Quickstart: Create an Azure Operator Nexus virtual machine by using Azure CLI

• Deploy an Azure Nexus virtual machine using Azure CLI

This quick-start guide is designed to help you get started with using Nexus virtual machines to host virtual network functions (VNFs). By following the steps outlined in this guide, you're able to quickly and easily create a customized Nexus virtual machine that meets your specific needs and requirements. Whether you're a beginner or an expert in Nexus networking, this guide is here to help. You learn everything you need to know to create and customize Nexus virtual machines for hosting virtual network functions.

Before you begin

If you don't have an Azure account, create a free account before you begin.

• Use the Bash environment in Azure Cloud Shell. For more information, see Get started with Azure Cloud Shell.

  

• If you prefer to run CLI reference commands locally, install the Azure CLI. If you're running on Windows or macOS, consider running Azure CLI in a Docker container. For more information, see How to run the Azure CLI in a Docker container.

  • If you're using a local installation, sign in to the Azure CLI by using the az login command. To finish the authentication process, follow the steps displayed in your terminal. For other sign-in options, see Authenticate to Azure using Azure CLI.

  • When you're prompted, install the Azure CLI extension on first use. For more information about extensions, see Use and manage extensions with the Azure CLI.

  • Run az version to find the version and dependent libraries that are installed. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade.

• Install the latest version of the necessary Azure CLI extensions.

• If you have multiple Azure subscriptions, select the appropriate subscription ID in which the resources should be billed using the az account command.

• Before proceeding with virtual machine creation, ensure that the container image to be used is created according to the instructions.

• Create a resource group using the az group create command. An Azure resource group is a logical group in which Azure resources are deployed and managed. When you create a resource group, you're prompted to specify a location. This location is the storage location of your resource group metadata and where your resources run in Azure if you don't specify another region during resource creation. The following example creates a resource group named myResourceGroup in the eastus location.

  az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus
  

  The following output example resembles successful creation of the resource group:

  {
    "id": "/subscriptions/<guid>/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup",
    "location": "eastus",
    "managedBy": null,
    "name": "myResourceGroup",
    "properties": {
      "provisioningState": "Succeeded"
    },
    "tags": null
  }
  

• To deploy a Bicep file or ARM template, you need write access on the resources you're deploying and access to all operations on the Microsoft.Resources/deployments resource type. For example, to deploy a cluster, you need Microsoft.NetworkCloud/virtualMachines/write and Microsoft.Resources/deployments/* permissions. For a list of roles and permissions, see Azure built-in roles.

• You need the custom location resource ID of your Azure Operator Nexus cluster.

• You need to create various networks according to your specific workload requirements, and it's essential to have the appropriate IP addresses available for your workloads. To ensure a smooth implementation, it's advisable to consult the relevant support teams for assistance.

• Complete the prerequisites for deploying a Nexus virtual machine.

Create a Nexus virtual machine

The following example creates a virtual machine named myNexusVirtualMachine in resource group myResourceGroup in the eastus location.

Before you run the commands, you need to set several variables to define the configuration for your virtual machine. Here are the variables you need to set, along with some default values you can use for certain variables:

Once the variables are defined, you can create the virtual machine by running the Azure CLI command. To provide more detailed output for troubleshooting purposes, add the --debug flag at the end.

Use the following set of commands and replace the example values with your preferred values. You can also use the default values for some of the variables, as shown in the following example:

# Azure parameters
RESOURCE_GROUP="myResourceGroup"
SUBSCRIPTION="<Azure subscription ID>"
CUSTOM_LOCATION="/subscriptions/<subscription_id>/resourceGroups/<managed_resource_group>/providers/microsoft.extendedlocation/customlocations/<custom-location-name>"
LOCATION="$(az group show --name $RESOURCE_GROUP --query location --subscription $SUBSCRIPTION -o tsv)"

# VM parameters
VM_NAME="myNexusVirtualMachine"

# VM credentials
ADMIN_USERNAME="azureuser"
SSH_PUBLIC_KEY="$(cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub)"

# Network parameters
CSN_ARM_ID="/subscriptions/<subscription_id>/resourceGroups/<resource_group>/providers/Microsoft.NetworkCloud/cloudServicesNetworks/<csn-name>"
L3_NETWORK_ID="/subscriptions/<subscription_id>/resourceGroups/<resource_group>/providers/Microsoft.NetworkCloud/l3Networks/<l3Network-name>"
NETWORK_INTERFACE_NAME="mgmt0"

# VM Size parameters
CPU_CORES=4
MEMORY_SIZE=12
VM_DISK_SIZE="64"

# Virtual Machine Image parameters
VM_IMAGE="<VM image, example: myacr.azurecr.io/ubuntu:20.04>"
ACR_URL="<Azure Container Registry URL, example: myacr.azurecr.io>"
ACR_USERNAME="<Azure Container Registry username>"
ACR_PASSWORD="<Azure Container Registry password>"

After defining these variables, you can create the virtual machine by executing the following Azure CLI command.

