Azure Batch Account Concepts
This article explains the key concepts and terminology associated with an Azure Batch account.
What is an Azure Batch Account?
An Azure Batch account is a resource in Azure that allows you to use the Azure Batch service. When you create a Batch account, you are essentially setting up a management endpoint for your Batch workloads. The Batch account itself doesn't run your applications; instead, it manages the compute resources, pools, jobs, and tasks that execute your computations.
Key Components Managed by a Batch Account:
- Compute Pools: Collections of virtual machines (compute nodes) that run your application code.
- Jobs: A logical grouping of tasks that run on a compute pool.
- Tasks: The individual units of work that are executed by your applications on the compute nodes.
- Storage Accounts: While not directly part of the Batch account, Batch integrates with Azure Storage for application packages, input/output files, and more.
Batch Account Properties
When you create an Azure Batch account, several properties are configured, which influence how the account operates and is billed:
Account Name
A unique name for your Batch account within the Azure subscription and region. This name is used in resource IDs and REST API calls.
Location/Region
The Azure region where your Batch account is deployed. Compute resources for your Batch jobs will typically be provisioned in the same region.
Key Vault
An optional Azure Key Vault can be associated with your Batch account to securely manage secrets, such as storage account keys or application credentials.
Auto-Storage Account
You can optionally link an Azure Storage account to your Batch account. This is used for storing application packages, input/output files for your jobs, and intermediate data. If not specified, you can link storage accounts to individual jobs or tasks.
Application Packages
You can upload and manage application packages (e.g., ZIP archives of executables and dependencies) directly within the Batch account. This simplifies the deployment of your applications to compute nodes.
Batch Account Types
Azure Batch offers two primary ways to manage your compute resources:
1. With Azure Virtual Machines
This is the traditional and most common approach. You create a Batch account and then provision compute nodes (VMs) by creating pools. These pools can be composed of VMs from various Azure VM images, including Windows Server and Linux distributions. You specify the size and number of VMs, the operating system, and other configurations.
2. With Azure Container Instances (ACI)
Batch also supports running tasks within containers on Azure Container Instances. This allows you to run short-lived, stateless tasks without needing to manage VMs. ACI integration provides a more cost-effective option for certain types of workloads.
Accessing Your Batch Account
You can interact with your Batch account using several methods:
- Azure Portal: A web-based graphical interface for managing your Batch account, pools, jobs, and tasks.
- Azure CLI: A command-line interface for automating Batch operations.
- Azure PowerShell: Another command-line tool for scripting and automation.
- Batch Management API: A REST API that allows programmatic access to Batch resources.
- Batch SDKs: Software Development Kits for various programming languages (e.g., .NET, Python, Java) that provide higher-level abstractions for interacting with the Batch API.
Pricing Considerations
Your Batch account itself is free to create. You are billed for the Azure compute resources (VMs, ACI instances) that your Batch jobs consume, as well as any associated Azure Storage, networking, and data transfer costs. The pricing for compute resources varies based on the VM size, region, and whether you use Spot VMs for cost savings.
Spot VMs
Azure Batch supports the use of Spot virtual machines, which can significantly reduce compute costs for fault-tolerant workloads. Spot VMs are available at a discounted price, but they can be evicted by Azure when capacity is needed elsewhere.
Summary
An Azure Batch account serves as the central management point for your large-scale parallel and high-performance computing applications. It orchestrates the provisioning of compute resources (VMs or ACI), the submission and execution of jobs and tasks, and the management of application deployments. Understanding these core concepts is essential for effectively leveraging Azure Batch to accelerate your computations.