Azure VM Image Builder
Author: Ronald Fung
Creation Date: 30 May 2023
Next Modified Date: 30 May 2024
A. Introduction
By using standardized virtual machine (VM) images, your organization can more easily migrate to the cloud and help ensure consistency in your deployments. Images ordinarily include predefined security, configuration settings, and any necessary software. Setting up your own imaging pipeline requires time, infrastructure, and many other details. With Azure VM Image Builder, you need only create a configuration that describes your image and submit it to the service, where the image is built and then distributed.
With VM Image Builder, you can migrate your existing image customization pipeline to Azure as you continue to use existing scripts, commands, and processes. You can integrate your core applications into a VM image, so that your VMs can take on workloads after the images are created. You can even add configurations to build images for Azure Virtual Desktop, as virtual hard discs (VHDs) for use in Azure Stack, or for ease of exporting.
VM Image Builder lets you start with Windows or Linux images either from Azure Marketplace or as existing custom images, and then add your own customizations. You can also specify where you want your resulting images to be hosted in Azure Compute Gallery (formerly Shared Image Gallery), as managed images or as VHDs.
B. How is it used at Seagen
As a biopharma research company that uses Microsoft Azure, Azure VM Image Builder can be used to create custom virtual machine images for your employees. Here are some ways that Seagen can use Azure VM Image Builder:
Standardization: Azure VM Image Builder can be used to create standardized virtual machine images that include all necessary software and configuration settings, making it easier to ensure consistency across your IT infrastructure.
Customization: Azure VM Image Builder can be used to customize virtual machine images to meet the specific needs of your business, such as configuring virtual machines with specific applications or software.
Deployment: Azure VM Image Builder can be used to deploy virtual machine images to Azure or other cloud providers, making it easier to manage your IT infrastructure across multiple environments.
Automation: Azure VM Image Builder can be automated using tools such as PowerShell or Azure Resource Manager templates, making it easier to create and deploy virtual machine images at scale.
Security: Azure VM Image Builder includes security features such as encryption and access control, helping to ensure that sensitive data is protected from cyber threats.
Cost savings: Azure VM Image Builder can help to reduce IT costs by providing a flexible and scalable solution that can be adjusted as your business needs change.
Integration: Azure VM Image Builder integrates with other Azure services and third-party services, allowing you to easily integrate it into your existing IT infrastructure.
Overall, Azure VM Image Builder is a powerful tool for creating custom virtual machine images for your employees. Its standardization, customization, deployment, automation, security, cost savings, and integration features make it an ideal solution for businesses looking to create and manage virtual machine images at scale.
C. Features
Azure VM Image Builder is a cloud-based service that allows you to create and manage custom virtual machine images for your employees. Here are some of the key features of Azure VM Image Builder:
Standardization: Azure VM Image Builder enables you to create standardized virtual machine images that include all necessary software and configuration settings, making it easier to ensure consistency across your IT infrastructure.
Customization: Azure VM Image Builder allows you to customize virtual machine images to meet the specific needs of your business, such as configuring virtual machines with specific applications or software.
Deployment: Azure VM Image Builder enables you to deploy virtual machine images to Azure or other cloud providers, making it easier to manage your IT infrastructure across multiple environments.
Automation: Azure VM Image Builder can be automated using tools such as PowerShell or Azure Resource Manager templates, making it easier to create and deploy virtual machine images at scale.
Security: Azure VM Image Builder includes security features such as encryption and access control, helping to ensure that sensitive data is protected from cyber threats.
Cost savings: Azure VM Image Builder can help to reduce IT costs by providing a flexible and scalable solution that can be adjusted as your business needs change.
Integration: Azure VM Image Builder integrates with other Azure services and third-party services, allowing you to easily integrate it into your existing IT infrastructure.
Image versioning: Azure VM Image Builder enables you to version your images, making it easier to manage and track changes to your images over time.
Image gallery: Azure VM Image Builder enables you to create an image gallery, making it easier for users to discover and deploy the virtual machine images they need.
