Snow Commander includes access to a select group of popular Azure public images, which customers can use to create services in Commander's Service Catalog. However, there are several thousand available public images on Azure, and customers often find that they need access to an Azure public image that is not included in the pre-configured images that Commander will recognize.

The images that Commander recognizes by default are controlled by entries in the \Program Files\Embotics\Commander\tomcat\common\classes\arm-images.xml file, as shown below: 
 

Snow Software regularly updates this with new images that Commander should recognize by default. This file is overwritten with each upgrade and should not be edited or altered by Commander administrators.

Adding Azure public images to Commander

Azure public images which are not included in Commander by default can be added to Commander by editing their names into  \Program Files\Embotics\Commander\tomcat\common\classes\arm-images.custom.xml file.

The arm-images.custom.xml file contains no configured images by default, but you can refer to the arm-images.xml file for the appropriate syntax to add entries.   


The easiest way to avoid errors in syntax is to copy one of the lines from the arm-images.xml into the arm-images.custom.xml file, and then edit the values used. Adding new Azure public images to Commander via the arm-images.custom.xml file requires 6 parameters:

1. image name - Can be any name chosen by your organization.  The name set here will be displayed in Commander when adding the image to the service catalog, so it's important to choose a name that is distinct from other images and is easy for your admin portal users to understand.
2. region - The Azure region where the VM will be hosted.  This must match the Azure value for that region, and your Azure subscription must allow for VMs to be deployed to the specified region.
3. publisher - Publisher name for the public image, listed as Publisher ID on Azure.  This must exactly match the Azure value for the image.
4. offer - Offer name for the public image, listed as Product ID on Azure.   This must exactly match the Azure value for the offer. 
5. sku - The instance of an offer for the public image, listed as Plan ID on Azure.   This must exactly match the Azure value for the sku.
6. osDiskSizeGb - Size for the OS disk needed for the public image, in gigabytes.  Must be at least the minimum size necessary to deploy the image OS.

Example

For this example, we will be adding Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS to Commander.

Once we have located the desired public image on Azure, we can click on the Usage Information + Support tab to view the parameters needed to add the public image to Commander under Usage Information. 



Commander administrators should note that, at times, the values on Azure listing for some images may be inaccurate, as publishers sometimes make changes to the URN that are not reflected in the Azure marketplace.  The values are case sensitive, and in the above example, the publisher's name, Canonical, should have an upper-case C, but Azure lists it with a lower-case C. 

As an alternative, sites such as https://az-vm-image.info/ are recommended to quickly find values for the needed image and to verify that the info in the Azure marketplace and Commander arm-images.custom.xml file are correct.


Using the values on either site, edit the values in the arm-images.custom.xml to match the values of the public image, as shown here:



Save the changes made to this file.   The new image will not appear in Commander until there is a synchronization of the Azure inventory.  Navigate to Views > Inventory and the right click on the Azure cloud account and click Synchronize Inventory.  Once the synchronization completes, the image will be available to add to the service catalog.




Troubleshooting

The image does not appear in Commander after adding it to the arm-images.custom.xml file.
There are few common issues which prevent the images from appearing in Commander after being added to the arm-images.custom.xml file.

Value mismatch - The values added to the arm-images.custom.xml file are case sensitive and must exactly match the values used by Azure for the URN of the image.  Verify the data that you're using is correct by using sites such as https://az-vm-image.info/.

Region not present in Commander - The region specified in the arm-images.custom.xml file must also be available to the Azure account and both present and connected in Commander.   In the admin portal, click Views > Inventory and then expand the Azure account to verify that the specified region is present.  If it's not, right click the Azure account, click Select Regions, and then check the box next to the specified region to add it to the infrastucture view for the Azure account.

The image was previously present in Commander but is no longer there.

The common cause for this is new Azure public images being added to the arm-images.xml file rather than the arm-images.custom.xml.   Adding new public images to arm-images.xml file will work, and the images will appear in Commander, however, the purpose of this file is to make available the default public images included with the Commander installation, and as such, the file is overwritten after each Commander ugprade.   

To avoid having Azure public images disappear from Commander, only list new public images in the arm-images.custom.xml file.   Re-adding the the image to the arm-images.custom.xml file will remedy this issue.

Account not authorized to deploy to the specified region - The Azure account added in Commander must be authorized to deploy to the region specified.  You can verify this by finding the image in question on the Azure marketplace, and clicking Create.   Under the region listing, Azure will give a listing regions to which the account may deploy.