Because I wanted to learn more about Azure Stack I setup the Azure Stack Development Kit in my lab. My home lab is not very big on resources. The minimal requirements are 760GB of disk space and 96GB of memory. My biggest host has 64GB of memory and is running ESXi.
So I tried to deploy it using a Windows VM with 55GB of memory on a datastore on one spinning disk. That did not go well. It ran for several hours but failed and was not able to finish even with several restarts.So to be successful use SSD storage. I now use a plain local Crucial MX300 which does the job. You need at least 400GB of free space on the datastore.
After some googling, I found several blogs that showed how to change the memory settings of the Hyper-V VM's that make up Azure Stack. Most of the settings were for older versions of Azure Stack.
Some of the blogs I looked at:
- installing-azure-stack-on-vmware-esxi
- microsoft-azure-stack-technical-preview-3-lower-hardware-specifications
And RTFM!
All steps are already somewhere in a blog on the internet (especially in the blogs mentioned above). This information can be specific to the version I used (1.0.171020.1)
There are two major changes that you need to make.
- Change the minimal hardware requirements check so that your VM is compatible.
- Change the resources the Hyper-V VM's will use so that they will fit within you host VM.
Change the minimal hardware requirements
Mount the VHDX file.
<drive>:\CloudDeployment\NuGetStore
and copy the file: Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18.nupkg to another location and unzip it (7zip)
Go to
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Roles\PhysicalMachines\Tests
There is one file: BareMetal.Tests.ps1
Edit it:
In my version line 521:
$physicalMachine.IsVirtualMachine | Should Be $true
Change $false in $true
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Infrastructure\BareMetal
Edit OneNodeRole.xmlLine 113:
<TimeServiceStartTimeoutInMinutes>6</TimeServiceStartTimeoutInMinutes>
Line 117:
<StartupTimeoutInMinutes>30</StartupTimeoutInMinutes>
Line 118:
<ShutdownTimeoutInMinutes>30</ShutdownTimeoutInMinutes>
These lines were changed when trying to get to run on one spinning sata disk, you probably do not need these changes.
Line 131:
<MinimumNumberOfCoresPerMachine>1</MinimumNumberOfCoresPerMachine>
Line 132:
<MinimumPhysicalMemoryPerMachineGB>24</MinimumPhysicalMemoryPerMachineGB>
Change the resources the Hyper-V VM's will use
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Infrastructure\DomainEdit OneNodeRole.xml
Line 105:
<Node Role="Domain" Name="[PREFIX]-DC[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-DC[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="2147483648" ProcessorCount="1" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="False" RefNodeId="" StoreVhdLocally="True" DeleteUnattend="False" SkipDomainJoin="True" SupportPreDomainCompletion="True" SkipCertUsingDSC="True">
The StartUp memory was halved, so was the ProcessorCount and DynamicMemory was enabled.
<drive>\scripts\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\ACS
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
Line 23:
<Node Role="ACS" Name="[PREFIX]-ACS[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-ACS[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="8589934592" ProcessorCount="1" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False">
DynamicMemory was enabled.
<drive>Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\ADFS
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
Line 6:
<Node Role="ADFS" Name="[PREFIX]-ADFS[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-ADFS[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="2147483648" ProcessorCount="1" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False">
ProcessorCount on 1 and DynamicMemory enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\BGP
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
<Node Role="BGP" Name="[PREFIX]-BGPNAT[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-BGPNAT[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="2147483648" ProcessorCount="1" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False" SkipCertUsingDSC="True">
ProcessorCount on 1 and DynamicMemory enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\CA
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
<Node Role="CA" Name="[PREFIX]-CA[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-CA[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="1073741824" ProcessorCount="1" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False" SkipCertUsingDSC="True">
ProcessorCount on 1 and DynamicMemory enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\FabricRingServices
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
Line 137:
<Node Role="FabricRingServices" Name="[PREFIX]-Xrp[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-Xrp[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="4294967296" ProcessorCount="2" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False">
The StartUp memory was halved, so was the ProcessorCount and DynamicMemory was enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\Gateway
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
<Node Role="Gateway" Name="[PREFIX]-Gwy[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-Gwy[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="2147483648" ProcessorCount="1" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False">
ProcessorCount on 1 and DynamicMemory enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\NC
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
<Node Role="NC" Name="[PREFIX]-NC[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-NC[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="2147483648" ProcessorCount="1" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False">
The StartUp memory was halved, so was the ProcessorCount and DynamicMemory was enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\SeedRingServices
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
<Node Role="SeedRingServices" Name="[PREFIX]-ERCS[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-ERCS[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="2147483648" ProcessorCount="2" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="False" RefNodeId="" StoreVhdLocally="True" DeleteUnattend="False" ConfigureProxy="[UseWebProxy]">
ProcessorCount on 2 and DynamicMemory enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\SLB
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
<Node Role="SLB" Name="[PREFIX]-SLB[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-SLB[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="2147483648" ProcessorCount="2" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False">
ProcessorCount on 2 and DynamicMemory enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\SQL
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
<Node Role="SQL" Name="[PREFIX]-Sql[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-Sql[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="2147483648" ProcessorCount="2" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False">
The StartUp memory was halved and DynamicMemory was enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\WAS
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
<Node Role="WAS" Name="[PREFIX]-WAS[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-WAS[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="2147483648" ProcessorCount="1" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False">
The StartUp memory was halved, so was the ProcessorCount and DynamicMemory was enabled.
<drive>\Microsoft.AzureStack.Solution.Deploy.CloudDeployment.1.0.597.18\content\Configuration\Roles\Fabric\WASPublic
Edit OneNodeRole.xml
<Node Role="WASPUBLIC" Name="[PREFIX]-WASP[{NN}]" ProvisioningStatus="" Type="VirtualMachine" Id="[{CPI_GUID(-WASP[{NN}])}]" StartUpMemoryBytes="4294967296" ProcessorCount="2" DynamicMemory="True" HighlyAvailable="True" RefNodeId="" DeleteUnattend="False">
The StartUp memory was halved and DynamicMemory was enabled.
With these changes I got it working.
- Delete everything and deploy the latest version
- Deploy the SQL Server resource provider and the App Service resource provider.