Cross-platform support: Azure VM Image Builder supports various operating systems and hypervisors, making it easier to create and deploy virtual machine images across different platforms.
Overall, Azure VM Image Builder is a powerful tool for creating and managing custom virtual machine images for your employees. Its standardization, customization, deployment, automation, security, cost savings, integration, image versioning, image gallery, and cross-platform support features make it an ideal solution for businesses looking to create and manage virtual machine images at scale.
D. Where Implemented
E. How it is tested
Testing Azure VM Image Builder involves verifying that the virtual machine images created with the service are functioning correctly and that they are properly configured to meet the needs of your business. Here are some steps you can take to test Azure VM Image Builder:
Verify standardization: Verify that the virtual machine images created with Azure VM Image Builder are standardized and include all necessary software and configuration settings.
Test customization: Test the customization capabilities of Azure VM Image Builder by creating custom virtual machine images that meet the specific needs of your business.
Test deployment: Test the deployment capabilities of Azure VM Image Builder by deploying virtual machine images to Azure or other cloud providers and verifying that they are properly configured.
Test automation: Test the automation capabilities of Azure VM Image Builder by automating the creation and deployment of virtual machine images using tools such as PowerShell or Azure Resource Manager templates.
Test security: Test the security features of Azure VM Image Builder by attempting to exploit known vulnerabilities and verifying that they are successfully mitigated by the security features.
Test cost savings: Test the cost savings capabilities of Azure VM Image Builder by evaluating the flexibility and scalability of the solution and verifying that it can be adjusted as business needs change.
Test integration: Test the integration capabilities of Azure VM Image Builder by integrating it with other Azure services and third-party services.
Test image versioning: Test the image versioning capabilities of Azure VM Image Builder by creating and managing multiple versions of virtual machine images.
Test cross-platform support: Test the cross-platform support capabilities of Azure VM Image Builder by creating and deploying virtual machine images across different operating systems and hypervisors.
Overall, testing Azure VM Image Builder involves verifying that the virtual machine images created with the service are functioning correctly and that they are properly configured to meet the needs of your business. By verifying standardization, testing customization, testing deployment, testing automation, testing security, testing cost savings, testing integration, testing image versioning, and testing cross-platform support, you can ensure that Azure VM Image Builder is effectively creating and managing virtual machine images for your business.
F. 2023 Roadmap
????
G. 2024 Roadmap
????
H. Known Issues
As with any software, there may be known issues or limitations that users should be aware of when using Azure VM Image Builder. Here are some of the known issues for Azure VM Image Builder:
Limited scalability: Azure VM Image Builder may have scalability limitations when it comes to large deployments, which may impact the ability of users to create and manage virtual machine images at scale.
Limited hardware support: Azure VM Image Builder may not be compatible with all hardware platforms, which may limit the ability of users to run the service on their existing hardware.
Limited software support: Azure VM Image Builder may not be compatible with all software applications or programming languages, which may limit the ability of users to use the service with their existing software stack.
Performance issues: Azure VM Image Builder may experience performance issues when creating and deploying multiple virtual machine images or when processing large amounts of data.
Compatibility issues: Azure VM Image Builder may have compatibility issues when integrating with other Azure services or third-party services.
Security concerns: As with any cloud-based service, there may be security concerns related to Azure VM Image Builder. Users must take appropriate measures to protect sensitive data and ensure that their virtual machine images are properly secured.
Overall, while Azure VM Image Builder is a powerful tool for creating and managing custom virtual machine images for your employees, users must be aware of these known issues and take steps to mitigate their impact. This may include carefully selecting hardware platforms and software that are compatible with Azure VM Image Builder, carefully configuring the service to meet the specific needs of their business, providing training and support to users to effectively use and manage Azure VM Image Builder, and carefully integrating Azure VM Image Builder with other Azure services and third-party services to minimize the risk of compatibility issues.
[x] Reviewed by Enterprise Architecture
[x] Reviewed by Application Development
[x] Reviewed by Data Architecture