Azure Batch can be a great tool for instant batch processing as it creates and manages a pool of compute nodes (virtual machines), installs the applications you want to run, and schedules jobs to run on the nodes. The important thing using this service is that there is no additional charge for using Batch. You only pay for the underlying resources consumed, such as the virtual machines, storage, and networking.
Azure Batch documentation – Azure Batch | Microsoft Learn
In this post I will demonstrate how one can create a new job and task from az cli for batch service. The trick in this implementation will be the json that is provided as input for the task definition as not all available options are provided from az cli.
The available az cli options are shown below.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/batch/task?view=azure-cli-latest#az-batch-task-create
One important missing configuration will be the container image that can be provided in the task trough Azure portal but not with az cli.
In order to create a task using az cli and bypass this issue, you can use the json-file parameter. This option will trigger the creation using the rest api and provide the parameters for the container image.
When there is a batch service pool available, you will need to create a job.
az batch account login -g RESOURCE_GROUP -n NAME az batch job create --id JOB_NAME --pool-id POOL_NAME
Then you can create a new task using a json file.
az batch task create --job-id JOB_NAME --json-file
Task – Add – REST API (Azure Batch Service) | Microsoft Learn
The JSON file can be created as shown below.
{
"id": "azcli-task",
"displayName": "azcli-task",
"commandLine": "azcli-task",
"containerSettings": {
"containerRunOptions": "--rm --workdir /app",
"imageName": "registry.azurecr.io/batchcontainer"
}
}
When you execute the command you will get an output from the rest API for the created task.
Finally you can find the new created task on Azure portal.
