Overview of the Azure Provider

This topic, which describes Microsoft Azure Provider, contains the following sections:

Product overview

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure, created by Microsoft, for building, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of data centers managed by Microsoft. Microsoft Azure provides both platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) services and supports various programming languages, tools, and frameworks for both Microsoft and third-party software and systems.

The Microsoft Azure integration with BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management enables you to leverage the cloud computing services of Microsoft Azure from the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management Administration Console. With an Azure Provider, you can extend an existing environment and invest in Microsoft while deploying in a public cloud.

With Microsoft Azure virtual machines (VMs), enterprise customers can deploy their own customized Microsoft Windows Server or Linux images into a multizone, commercially backed Service Level Agreement (SLA) production environment in minutes or get started with a preconfigured image from the Microsoft image gallery. Finally, with Microsoft Azure and virtual network technology, the cloud is a seamless extension of your data center, taking full advantage of Microsoft System Center, Active Directory, and Visual Studio.

With an Azure Provider integration with BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management, you can perform the following actions:

Provision VMs:
- Provision VMs from an image gallery of prepopulated templates available from Microsoft Azure.
- Provision VMs from custom-built virtual hard disk (VHD) images.
- Attach or detach and use data disks for storage (each disk can be up to 1 TB in size).
Perform remote actions:
- Log in remotely via Remote Desktop Procedure (RDP), PowerShell, Secure Socket Shell (SSH), or terminal server, to customize VMs.
- Allocate and view tenant and user quota usage.
- Start, stop, or shutdown VMs.
- Modify the CPU count or memory size of provisioned VMs.
- Add a server to an existing service.
- Request an Azure cloud service on behalf of another user.
- Share and transfer ownership of an existing Azure cloud service.
- Install software on provisioned VMs (both pre- and post-provisioning) using BMC Server Automation.
- Add local OS users to a provisioned VM.
- Add a VM to an existing or new availability set created during provisioning.
Perform networking actions:
- Onboard an Azure network with subnets.
- Place VMs in specific networks or subnets.
- Open or close VM endpoints by using network paths.
- Add servers to load balancer pool.

High-level tasks for setting up an Azure Provider

The following sections lists the high-level tasks that you must complete to set up an Azure Provider and initiate an Azure service instance.

Cloud administrator tasks

The cloud administrator is an IT professional who is responsible for the full lifecycle of the cloud environment, including initial planning, deployment, and configuration; and continued administration, operation, and maintenance. As a cloud administrator, you can leverage Microsoft Azure in the IaaS provider capability for your development and testing teams. As a Microsoft Software Developer Network (MSDN) subscriber and an enterprise customer, you can have access to an image gallery that contains multiple versions of the Windows server operating system and additional server software such as SQL Server, SharePoint Server and BizTalk Server, enabling you to quickly develop and test components at discounted rates. You can use your own MSDN server software licenses and bits to create VMs tailored to your specific needs.

The following table lists the tasks of a cloud administrator, associated with the stages at which the tasks are required:

Process stage	Task
Installing Azure Provider	You must install the Azure Provider first before using it.
Configuring Azure Provider	Typically you perform the activities of the setup phase of your Azure Provider only once. These activities include configuring the Azure Provider and setting up the Azure account credentials. Create and upload management certificate Register the Azure Provider instance Manage multiple user account for an Azure Provider
Onboarding existing Microsoft Azure resources	You can bring existing Microsoft Azure resources, such as Virtual Networks (VNs) and Affinity Groups into BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management by onboarding. For VNs, onboard the VNs as Logical Data Centers. For affinity groups, onboard the affinity groups as Logical Data Centers.
Configuring resources for Azure services	After you have onboarded the Azure resources, you must configure the onboarded Azure Provider resources to provision an Azure service: Allocate tenant and user quota for the Azure Provider Map a tenant with a logical data center or Map a tenant with a Virtual Network Edit a Logical Data Center to specify the network type and network container or Edit a Virtual Network to specify the network type and network container tag Note: You must also define single or multiple subnets for a Virtual Network and tag the subnets individually, if you want to enable VM placement in specific subnets. Configure load balancers for the Azure Provider
Managing Azure service offerings	In this final phase, you prepare and initiate the service offering request, as described in the following topics: Create a BLPackage for adding local users in the Azure Provider Create options and option choices in the Azure Provider Install software as a part of an Azure service offering Build service blueprints for Azure service Create the service offering for Azure Request Azure cloud service Add a server to an existing service

Cloud end-user tasks

Cloud end users rely on cloud resources to complete their work. Cloud end users request services, such as the deployment of VMs, by using the BMC My Cloud Services Console. As a BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management end user, you can request and access new Windows server machines and Linux virtual machines in minutes, with the flexibility to adjust usage as needs change. With the pay-as-you-go approach, you pay only for what you use, and there are never any penalties for changing your virtual machine configurations.

