RE: Debian on Azure - vmdepot
> De : Stefano Zacchiroli [mailto:leader@debian.org]
> Envoyé : dimanche 13 janvier 2013 16:50
> À : debian-cloud@lists.debian.org
> Objet : Re: Debian on Azure - vmdepot
>
Hello ! Some answers inline.
> I've a few questions and comments about the Wheezy image at
> http://vmdepot.msopentech.com/List/Index?sort=Date&search=Debian :
>
> - How can people on this list play with that image?
To test the image in situ, you'll need an Azure subscription and the instructions available at http://wiki.debian.org/Cloud/WindowsAzureImage
If that's a blocker, I can provide some access to VMs running on my subscription, but ideally everything should be tested in the same conditions and not rely on any prior configuration from me.
>
> In particular, it would be nice if you could provide guidance on how
> to retrieve the corresponding disk image and mount it, it would be
> much appreciated.
I'm assuming you want to inspect the VHD for the Image (not a VM created from that Image).
When creating a new VM with the azure create vm command, you can pass the --verbose flag. It will show you the location of the VHD image used to provision the VM. You can simply wget that location, and you'll have a vhd file that you can mount. It won't be useable as a system disk because there's no user provisioned, but you can inspect its content.
I just did these steps for the version currently available (selecting North Europe datacenter), here is the location :
http://vmdepotneurope.blob.core.windows.net/linux-community-store/community-17-50526934-193e-480f-ac4c-35429a0dc2f2-1.vhd
That VHD is a normal vhd file. A quick search points to vdfuse to mount VHDs on a Linux box, but I have no direct experience on this.
> What is the "azure" command I see in there?
> Is it something DFSG-free or not? If not, we'll have to consider the
> Azure images non-free as they cannot be built with an entirely free
> toolchain. Comments and guidance are very welcome!
>
The azure command-line tool sources are at https://github.com/WindowsAzure/azure-sdk-tools-xplat and its license is Apache version 2.0. This tool is the simplest way to create a new VM from an existing image, but you don't need it to build the image.
> - I also do wonder what is the relationship between VM Depot and other
> ways of obtaining Azure images. Ideally, I'd like for Debian images to
> be prominently listed in any public cloud "marketplace". Is VM Depot
> that sort of marketplace for Azure, or is there somewhere something
> more prominent we might want to get into?
I know of no other public repository.
Cheers,
Pierre
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