Azure Learning

configure-azure-container-instances

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tagsaz-104, compute, module, containers, aci, serverless

2 min read

Module 5 — Configure Azure Container Instances

Grounded in MS Learn: az-104-manage-compute-resources → Configure Azure Container Instances (learn.wwl.configure-azure-container-instances)

Overview

Fifth module of the AZ-104 compute path. Understand when to use containers vs virtual machines, the features/use cases of Azure Container Instances (ACI) — serverless containers with no orchestrator to manage — and how to implement container groups.

Learning objectives (authoritative)

  1. Identify when to use containers versus VMs.
  2. Identify the features and usage cases of Azure Container Instances.
  3. Implement Azure container groups.

Concepts introduced

  • Azure Container Instances (ACI) — run single containers directly, pay per second, no cluster management.
  • Containers vs VMs decision: containers share the host OS (lighter, faster start, less isolation) vs VMs virtualize the OS (heavier, more isolation/control).
  • Container groups — ACI scheduling unit: one or more containers sharing lifecycle, network, and storage on the same host.
  • Images come from Azure Container Registry or public registries.
  • Networking options: public IP + DNS, or on a Virtual Network (VNet injection).

Key terms & commands

  • Create: az container create --resource-group <rg> --name <aci> --image mcr.microsoft.com/azuredocs/aci-helloworld --cpu 1 --memory 1 --ports 80
  • From ACR: az container create --image <acr>.azurecr.io/app:v1 (authenticated via ACR integration).
  • Container groups: deploy a .yml (ACI group) with multiple containers sharing the group; az container show.
  • Networking: --os-type linux --dns-name-label for public DNS; VNet via --vnet.
  • Start/stop/restart/logs: az container logs, az container start, pairwise with az container list.

Hands-on

  • Run the ACI hello-world image and browse the public IP.
  • Deploy a container group YAML with an app + sidecar sharing the network, and verify they can talk.
  • Compare boot/teardown of an ACI vs an equivalent VM to internalize the containers-vs-VMs tradeoff.

Exam focus

  • Containers vs VMs deciding factor: shared-OS isolation vs full OS virtualization; containers for microservices/CI/batch.
  • ACI = no orchestration: choose it for simple/short-lived/single or few containers; choose AKS for orchestrated fleets.
  • Container groups = how ACI shares one host/network across multiple containers.
  • Know az container verbs and that images commonly come from ACR.
  • ACI vs Functions: containers are stateful/persistent processes you control; Functions are event-driven serverless compute.

Path MOC · aci · aks · acr · azure-vm

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