Deploy a Conductor on Microsoft Azure

You can deploy a Tempered Networks™ Conductor on Azure and manage physical, virtual, and cloud HIPservices, and HIPclients. Use the following steps to deploy a Conductor on the Microsoft Azure platform.

Note: A downloadable PDF of this topic is available in the Documentation Downloads section.

Prerequisites

To get started, make sure you have access to your Azure account. If you don't have an account, you can create a free Microsoft Azure account and upgrade it to a full account later. If you have an existing Azure account, make sure your billing information is set up. You cannot create a project until you are able to link your billing information to your newly created project.

A Conductor license voucher is necessary at the end of this procedure if you want to start the Conductor and verify it is set up correctly. Fulfillment will provide this to you in an email after your purchase is complete.

The Conductor VHD is required later on in this install and is available from this location: https://s3.amazonaws.com/temperedsoftware/images/azure/Conductor_r2.1.6-752-combined-ext4.vhd

Note: Microsoft Azure organizes the various components of your project in a different way from other cloud providers. If you are not familiar with using Azure, we recommend you use the method outlined in this document, which automates the actions required using a script to upload your image, a template to create a virtual network, and a template to create the Conductor virtual machine. Once you are familiar with how Azure organizes the components, you should be able to easily understand what is required and create them manually. However, this document does not cover a full manual deployment of a Conductor in Azure.

Log in to Azure Cloud

From a Web browser, navigate to https://portal.azure.com and log in using your Azure credentials.

Add a Conductor image

A Conductor image must be available to your project to create an instance. You make an image available by creating the following:

A storage account
Stores objects, files, and tables in a specific region so you can use them in your projects.
An object container
Stores the Conductor managed blob object, which you upload to the container.
An image
Contains the managed blob and all the information necessary for creating a Conductor virtual machine.

Create a storage account

To get started, you need to create a storage account. This account will contain the images needed to create a Conductor virtual machine. For more information on Azure storage accounts, see Introduction to Azure Storage in the Azure documentation.

  1. Click Storage accounts on the sidebar.
  2. Click + Add.
  3. On the Create storage account page, you will begin on the Basics tab. In the Project Details section, select your subscription model and create a new resource group or use an existing one. In our example, we use tn-image-westus.
  4. In the Instance Details section, enter the following:
    Storage account name
    A name of your choosing. In our example, we use mytnc. Remember this name as you will use it later in the install.
    Location
    Select your desired region from the drop-down.
    Performance
    Select the Standard radio button.
    Account kind
    Select Storage (general purpose v1) from the drop-down.
    Replication
    Select Geo-redundant storage (GRS) from the drop-down.

    You can leave all other fields as is.



  5. Click Next: Advanced.
  6. On the Advanced tab, you can leave all settings as is and click Next: Tags.
  7. On the Tags tab, you can add any tags if needed. While not required, tags allow you to group your resources to make them easier to manage. For more information, see Use tags to organize your Azure resources in the Azure documentation.
  8. Click Next: Review + create.
  9. Review the information and if correct, click Create.
    Note: Azure will validate the information you entered meets the requirements to create a storage account. The following notice will appear at the top of the page if validation fails.

    If this occurs, return to the tabs containing the incorrect information and make the corrections. Each tab will display a red dot next to its name to alert you to the location of the errors.

Create an object container and add a Conductor

A container resource is associated with your storage account and where you will store the Conductor virtual image. It includes metadata and properties needed for easily managing your images.

To create an object container:

  1. Click Storage accounts on the sidebar.
  2. Click on the name of the storage account where you want to create the container. In our example, click on mytnc.
  3. Click Blobs in the Services section.
  4. Click + Container, enter a name for your container, select Private in the Public access level drop-down, and click OK. In our example, the container is named tn-images-westus.


  5. Click the container name in the container list. In our example, click tn-images-westus.
  6. In the container view, click Upload.


  7. Click the folder icon to the right of the Files field and select the Conductor VHD you downloaded. In our example, the file name is Conductor_r2.1.6-752-combined-ext4.vhd.
  8. Click Upload.


  9. The Conductor VHD will now appear in your container list. It will take a few moments to upload the file and you can view its progress in the Current Uploads section.


Create an image

You now need to create a Conductor-managed image resource and add it to your storage account. This image can then be used to create the Conductor virtual machine.

To create an image:

  1. Click + Create a resource on the portal sidebar.
  2. Type image in the search bar and select it when it appears in the drop-down list.


