Installing Windows Azure Integration Components on VM role

In this article we will see how to install integration components on the virtual machine. The integration components must be installed on the machine before base image is uploaded to the Azure. The integration components start each time the OS starts. It handles the integration between the role instance and Azure environment. Windows Azure Integration components support:

·         Windows setup for deployment

When a VM role instance comes online, the generalized image that is used to create the instance must run through a setup specialization phase. This specialization phase is performed by the System Preparation Tool (sysprep), provided by the Windows Azure Integration Components.  To automate the specialization, it creates an answer file named c:\unattend.xml.

·         Interaction with the Windows Azure environment

It installs the Service runtime API’s, so that the VM role can get information about the Azure environment, like instance ID, upgrade domain etc. This information is only available to the code that is running under an Administrator or LocalSystem account in the VM role instance.

·         Local storage resources

You can access the local resources using the Service runtime API’s or at c:\Resources\.

·         Certificate installation

You can install the certificates to the LocalMachine store location. It is not possible to install certificates to the CurrentUser store location or any other store location. Do not install the certificate before uploading, because while generalizing the image, System Preparation Tool (sysprep) will destroy the private key of the certificate.

Now we will see how to install Integration components on VM role.

1)      From the Hyper-V manager, right click the VM role and click Connect, and start it. Now Click on the Media -> DVD Drive -> Insert Disk…

2)      Now open the location for wavmroleic.iso. It will be located at C:\Program Files\Windows Azure SDK\v1.6\iso.

3)      It opens an AutoPlay dialogue. Now click Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer.

4)      Now click double click the WaIntegrationComponents-x64.msi (Windows Installer) file.

5)      Click next on the Setup wizard.

6)      Now at Operating system Configuration wizard, enter Password and click Next.

7)      Now Click Install.

8)      If it asks for installing the device software, click Install.

9)      It will take some time for installation. When the installation completes, click Finish.

10)   Now it will ask you to restart the system. Click Yes to restart the system.

11)   Now launch the System Preparation Tool from the location C:\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe. Set the System Cleanup Action to “Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE)”, check the option labeled Generalize, set the Shutdown Options to Shutdown, and then press OK.

12)   Now the image is ready for deployment.