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Compute Instances

What is a compute instance (CI)? It is Azure ML's answer to virtual machines (VMs). A compute instance is attached to your Azure ML Workspace.

Managing your compute instance from the terminal​

Goals:

  • Use SSH to connect to your CI
  • Use Azure CLI to start/stop your CI

Note: When creating your CI make sure you use the option "enable SSH" and provide your SSH public key.

Install Azure CLI​

Install the Azure ML CLI extension

curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash
az extension add -n azure-cli-ml

Create Compute Instance​

Navigate to your workspace at ml.azure.com > Compute > Compute instances > + New

When creating your CI make sure to enable SSH. Once your compute is created you will see an SSH option under Application URI. This will give you the IP address associated to your CI, as well as the Port. You will see something like this:

User name
azureuser

Publib IP address
53.250.37.121

Private IP address
10.0.0.4

Port number 
50000

Login using local account
ssh azureuser@53.250.37.121 -p 50000

Note: This IP address / port are stable.

Update SSH Config​

To simplify SSH'ing into your CI you can update you SSH config file:

nano ~/.ssh/config
Host my-ci
  HostName 53.250.37.121
  User azureuser
  Port 50000

If your CI is running you can now run

ssh my-ci

Note - if you want to start or stop your CI you can use the Azure ML CLI

az ml computetarget computeinstance start -n <compute-instance-name> -w <workspace-name> -g <resource-group-name>

or 

az ml computetarget computeinstance stop -n <compute-instance-name> -w <workspace-name> -g <resource-group-name>