  3. Click Create on the Image page.


  4. On the Create image page, enter the following:
    Name
    Enter a name for your image. In our example we use Conductor_r2.1.6-752-combined-ext4.vhd.
    Subscription
    Select your subscription model from the drop-down.
    Resource group
    Select the resource group you created for your storage group and images. In our example we use the group tn-image-westus.
    Location
    Select your desired region from the drop-down.
    OS disk > OS type
    Select the Linux button.
    Storage blob
    Click Browse, navigate to the VHD container you created and click Select. In our example we use mytnc > tn-images-westus > Conductor_r2.1.6-752-combined-ext4.vhd.
    Account type
    Select Standard HDD from the drop-down.
  5. Click Create.
It will take a few moments to create the image. Once complete, it will appear in your resources list.

Create a virtual network

You now need to create a virtual network for your Conductor to allow it to communicate with your HIPservices. Click on the image button below to launch our custom template that will assist you in creating the virtual network.

Important: The image button above is tested with Chrome and Firefox web browsers. It does not work with Apple's Safari web browser. If you are using Safari, right-click the button, select Copy Link and paste it into your address bar manually.
  1. In the Custom deployment template, enter the following:
    Subscription
    Select your subscription model from the drop-down.
    Resource group
    We recommend you create a different resource group for your virtual network. To do this click Create New, enter a new name, and click OK. In our example, we use az-net.

    You can leave all other settings as is.

  2. Agree to the terms and conditions and click Purchase.
    Note: By selecting Purchase, you are not buying any additional components or services from Tempered Networks. Any charges you incur are part of the cost of running your Conductor in Azure and are administered by Microsoft.


It will take a few moments to create the virtual network. Once complete, you should see new resource entries on the All resources page as in the image below:

Create the Conductor virtual machine

Next, you will create your Conductor virtual machine. Click on the image button below to launch our custom template that will assist you in creating the virtual machine.

Important: The link above is tested with Chrome and Firefox web browsers. It does not work with Apple's Safari web browser. If you are using Safari, right-click the button, select Copy Link and paste it into your address bar manually.
  1. In the Custom deployment template, enter the following:
    Subscription
    Select your subscription model from the drop-down.
    Resource group
    We recommend you create a different resource group for your virtual machine. To do this click Create New, enter a new name, and click OK. In our example, we use az-conductor.
    Net Subnet Public Id
    Enter the path to your Id. This entry takes the form of <virtual network resource group>/<virtual network>/<subnet>. You can find the path by clicking the name of your virtual network in the resources list, and then clicking on the network interface in the Connected Devices section. The path is located after the Virtual network/subnet field. In our example, we use az-net/az-netVnet/az-netPublicSubnet.
    Image Id
    Enter the path to your image resource. This entry takes the form of <storage account resource group>/<image name>. .In our example, we use tn-image-westus/Conductor_r2.1.6-752-combined-ext4.vhd.

    You can leave all other settings as is.

  2. Agree to the terms and conditions and click Purchase.
    Note: By selecting Purchase, you are not buying any additional components or services from Tempered Networks. Any charges you incur are part of the cost of running your Conductor in Azure and are administered by Microsoft.


It will take a few moments to create the Conductor. Once complete, you should see new resource entries on the All resources page as in the image below:

You are now finished creating the components required to run your Conductor in Microsoft Azure.

Verify the install

At this point the Conductor is running in Azure. You should verify it is installed correctly by logging in and licensing the Conductor. It may take several minutes for the Conductor to become available after it starts, so if you attempt to access it and your browser appears to stop responding, please try again in a few minutes.
Note: When running the Conductor for the first time, you may receive notifications indicating the connection is not private. Once you have finished configuring the Conductor, you can install a customer certificate on the Conductor that prevents these notifications in the future.

To verify the install:

  1. Point your web browser to the external IP address for your Conductor. Make sure you begin the address with https://. You can find your external IP address by clicking the name of the public IP address resource in your All resources list. In our example, we select az-conductorip. The address is located below the IP address field as seen in the image below:
  2. An unlicensed Conductor will display the initial Provisioning page where you will license your Conductor.


  3. Enter the voucher code you received from Tempered Networks in the Voucher code field.
  4. Click Provision now. It will take a moment to finish the operation. Once complete, you should see the following:


  5. Select Click here to start using the Conductor.
  6. Enter the default username and password at the log in dialog and click Sign in.
    Username
    admin
    Password
    admin123


  7. You will be prompted to enter a new password. Enter the default password in the Current password field and a new password of your choosing in the New password and Confirm new password fields.


  8. Click Update.
  9. On the System Configuration dialog, leave all the fields as is and click Configure.


  10. It will take a moment to complete the operation. Once finished, click Return to settings.


You should see the Conductor Settings page. On the right side in the Network adapter 1 section, the IP address should match the Internal IP of your instance in the Azure portal. You can find the Private IP address by clicking on the name of your Conductor virtual machine in the Azure portal resource list.

Additional Information

Once your Conductor is installed, you can configure and manage it as you would a physical Conductor. For additional help, you can search the Online Documentation by using the search bar at the top of the page or the navigation links to the left.