployment :
- Download the Azure stack hub development kit installer.
- Follow the registration process to download the installer on the server, where ASDK environment is going to be established.
- Run the installer as the Administrator and browse for the location where to save the ASDK and download the ASDK.
- After the completion of the download, run the installer and extract the files to a specified folder.
- To download the installer, run the following powershell script
$URI = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/AzureStack-Tools/master/Deployment/asdk-installer.ps1'
$LocalPath = 'C:\AzureStack_Installer'
New-Item $LocalPath -Type Directory
Invoke-WebRequest $URI -OutFile ($LocalPath + '\' + 'asdk-installer.ps1')
cd $LocalPath- Once the above powershell script has been executed successfully, a powershell script has been downloaded in the defined local path, run the powershell script that has been downloaded as shown below.
- A GUI will be prompted. Select Prepare environment and browse the previously downloaded CloudBuilder VHDX.
- Click next to populate accordingly,
| Category | Value |
| Username | Administrator |
| Password | ***** |
| Computer Name | ASDK-1 |
| Static IP configuration | Enable |
- Select the ultimate NIC adapter and click next.
- Make sure the IP CIDR and the gateways are exemplary.
- Once
Completed > Next > Reboot Now. - Following reboot, disable the network adapters that are not in use to provide a clean path to the Azure Stack Development kit in
Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections. - Re-download the powershell script using following command and run the downloaded powershell script.
$URI = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/AzureStack-Tools/master/Deployment/asdk-installer.ps1'
$LocalPath = 'C:\AzureStack_Installer'
New-Item $LocalPath -Type Directory
Invoke-WebRequest $URI -OutFile ($LocalPath + '\' + 'asdk-installer.ps1')
cd $LocalPath- Select Install from the prompted GUI console.
- Populate the fields accordingly,
| Category | Value |
| Type | Azure Cloud |
| AAD Directory | digiphinixstack.onmicrosoft.com (it should be primary domain) |
| Password | same as the local administrator |
- Select the NIC adapter and click next to crowd the network configuration details. (Time server IP : 216.239.35.0 ; DNS forwarder IP : 8.8.8.8)
- Once
Completed > Next > Deploy. - In about two minutes or so you’ll be asked to enter the credentials for a global administrator in your AAD directory, enter the credentials accordingly.
NOTE: The user credentials provided should be administrator of the Azure Active Directory tenant.
- The deployment process will takes almost 8 to 9 hours, during which the host server will automatically reboot (approximately 1 hr 20 min ). Sign in as
azurestack\AzureStackAdminafter the ASDK host restarts and password remainssame as the host server. - After a successful completion of the deployment the message COMPLETE : Action ‘Deployment’ is shown as following,
Post-deployment :
- Run the following powershell script for installing and configuring Azure powershell for ASDK.
Set-PSRepository -Name "PSGallery" -InstallationPolicy Trusted
Get-Module -Name Azs.* -ListAvailable | Uninstall-Module -Force -Verbose
Get-Module -Name Azure* -ListAvailable | Uninstall-Module -Force -Verbose
#Install the AzureRM.BootStrapper module. Select Yes when prompted to install NuGet
Install-Module -Name AzureRM.BootStrapper
#Install and import the API Version Profile required by Azure Stack into the current PowerShell session.
Use-AzureRmProfile -Profile 2019-03-01-hybrid -Force
Install-Module -Name AzureStack -RequiredVersion 1.8.2- Download the Azure stack tools using following powershell script.
#Change directory to the root directory.
cd \
#Enforce usage of TLSv1.2 to download the Azure Stack tools archive from GitHub
Invoke-WebRequest
-Uri https://github.com/Azure/AzureStack-Tools/archive/master.zip`
-OutFile master.zip
#Expand the downloaded files.
Expand-Archive -Path master.zip -DestinationPath . -Force
#Change to the tools directory.
cd AzureStack-Tools-masterPortal access to Azure stack :
- Register the local environment with the Azure.
- AzS-ERCS01 is one of the virtual machines that is deployed during the process of ASDK deployment. This VM is responsible for the Connection establishment between Azure and ASDK host server.
- Validate the VM AzS-ERCS01 using following powershell script before local environment registration with Azure.
Enter-PSSession -ComputerName AzS-ERCS01 -ConfigurationName PrivilegedEndpoint
Test-AzureStack- Sign-in to the Azure stack account using
Login-AzureRmAccount- Register the ASDK using following powershell script.
#Add the Azure cloud subscription environment name.
#Supported environment names are AzureCloud, AzureChinaCloud, or AzureUSGovernment depending which Azure subscription you're using.
Add-AzureRmAccount -EnvironmentName "<environment name>"
#Register the Azure Stack resource provider in your Azure subscription
Register-AzureRmResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.AzureStack
#Import the registration module that was downloaded with the GitHub tools
Import-Module C:\AzureStack-Tools-master\Registration\RegisterWithAzure.psm1
#If you have multiple subscriptions, run the following command to select the one you want to use:
#Get-AzureRmSubscription -SubscriptionID "" | Select-AzureRmSubscription
#Register Azure Stack
$AzureContext = Get-AzureRmContext
$CloudAdminCred = Get-Credential -UserName AZURESTACK\CloudAdmin -Message "Enter the credentials to access the privileged endpoint."
$RegistrationName = "<unique-registration-name>"
Set-AzsRegistration -PrivilegedEndpointCredential $CloudAdminCred
-PrivilegedEndpoint AzS-ERCS01 -BillingModel Development
-RegistrationName $RegistrationName `
-UsageReportingEnabled:$true- Approximately around 10 min the following output is obtained confirming that the environment is registered successfully.
- Redeem the activation key to C:\ using following command
$RegistrationResourceName = "<unique-registration-name>"
#File path to save the activation key. This example saves the file as C:\ActivationKey.txt.
$KeyOutputFilePath = "$env:SystemDrive\ActivationKey.txt"
$ActivationKey = Get-AzsActivationKey -RegistrationName $RegistrationResourceName `
-KeyOutputFilePath $KeyOutputFilePath- This confirms that the activation key file is generated in C:\ .
- Run the following powershell script to create an activation resource using the previously generated Activationkey.txt.
#Import the registration module that was downloaded with the GitHub tools
Import-Module C:\AzureStack-Tools-master\Registration\RegisterWithAzure.psm1
$CloudAdminCred = Get-Credential -UserName AZURESTACK\CloudAdmin -Message "Enter the credentials to access the privileged endpoint."
#This example uses the C:\ActivationKey.txt file.
$ActivationKey = Get-Content -Path "$env:SystemDrive\Activationkey.txt"
New-AzsActivationResource -PrivilegedEndpointCredential $CloudAdminCred -PrivilegedEndpoint AzS-ERCS01
-ActivationKey $ActivationKey- Your environment has finished the registration and activation process is returned as the output.
- Sign in to the Azure Stack administrator portal using following URL in the local host
https://adminportal.local.azurestack.external.
Congratulations in advance.
My hearty congratulations in successful deployment of Azure Stack Development Kit.
Akhil's Blog 