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arshadbadarkhan's avatar
arshadbadarkhan
Copper Contributor
Aug 27, 2023

How to create an Azure VMSS with configs Microsoft Hosted Agent

Based on this article   here 
https://github.com/actions/runner-images/blob/main/README.md

 

 I I've successfully created a VHD. But after this i would like to create a VMSS which would be connected to Azure Agent pool. 

The files created are creating a osprofile shown below

"image": {
              "uri": "https://msftazureblobgstore.blob.core.windows.net/system/Microsoft.Compute/Images/images/packer-osDisk.cfd5eba0-ac4c-4a33-b1eb-4e7f960387a3.vhd"
            },
            "vhd": {
              "uri": "https://msftazureblobgstore.blob.core.windows.net/vmcontainerec417fa8-1f52-46e1-ab32-0e07c37e8b13/osDisk.ec417fa8-1f52-46e1-ab32-0e07c37e8b13.vhd"
            },

 

azure devops

1 Reply

  • Kidd_Ip's avatar
    Kidd_Ip
    MVP
    Aug 17, 2025

    Take this:

     

    1. Upload Your VHD to Azure Storage

    Make sure the VHD is in a standard storage account and is accessible for VM creation.

    1. Create a Managed Image from the VHD

    Use Azure CLI or Portal to create a managed image:

    az image create \
  --resource-group <your-resource-group> \
  --name myRunnerImage \
  --os-type Linux|Windows \
  --source https://<your-storage-account>.blob.core.windows.net/<container>/<your-vhd>.vhd

     

    1. Create VMSS from the Managed Image

     

    az vmss create \
  --resource-group <your-resource-group> \
  --name myRunnerVMSS \
  --image myRunnerImage \
  --upgrade-policy-mode automatic \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --generate-ssh-keys \
  --instance-count 2 \
  --vm-sku Standard_DS2_v2

    Make sure to configure networking, scaling, and diagnostics as needed.

    1. Install Azure Pipelines Agent on Startup

    Use a custom script extension or cloud-init to install and configure the Azure Pipelines agent on each VM instance:

     

    #!/bin/bash
mkdir myagent && cd myagent
curl -O https://vstsagentpackage.azureedge.net/agent/3.225.0/vsts-agent-linux-x64-3.225.0.tar.gz
tar zxvf vsts-agent-linux-x64-3.225.0.tar.gz
./config.sh --unattended --url https://dev.azure.com/<your-org> \
  --auth pat --token <your-PAT> --pool <your-agent-pool> --acceptTeeEula
./svc.sh install
./svc.sh start

    For Windows, use PowerShell and the corresponding agent package.

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