Windows Azure VM Role and SYSPREP

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When someone prepare VHD for VM Role they might have the question if SYSPREP is really necessary or not.

First I would describe some of very important VM Role Image configuration achieved using SYSPREP as below:

 

  1. VM image should be clean and in generalized state which is considered default image. Using a generalized image is the cleanest and most reliable method for deploying a Windows OS image on new hardware.
  2. VM should not have hardware configuration embedded in it. A generalized VM Image allows Windows Setup to properly re-evaluate the hardware to run smoothly. When VM runs on guest OS it configure itself to run based on Guest OS hardware and because the target hardware where your VM role will be running will be different from your own hardware where you have created the VM image so you need SYSPREP to setup OS in hardware neutral mode, so when it runs first time, it can actively re-evaluate the hardware environment.
  3. SYSPREP is prerequisite for cloning and duplicating machines. Through this process, each VM Image receive a fresh identity. If you are to create more than one instance from the parent, SYSPREP ensures that there are no ugly side effects.
  4. VM image “machine name” does matter when same image is used to deploy multiple instances as needed. SYSPREP erases the machine name to a state in which new name is given when VM is deployed. If the image is not SYSPREP, the machine name will remain the same and during multiple instances, duplicate machine name creates several conflicts. 
  5. SYSPREP sets to image to non-activated state (or called default most – VL Activation) so when it is deployed or started, it can be activated depend on the environment . When VM Role image is deployed in cloud, the Windows Azure Integration Components are used to activate the VM Role image OS for Volume Licensing, regardless of which product key is present in the image. 
  6. SYSPREP sets base OS locale to EN-US.
  7. VM Role image must be set to UTC time zone. SYSPREP is used to set this accurately.
  8. You must understand then Windows Azure does deploy instance or multiple instances form your VHD deployment. So it is must that your based VHD should be clean, and in such state that it can be used to deploy instances after instances as needed. SYSPREP is the best way to bring VM Image to this state.
  9. SYSPREP also sets up Administrator account to default state

 

As you can see SYSPREP really does help to create a VM Role image which can be effectively used for deploying multiple instances as needed so i would say SYSPREP indeed is needed. 

Read more:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg465391.aspx

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg465409.aspx

https://blogs.msdn.com/b/avkashchauhan/archive/tags/vm+role/