The following table lists the tasks of an end user, associated with the stages at which the tasks are required:

Process stage	Task
Requesting Azure cloud services	Request Azure cloud services
Managing Azure services	Start, stop, and shut down Azure cloud services Decommission Azure cloud services Sharing services with other users Transferring ownership of service offering instances Add a server to an existing service
Managing-Azure-VMs	Start, stop, and shutdown an Azure VM Manage system disks of an Azure VM Modify CPU count and memory size of an Azure VM Install software on an Azure VM Add local OS users on an Azure VM Manage network paths or endpoints of an Azure VM Manage load balancers for an Azure VM View Availability Set of an Azure VM

Azure construct mappings

The following table lists BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management objects and describes how they correspond to Microsoft Azure constructs.

BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management object	Azure construct	Notes
Logical Data Center	Affinity Group	Microsoft Azure provides an affinity group feature to provide a higher degree of colocation within a data center than would otherwise be possible using random placement. Place associated cloud and storage services within an affinity group to minimize network latency. This minimization is particularly important when a cloud service makes extensive use of storage services.
Logical Hosting Environment (LHE)	Affinity Group and Virtual Network	Microsoft Azure virtual network provides you with the capability to extend your network into Microsoft Azure and treat deployments in Windows as natural extensions to your on-premises network.
Logical Network	Subnet	These IP addresses are used for the subnets (for example, gateways and so on) created in a virtual network.
SOI	CloudService	A cloud service in Microsoft Azure is based on a service model. The service model provides definition settings for the cloud service and configuration values for those settings.
Multiple User Account	Storage	For each region a unique storage account is created in Microsoft Azure using the <Mutiple User Account Prefix><Unique Identifier> pattern.
Logical Communication Path (LCP) or Network Path	Endpoint	A Microsoft Azure endpoint has a public port and a private port. Resources can connect to an endpoint by using either the TCP or the UDP protocol. The TCP protocol includes HTTP and HTTPS communication.
Load Balancer Pool	Load-Balanced Set Name	Microsoft Azure VM endpoints allows configuration of the Azure Load Balancer to distribute a specific type of traffic between multiple virtual machines or services. A load-balanced endpoint belongs to a Load-Balanced Set Name.
Load Balancer Pool Entry	Endpoint	A Microsoft Azure endpoint has a public port and a private port. Resources can connect to an endpoint by using either the TCP or the UDP protocol. When you configure load balancing of traffic among multiple virtual machines or services, Azure provides random distribution of the incoming traffic. Note: For the Azure Provider, the Load Balancer Pool is associated with a single SOI that is mapped to a single cloud service in Microsoft Azure. To add servers in a Load Balancer Pool (create load balancer pool entry), the servers added to the Load Balancer Pool must belong to the same SOI or Azure cloud service.
Availability Set	Availability Set	By adding the virtual machines to an availability set during provisioning, you can manage the availability of an application that uses multiple virtual machines. See Manage the Availability of Virtual Machines for details.

Version 1.1.00 of the Azure Provider

This section provides the information about version 1.1.00 of the Azure Provider.

Release contents

This release contains the Azure Provider installer.

Product compatibility

This release integrates with the following products:

BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management 4.1.00
Microsoft Windows Azure Service Management REST API Version 2013-08-01

Limitations

The limitations of the Azure Provider are as follows:

If the provisioned Azure VM is restarted or shutdown prior to executing the post-deployment software install, software install fails due to change in the IP address of the provisioned VM.
If the RSCD 4750 port is open and you perform the add server operation on an Azure VM, the server gets added, but the RSCD 4750 port and software install does not work.
The Load Balancer Pool is associated with a single SOI that is mapped to a single cloud service in Microsoft Azure. To add servers in a load balancer pool (create load balancer pool entry), the servers added to the Load Balancer Pool must belong to the same SOI or Azure cloud service.
Storage accounts are created by default by the Azure Provider. If they need to be deleted, Cloud Administrators must delete them manually from the Azure Portal.
Azure Provider supports installation of software as BLPackages and it does not support the custom actions (AO workflows or NSH scripts).

Note

To view the details of the known issues for the Azure Provider, see Known and corrected issues for BMC ZipKits for Cloud.