OS Version	Status Badge
Ubuntu 20.04
Ubuntu 22.04
AlmaLinux 8.10

Azure HPC/AI VM Images

This repository houses a collection of scripts meticulously crafted for installing High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) libraries, along with tools essential for building Azure HPC/AI images. Whether you're provisioning compute-intensive workloads or crafting advanced AI models in the cloud, these scripts streamline the process, ensuring efficiency and reliability in your deployments.

Following are the current supported HPC/AI VM images that are available in Azure Marketplace:

• Ubuntu-HPC 22.04 (microsoft-dsvm:ubuntu-hpc:2204:latest)
• Ubuntu-HPC 20.04 (microsoft-dsvm:ubuntu-hpc:2004:latest)
• AlmaLinux-HPC 8.10 (almalinux:almalinux-hpc:8_10-hpc-gen2:latest)

How to Use

The high level steps to create your own HPC images using our repository are:

1. Deploy a VM (tutorial).
2. Run install.sh (pick the corresponding install.sh in our repository for your OS, e.g., Ubuntu 22.04).
3. Generate an image from the VM (tutorial).

Kernel Update/Patching

Generally, OS kernel updates break compatibility of HPC components we install, e.g., Lustre. In our HPC images, the kernel is excluded from updates for this reason.

• Ubuntu 22.04: https://github.com/Azure/azhpc-images/blob/master/ubuntu/ubuntu-22.x/ubuntu-22.04-hpc/install_prerequisites.sh#L5
• AlmaLinux 8.10: https://github.com/Azure/azhpc-images/blob/master/alma/common/install_utils.sh#L66

We implement it this way, since lots of kernel dependencies are installed which are highly coupled to a specific kernel version. Thus, kernel updates are not encouraged in our HPC images.

Our HPC image releasing primary cadence is quarterly. In between releases, if we get flagged for security issues, we quickly apply the patch and release a hotfix in an adhoc fashion which can be done within a week or two.

Please keep using our latest HPC images. If any compliance issues (e.g., security bugs) are identified, please also report them (and patches, if any) to us. We will apply the fix and release the patched images as a hotfix.

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.