Azure Infrastructure Creation

This page applies only to Azure AKS deployments. For Virtual Machine deployments, see the Installation guide.

Overview

This guide walks you through creating the required Azure infrastructure for ABBYY Vantage using Azure CLI and ARM templates. The infrastructure is created from within the Vantage installer container.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

An Azure subscription with permissions to create and manage resources
Docker installed on your local machine
Internet access to download container images
For Highly Available configuration: Redis cluster deployed on VMs (see System Requirements)

You can begin downloading container images while creating the infrastructure, as this is a lengthy operation.

Infrastructure Components

The following Azure resources will be created:

Azure Subscription
└── Resource Group
    ├── AKS Cluster
    │   ├── Services Node Pool (Standard_D8as_v5)
    │   └── Workers Node Pool (Standard_D16as_v5)
    ├── Storage Accounts (5)
    │   ├── Skills (Premium/Hot)
    │   ├── Processing (Standard/Hot)
    │   ├── Temporary (Standard/Hot)
    │   ├── Shared Folders (Premium FileStorage)
    │   └── Archive (Standard/Cool)
    ├── Azure SQL Server
    │   └── Elastic Pool Database
    └── Public IP Address

Step 1: Download the Installer Image

First, download the Vantage installer image and push it to your container registry.

# Login to Vantage Docker registry
docker login abyvtgonprm27.azurecr.io -u <username> -p <password>

# Pull the installer image
docker pull abyvtgonprm27.azurecr.io/vantage-azure:2.7.1

# Tag for your registry
docker tag abyvtgonprm27.azurecr.io/vantage-azure:2.7.1 \
  registry.yourdomain.tld/vantage/vantage-azure:2.7.1

# Push to your registry
docker push registry.yourdomain.tld/vantage/vantage-azure:2.7.1

Replace <username> and <password> with the credentials provided during procurement.

Step 2: Run the Installer Container

Start the installer container. All subsequent commands in this guide are run from within this container.

docker run -it registry.yourdomain.tld/vantage/vantage-azure:2.7.1

Step 3: Authenticate to Azure

Inside the container, log in to your Azure account:

# Login to Azure (opens browser for authentication)
az login

# Set the subscription
az account set --subscription <subscription_id>

Replace <subscription_id> with your Azure subscription ID.

Step 4: Create Resource Group

Create a resource group in your desired Azure region:

az group create --location <location> --resource-group <resource_group_name>

Example:

az group create --location eastus --resource-group vantage-prod-rg

Common Azure regions: eastus, eastus2, westus2, westeurope, northeurope

Step 5: Create AKS Cluster

Preview the Deployment

First, check what resources will be created:

az deployment group what-if --name aks-cluster \
  --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
  --template-file files/infrastructure/azure/arms/Cluster.Manual.json \
  --parameters kubernetesClusterName=<cluster_name>

Cluster names must not be longer than 15 characters.

Create the Cluster

az deployment group create --name aks-cluster \
  --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
  --template-file files/infrastructure/azure/arms/Cluster.Manual.json \
  --parameters kubernetesClusterName=<cluster_name> \
  --parameters enableFIPS=false

This command creates a cluster in the Without high availability configuration capable of processing 50,000 pages per 8 hours. For other configurations, modify the node pool settings using the Performance Guide after cluster creation.

For FIPS-compliant deployments, set enableFIPS=true. See FIPS Compliance for additional configuration.

Step 6: Create Storage Accounts

Preview the Deployment

az deployment group what-if --name storage \
  --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
  --template-file files/infrastructure/azure/arms/StorageAccounts.Template.json

Create Storage Accounts

az deployment group create --name storage \
  --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
  --template-file files/infrastructure/azure/arms/StorageAccounts.Template.json \
  --parameters kubernetesClusterName=<cluster_name> \
  --parameters enableFIPS=false

Retrieve Storage Account Keys

Get the access keys and secret keys to populate the s3storage section in env_specific.yml:

az deployment group show --name storage \
  --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
  --query properties.outputs -o yaml

Save the output - you will need these values for the env_specific.yml configuration file.

Step 7: Create Azure SQL Server

Preview the Deployment

az deployment group what-if --name dbservers \
  --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
  --template-file files/infrastructure/azure/arms/Databases/DB.Server.Template.json \
  --parameters serverBaseName=<cluster_name> \
  --parameters dbAdminLogin=<db_username> \
  --parameters dbAdminPassword=<db_password>

Create SQL Server

az deployment group create --name dbservers \
  --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
  --template-file files/infrastructure/azure/arms/Databases/DB.Server.Template.json \
  --parameters serverBaseName=<cluster_name> \
  --parameters dbAdminLogin=<db_username> \
  --parameters dbAdminPassword=<db_password>

The dbAdminLogin and dbAdminPassword parameters are the credentials used to access the databases. Save these for the env_specific.yml configuration.

Step 8: Create Azure SQL Database

Preview the Deployment

az deployment group what-if --name databases \
  --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
  --template-file files/infrastructure/azure/arms/Databases/SQL.Databases.Template.json \
  --parameters serverBaseName=<cluster_name>

Create Database

az deployment group create --name databases \
  --resource-group <resource_group_name> \
  --template-file files/infrastructure/azure/arms/Databases/SQL.Databases.Template.json \
  --parameters serverBaseName=<cluster_name>

Step 9: Get Node Resource Group

Retrieve the node resource group name for the AKS cluster:

az aks show --name <cluster_name> -g <resource_group_name> \
  --query nodeResourceGroup -o tsv

Save this value - you will place the Public IP address in this resource group.

