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CLI example: Create and manage a Windows pool in Azure Batch

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This script demonstrates some of the commands available in the Azure CLI to create and manage a pool of Windows compute nodes in Azure Batch. A Windows pool can be configured in two ways, with either a Cloud Services configuration or a Virtual Machine configuration. This example shows how to create a Windows pool with the Cloud Services configuration.

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

Prerequisites

Sample script

Launch Azure Cloud Shell

The Azure Cloud Shell is a free interactive shell that you can use to run the steps in this article. It has common Azure tools preinstalled and configured to use with your account.

To open the Cloud Shell, just select Try it from the upper right corner of a code block. You can also launch Cloud Shell in a separate browser tab by going to https://shell.azure.com.

When Cloud Shell opens, verify that Bash is selected for your environment. Subsequent sessions will use Azure CLI in a Bash environment, Select Copy to copy the blocks of code, paste it into the Cloud Shell, and press Enter to run it.

Sign in to Azure

Cloud Shell is automatically authenticated under the initial account signed-in with. Use the following script to sign in using a different subscription, replacing <Subscription ID> with your Azure Subscription ID. If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

subscription="<subscriptionId>" # add subscription here

az account set -s $subscription # ...or use 'az login'

For more information, see set active subscription or log in interactively

Run the script

# Create and manage a Windows pool in Azure Batch

# Variable block
let "randomIdentifier=$RANDOM*$RANDOM"
location="East US"
[[ "$RESOURCE_GROUP" == '' ]] && resourceGroup="msdocs-batch-rg-$randomIdentifier" || resourceGroup="${RESOURCE_GROUP}"
tag="manage-pool-windows"
storageAccount="msdocsstorage$randomIdentifier"
batchAccount="msdocsbatch$randomIdentifier"

# Create a resource group.
echo "Creating $resourceGroup in "$location"..."
az group create --name $resourceGroup --location "$location" --tag $tag

# Create a general-purpose storage account in your resource group.
echo "Creating $storageAccount"
az storage account create --resource-group $resourceGroup --name $storageAccount --location "$location" --sku Standard_LRS

# Create a Batch account.
echo "Creating $batchAccount"
az batch account create --name $batchAccount --storage-account $storageAccount --resource-group $resourceGroup --location "$location"

# Authenticate Batch account CLI session.
az batch account login --resource-group $resourceGroup --name $batchAccount --shared-key-auth

# Create a new Windows cloud service platform pool with 3 Standard A1 VMs.
# The pool has a start task that runs a basic shell command. Typically a 
# start task copies application files to the pool nodes.
az batch pool create --id mypool-windows --os-family 4 --target-dedicated 3 --vm-size small --start-task-command-line "cmd /c dir /s" --start-task-wait-for-success 
    
# --application-package-references myapp    
# You can specify an application package reference when the pool is created or you can add it later.
# https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/batch/batch-application-packages.

# Add some metadata to the pool.
az batch pool set --pool-id mypool-windows --metadata IsWindows=true VMSize=StandardA1

# Change the pool to enable automatic scaling of compute nodes.
# This autoscale formula specifies that the number of nodes should be adjusted according
# to the number of active tasks, up to a maximum of 10 compute nodes.
az batch pool autoscale enable --pool-id mypool-windows --auto-scale-formula '$averageActiveTaskCount = avg($ActiveTasks.GetSample(TimeInterval_Minute * 15));$TargetDedicated = min(10, $averageActiveTaskCount);'

# Monitor the resizing of the pool.
az batch pool show --pool-id mypool-windows

# Disable autoscaling when we no longer require the pool to automatically scale.
az batch pool autoscale disable --pool-id mypool-windows

Clean up resources

Use the following command to remove the resource group and all resources associated with it using the az group delete command - unless you have an ongoing need for these resources. Some of these resources may take a while to create, as well as to delete.

az group delete --name $resourceGroup

Sample reference

This script uses the following commands. Each command in the table links to command-specific documentation.

Command Notes
az group create Creates a resource group in which all resources are stored.
az batch account create Creates the Batch account.
az batch account login Authenticates against the specified Batch account for further CLI interaction.
az batch pool create Creates a pool of compute nodes.
az batch pool set Updates the properties of a pool.
az batch pool autoscale enable Enables auto-scaling on a pool and applies a formula.
az batch pool show Displays the properties of a pool.
az batch pool autoscale disable Disables auto-scaling on a pool.
az group delete Deletes a resource group including all nested resources.

Next steps

For more information on the Azure CLI, see Azure CLI documentation.