az networkcloud virtualmachine create \
    --name "$VM_NAME" \
    --resource-group "$RESOURCE_GROUP" \
    --subscription "$SUBSCRIPTION" \
    --extended-location name="$CUSTOM_LOCATION" type="CustomLocation" \
    --location "$LOCATION" \
    --admin-username "$ADMIN_USERNAME" \
    --csn "attached-network-id=$CSN_ARM_ID" \
    --cpu-cores $CPU_CORES \
    --memory-size $MEMORY_SIZE \
    --network-attachments '[{"attachedNetworkId":"'$L3_NETWORK_ID'","ipAllocationMethod":"Dynamic","defaultGateway":"True","networkAttachmentName":"'$NETWORK_INTERFACE_NAME'"}]'\
    --storage-profile create-option="Ephemeral" delete-option="Delete" disk-size="$VM_DISK_SIZE" \
    --vm-image "$VM_IMAGE" \
    --ssh-key-values "$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY" \
    --vm-image-repository-credentials registry-url="$ACR_URL" username="$ACR_USERNAME" password="$ACR_PASSWORD"

Virtual machines with managed identities

Create the virtual machine with either a system-assigned or a user-assigned managed identity. To add a managed identity to the VM, the API version must be 2025-07-01-preview or later.

Make sure the networkcloud extension is installed with a version that supports the required API version. You can find supported versions in the networkcloud extension release history on GitHub.

To enable the system-assigned managed identity for the virtual machine, be sure to include the --mi-system-assigned flag (or the alias --system-assigned).

Create the virtual machine using a System-Assigned Managed Identity (SAMI) with Azure CLI:

az networkcloud virtualmachine create \
    --name "$VM_NAME" \
    --resource-group "$RESOURCE_GROUP" \
    --subscription "$SUBSCRIPTION" \
    --extended-location name="$CUSTOM_LOCATION" type="CustomLocation" \
    --location "$LOCATION" \
    --admin-username "$ADMIN_USERNAME" \
    --csn "attached-network-id=$CSN_ARM_ID" \
    --cpu-cores $CPU_CORES \
    --memory-size $MEMORY_SIZE \
    --network-attachments '[{"attachedNetworkId":"'$L3_NETWORK_ID'","ipAllocationMethod":"Dynamic","defaultGateway":"True","networkAttachmentName":"'$NETWORK_INTERFACE_NAME'"}]'\
    --storage-profile create-option="Ephemeral" delete-option="Delete" disk-size="$VM_DISK_SIZE" \
    --vm-image "$VM_IMAGE" \
    --ssh-key-values "$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY" \
    --vm-image-repository-credentials registry-url="$ACR_URL" username="$ACR_USERNAME" password="$ACR_PASSWORD" \
    --mi-system-assigned

To use a user-assigned managed identity, you can specify the user-assigned managed identity ID with the --mi-user-assigned flag (or the alias --user-assigned).

Be sure to include the UAMI_ID variable with the resource ID of the user-assigned managed identity that you want to use.

export UAMI_ID=$(az identity show --name "$UAMI_NAME" --resource-group "$RESOURCE_GROUP" --query "id" -o tsv)

Create the virtual machine using a User-Assigned Managed Identity (UAMI) with Azure CLI:

az networkcloud virtualmachine create \
    --name "$VM_NAME" \
    --resource-group "$RESOURCE_GROUP" \
    --subscription "$SUBSCRIPTION" \
    --extended-location name="$CUSTOM_LOCATION" type="CustomLocation" \
    --location "$LOCATION" \
    --admin-username "$ADMIN_USERNAME" \
    --csn "attached-network-id=$CSN_ARM_ID" \
    --cpu-cores $CPU_CORES \
    --memory-size $MEMORY_SIZE \
    --network-attachments '[{"attachedNetworkId":"'$L3_NETWORK_ID'","ipAllocationMethod":"Dynamic","defaultGateway":"True","networkAttachmentName":"'$NETWORK_INTERFACE_NAME'"}]'\
    --storage-profile create-option="Ephemeral" delete-option="Delete" disk-size="$VM_DISK_SIZE" \
    --vm-image "$VM_IMAGE" \
    --ssh-key-values "$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY" \
    --vm-image-repository-credentials registry-url="$ACR_URL" username="$ACR_USERNAME" password="$ACR_PASSWORD" \
    --mi-user-assigned "$UAMI_ID"

After a few minutes, the command completes and returns information about the virtual machine. The virtual machine is now ready for use.

Review deployed resources

After the deployment finishes, you can view the resources using the CLI or the Azure portal.

To view the details of the myNexusVirtualMachine cluster in the myResourceGroup resource group, execute the following

az networkcloud virtualmachine show --name myNexusVirtualMachine --resource-group myResourceGroup

Clean up resources

When no longer needed, delete the resource group. The resource group and all the resources in the resource group are deleted.

az group delete --name myResourceGroup --yes --no-wait

Next steps

The Nexus virtual machine is successfully created! You can now use the virtual machine to host virtual network functions (VNFs).