Step 10: Configure Public IP Address

Create an Azure Public IP (Standard Static IPv4) in the node resource group from Step 9, or move an existing Public IP to that resource group.
Note the IP address for the env_specific.yml configuration:
```
loadbalancer:
  external_ip: <your_public_ip_address>
```
Create a DNS A record pointing your domain to this IP address.

Step 11: Install GPU Driver (Optional)

If you plan to deploy GPU workers for training skills with Deep Learning:

ansible-playbook -i inventories/azure -v \
  playbooks/infrastructure/azure/02_install_gpu_driver.yml

For GPU deployment requirements, see System Requirements.

Summary of Created Resources

After completing these steps, you will have:

Resource	Purpose
Resource Group	Container for all Vantage resources
AKS Cluster	Kubernetes cluster for running Vantage
Services Node Pool	Runs Vantage platform services
Workers Node Pool	Runs document processing workers
Skills Storage Account	Stores skill definitions and configurations
Processing Storage Account	Stores documents during processing
Temporary Storage Account	Temporary transaction storage
Shared Folders Storage Account	Import/export shared folder access
Archive Storage Account	Long-term document archive
Azure SQL Server	Database server
Azure SQL Database	Vantage operational database
Public IP Address	External access to Vantage

Next Steps

After creating the infrastructure:

Configure env_specific.yml - Populate with the values from this guide. See Installation for the full configuration format.
Download container images - Sync Vantage images to your container registry.
Run the installation - Complete the installation using the playbooks.

Continue to Installation for the complete installation process.

Troubleshooting

Deployment Fails with Permission Error

Ensure your Azure account has the following permissions:

Contributor access to the subscription or resource group
Ability to create AKS clusters, storage accounts, and SQL databases

Cluster Name Too Long

Cluster names must be 15 characters or fewer. Use a shorter name.

Storage Account Name Already Exists

Azure Storage Account names must be globally unique. The ARM template generates names based on your cluster name. If there’s a conflict, try a different cluster name.

Cannot Connect to SQL Database

Ensure the Azure SQL Database firewall rules allow connections from the AKS cluster’s outbound IP addresses. You may need to add a virtual network rule or allow Azure services.

System Requirements - Full infrastructure requirements
Installation - Complete installation guide
FIPS Compliance - FIPS-enabled deployments
Performance Guide - Scaling and performance tuning

Getting Started

Installation

Administration

Advanced Configuration

Operations

Performance

Release Notes

Microsoft Azure Deployments

Overview

Prerequisites

Infrastructure Components

Step 1: Download the Installer Image

Step 2: Run the Installer Container

Step 3: Authenticate to Azure

Step 4: Create Resource Group

Step 5: Create AKS Cluster

Preview the Deployment

Create the Cluster

Step 6: Create Storage Accounts

Preview the Deployment

Create Storage Accounts

Retrieve Storage Account Keys

Step 7: Create Azure SQL Server

Preview the Deployment

Create SQL Server

Step 8: Create Azure SQL Database

Preview the Deployment

Create Database

Step 9: Get Node Resource Group

Step 10: Configure Public IP Address

Step 11: Install GPU Driver (Optional)

Summary of Created Resources

Next Steps

Troubleshooting

Deployment Fails with Permission Error

Cluster Name Too Long

Storage Account Name Already Exists

Cannot Connect to SQL Database

Getting Started

Installation

Administration

Advanced Configuration

Operations

Performance

Release Notes

Microsoft Azure Deployments

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Infrastructure Components

​Step 1: Download the Installer Image

​Step 2: Run the Installer Container

​Step 3: Authenticate to Azure

​Step 4: Create Resource Group

​Step 5: Create AKS Cluster

​Preview the Deployment

​Create the Cluster

​Step 6: Create Storage Accounts

​Preview the Deployment

​Create Storage Accounts

​Retrieve Storage Account Keys

​Step 7: Create Azure SQL Server

​Preview the Deployment

​Create SQL Server

​Step 8: Create Azure SQL Database

​Preview the Deployment

​Create Database

​Step 9: Get Node Resource Group

​Step 10: Configure Public IP Address

​Step 11: Install GPU Driver (Optional)

​Summary of Created Resources

​Next Steps

​Troubleshooting

​Deployment Fails with Permission Error

​Cluster Name Too Long

​Storage Account Name Already Exists

​Cannot Connect to SQL Database

​Related Documentation

Overview

Prerequisites

Infrastructure Components

Step 1: Download the Installer Image

Step 2: Run the Installer Container

Step 3: Authenticate to Azure

Step 4: Create Resource Group

Step 5: Create AKS Cluster

Preview the Deployment

Create the Cluster

Step 6: Create Storage Accounts

Preview the Deployment

Create Storage Accounts

Retrieve Storage Account Keys

Step 7: Create Azure SQL Server

Preview the Deployment

Create SQL Server

Step 8: Create Azure SQL Database

Preview the Deployment

Create Database

Step 9: Get Node Resource Group

Step 10: Configure Public IP Address

Step 11: Install GPU Driver (Optional)

Summary of Created Resources

Next Steps

Troubleshooting

Deployment Fails with Permission Error

Cluster Name Too Long

Storage Account Name Already Exists

Cannot Connect to SQL Database

Related Documentation