Deploy Linux Template

Deploying a Linux Virtual Machine on Microsoft Azure is quick and easy, using Resource Templates. To create a Resource Template in the Skillable Studio platform that will deploy a Linux VM, you must perform the tasks below.

Create a Resource Template

1. Navigate to the Skillable Studio Administration page.

2. Click Resource Templates on the Cloud Services tile.

   

3. Click Create Resource Template in the upper-right corner of the page.

   

4. Enter ++Linux-VM++ into the Name field on the Basic Information tab.

5. Enter ++Deploys a Linux virtual machine++ into the Description field on the Basic Information tab.

6. Select your organization, or the organization that will use this resource template.

7. Click to open this dialog containing an Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template and follow the instructions in that dialog.

8. Now let's define the parameters for the ARM template by selecting the Parameters tab.

9. Note that not all parameters in the ARM template you are using are required. When you want to simply use default values for parameters that are optional, you can remove those optional parameters from the Resource Template parameter list. Remove the following parameters by clicking Delete next to each of them:

   • publicIPAddressName

   • vnetName

   • networkSecurityGroupName

   • subnetName

   • securityRuleName

   • size

10. For the remaining parameters, configure them as follows:

    Name	Display Name	Description	Required	Display To Student
    name	++VM Name++	++The name of the virtual machine++	No	Yes
    nicName	++NIC Name++	++The name of the network interface++	Yes	No
    adminUsername	++VM Admin Username++	++Admin username to log in to the virtual machine++	No	Yes
    adminPassword	++VM Admin Password++	++Admin password to log in to the virtual machine++	No	Yes
    dnsName	++DNS Name++	++The DNS name for the virtual machine++	Yes	Yes

    Required and Display to Student are used to assist with the user experience of your lab. Use Required for any parameters that do not have default values, or for any optional parameters that you want lab authors to provide values for when they use this template. Use Display to Student to identify parameter values that you would like students to be able to see on the Resources tab once they are inside of the lab.

11. Click Save.

Congratulations! You have just finished creating a Resource Template in Skillable Studio that can be used to deploy an Ubuntu Linux virtual machine as part of a lab. Each student launching a lab that uses this template will receive their own Ubuntu Linux VM, and they will not be able to see or access any of the other VMs that other students are using.

Now that you have that done, it's time to configure your Lab Profile to deploy the resources defined in the Resource Template.

1. Return to the Skillable Studio Administration page.

2. Navigate to your Lab Profile.

   If you are unsure how to get to your Lab Profile, you can get to it by doing the following:

   • Click Find Lab Profiles to find your Lab Profile.

   • Enter the name of your Lab Profile in the Name field.

   • Change the operator drop-down adjacent to the Name field to Equal.

   • Click Search to find your Lab Profile.

   • In the search results, click the Name hyperlink of your Lab Profile to open the Lab Profile details view.

3. Click Edit Profile to open the edit view for your lab profile.

4. Select the Cloud tab.

5. Ensure that the Cloud Platform is set to Azure, and the Cloud Portal URL is set to ++https://portal.azure.com++.

6. If you have not already associated a Cloud Subscription Pool with this lab, click Choose next to Shared Subscription Pool.

   1. Click Search to see all Cloud Subscription Pools that are available to you. If you want to find a specific pool, enter the name that subscription pool in the Name field before you click Search.

   2. Select your cloud subscription pool in the search results.

   3. Click OK.

7. Click Add User Account, and enter ++Taylor++ into the Name Prefix field.

8. Click Add Resource Group, and enter ++corp-data++ into the Name Prefix field.

9. Click Add Permission, select Taylor in the combo box, and select Contributor in the Role combo box.

10. Click Add Resource Template.

    1. Enter ++linux-vm++ into the Name field, and change the operator drop down adjacent to it to Equal.

    2. Click Search to find your Resource Template.

    3. Select your Resource Template in the list of results, then click OK.

    4. Enter ++nic-@.GlobalLabInstanceId++ into the NIC Name field, and enter ++ubuntu-@.GlobalLabInstanceId++ into the DNS Name field. This will give the NIC and DNS unique names.

    5. Leave VM Name, VM Admin Username, and VM Admin Password blank. Those parameters are optional.

    6. Click OK.

    Checking the Deploy In Background checkbox next to a Resource Template will allow the lab user to start using the lab even if this Resource Template is still deploying. This is useful when you have tasks that users can complete while these resources are being deployed in the background. By default, unless you check the Deploy In Background checkbox, users will not be able to start a lab until all Resource Templates have fully deployed.

11. Click Save to save the updated lab profile.

You have now created a Resource Template that will deploy a single Linux Virtual Machine for each student who launches this lab. Let's launch it to see what it looks like!

1. In the lab profile details view, click Launch to launch your lab.

2. Once the lab has finished deploying, click Get Started.

Congratulations! You have just deployed an Ubuntu Linux Virtual Machine in your lab! You are now seeing the lab from the same perspective of a student.