Pre-Requisites

Install Azure PowerShell Module or Azure CLI

In order to create a custom image using this guide, you will need to have either the Azure PowerShell Module or Azure CLI tools available on your workstation.

Login to Azure Account

Once the proper Azure tools are installed, you need to set them up to work with your Azure Service Management subscription:

  1. Login to your Azure account and display the available subscriptions:

    Add-AzureAccount
Get-AzureSubscription

    azure config mode asm
azure login
azure account list

  2. Select the Azure Subscription we will be working with:

    Select-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName <Subscription Name>

    azure account set <Name>

Image Creation

Windows

  1. Launch a VM using the base image you wish to customize.

  2. Connect to the operational VM and make any necessary modifications:

    • Install RightLink 10

      $wc = New-Object System.Net.Webclient
$wc.DownloadFile("https://rightlink.rightscale.com/rll/10/rightlink.install.ps1", `
    "$pwd\rightlink.install.ps1")
Powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File rightlink.install.ps1

    • Install updates

    • Install applications

    • Etc...

  3. From the VM: Prepare the VM for image capture by running SYSPREP from an elevated command prompt: C:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /shutdown

  4. Wait for the VM to be in a Stopped state...

  5. From your Workstation: Capture the image:

    Save-AzureVMImage -Name <VM Name> -ServiceName <Cloud Service Name> -ImageName <New Image Name> -ImageLabel <New Image Label/Description>

    azure vm capture <VM Name> <New Image Name> --label <New Image Label/Description> --delete

  6. The image will be captured as a virtual hard drive (VHD) and saved in the same Storage Account as the source VM at the following path: <Storage Account>/vhds/. At the same time it will also be registered as an Image within Azure.

  7. Wait for RightScale Cloud Management to discover the newly registered image. This takes approximately 5-10 minutes.

  8. Once RightScale Cloud Management has discovered the image, you can add it to an existing MultiCloud Image or create a new MultiCloud Image.

Linux

  1. Launch a VM using the base image you wish to customize.

  2. SSH to the operational VM and make any necessary modifications:

    • Install RightLink 10. Something like: 

      curl -s https://rightlink.rightscale.com/rll/10/rightlink.install.sh |
    sudo bash -s -l

    • Install updates

    • Install applications

    • Etc...

  3. From the VM: Run the following commands to sanitize the VM and prepare it for capture:

    sudo rm -rf /var/lib/cloud/ /tmp/*
sudo rm -f /var/log/cloud-init* /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
sudo find /root -name authorized_keys -type f -exec rm -f {} \;
sudo find /home -name authorized_keys -type f -exec rm -f {} \;
sudo find /var/log -type f -exec cp /dev/null {} \;
history -c
sync
sudo waagent -deprovision+user -force

  4. Close the SSH session by typing: exit

  5. From your Workstation: Shut down the VM that was already deprovisioned in the previous steps with:

    Stop-AzureVM -Name <VM Name> -ServiceName <Cloud Service Name> -Force

    azure vm shutdown <VM Name>

  6. From your Workstation: Capture the image:

    Save-AzureVMImage -Name <VM Name> -ServiceName <Cloud Service Name> -ImageName <New Image Name> -ImageLabel <New Image Label/Description>

    azure vm capture <VM Name> <New Image Name> --label <New Image Label/Description> --delete

  7. The image will be captured as a vhd and saved in the same Storage Account as the source VM at the following path: <Storage Account>/vhds/. At the same time it will also be registered as an Image within Azure.

  8. Wait for RightScale Cloud Management to discover the newly registered image. This takes approximately 5-10 minutes.

  9. Once RightScale Cloud Management has discovered the image, you can add it to an existing MultiCloud Image or create a new MultiCloud Image.