Implementation:Interpretml Interpret Powerlift AzureVMInstance

Knowledge Sources	Interpretml Interpret
Domains	Benchmarking, Cloud_Infrastructure, Azure
Last Updated	2026-02-07 12:00 GMT

Overview

Azure VM executor that runs Powerlift benchmark trials on provisioned Azure Virtual Machines, supporting configurable VM sizes, OS images, and disk types for GPU and high-performance workloads.

Description

The AzureVMInstance class extends the Executor base class to provision and manage Azure Virtual Machines for running benchmark trials. Unlike the container-based executor, this allows full VM customization including:

• VM sizing -- Configurable VM size (default: Standard_B16s_v2), with GPU support via sizes like Standard_NC24ads_A100_v4.
• OS image configuration -- Customizable image publisher, offer, SKU, and version (defaults to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS).
• Disk type -- Choice between standard and premium storage (e.g., Standard_LRS or Premium_LRS for SSDs).
• Location selection -- Optional Azure region specification; defaults to the resource group's location.
• Asynchronous execution -- Uses multiprocessing.Pool to dispatch to run_azure_process in the powerlift.run.azure_vm module.

The executor maintains Azure credentials in a JSON structure, generates random batch IDs for each submission, and supports credential deletion for security.

Usage

Use this executor when benchmark trials require full VM capabilities, such as GPU access, large memory, custom OS configurations, or persistent disk storage. It is more heavyweight than the container-based alternative but offers greater flexibility for compute-intensive or specialized workloads.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: Interpretml_Interpret
• File: python/powerlift/powerlift/executors/azure_vm.py

Signature

class AzureVMInstance(Executor):
    def __init__(
        self,
        store: Store,
        azure_tenant_id: str,
        subscription_id: str,
        azure_client_id: str,
        credential=None,
        azure_client_secret: Optional[str] = None,
        resource_group: str = "powerlift_rg",
        shell_install: Optional[str] = None,
        pip_install: Optional[str] = None,
        wheel_filepaths: Optional[List[str]] = None,
        n_instances: int = 1,
        location: Optional[str] = None,
        vm_size: str = "Standard_B16s_v2",
        image_publisher: str = "canonical",
        image_offer: str = "ubuntu-24_04-lts",
        image_sku: str = "server",
        image_version: str = "latest",
        disk_type: str = "Standard_LRS",
        docker_db_uri: Optional[str] = None,
        resource_uris: Optional[List[str]] = None,
        max_undead: int = 1,
        delete_on_complete: bool = True,
    ): ...

    def submit(self, experiment_id, timeout=None): ...
    def join(self): ...
    def cancel(self): ...
    def delete_credentials(self): ...

Import

from powerlift.executors.azure_vm import AzureVMInstance

I/O Contract

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
store	Store	Yes	Store instance that houses trials and provides the database URI
azure_tenant_id	str	Yes	Azure tenant ID for authentication
subscription_id	str	Yes	Azure subscription ID
azure_client_id	str	Yes	Azure client ID for service principal
credential	object	No	Azure credential object (alternative to client_secret)
azure_client_secret	str	No	Azure client secret for service principal authentication
resource_group	str	No	Azure resource group name (default: "powerlift_rg")
n_instances	int	No	Maximum number of VMs to run simultaneously (default: 1)
location	str	No	Azure region; defaults to resource group location
vm_size	str	No	Azure VM size (default: "Standard_B16s_v2")
image_publisher	str	No	OS image publisher (default: "canonical")
image_offer	str	No	OS image offer (default: "ubuntu-24_04-lts")
image_sku	str	No	OS image SKU (default: "server")
image_version	str	No	OS image version (default: "latest")
disk_type	str	No	Disk storage type (default: "Standard_LRS")
docker_db_uri	str	No	Database URI override for VM use
resource_uris	List[str]	No	Azure resources to grant contributor access to
max_undead	int	No	Maximum VMs allowed to remain alive on init error (default: 1)
delete_on_complete	bool	No	Whether to delete VMs after completion (default: True)
wheel_filepaths	List[str]	No	Wheel files to install in the VM environment

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
join() return	List	List of results from completed VM executions

Usage Examples

from powerlift.bench.store import Store
from powerlift.executors.azure_vm import AzureVMInstance

store = Store("postgresql://user:pass@host/db")

executor = AzureVMInstance(
    store=store,
    azure_tenant_id="your-tenant-id",
    subscription_id="your-subscription-id",
    azure_client_id="your-client-id",
    azure_client_secret="your-client-secret",
    n_instances=2,
    vm_size="Standard_NC24ads_A100_v4",  # GPU VM
    disk_type="Premium_LRS",             # SSD
)

executor.submit(experiment_id=1, timeout=7200)
results = executor.join()

Related Pages

• Implementation:Interpretml_Interpret_Powerlift_Executor -- Abstract base class that AzureVMInstance extends
• Implementation:Interpretml_Interpret_Powerlift_RunAzureVM -- The remote process runner that this executor delegates to
• Implementation:Interpretml_Interpret_Powerlift_AzureContainerInstance -- Lighter-weight alternative using Azure Container Instances
• Implementation:Interpretml_Interpret_Powerlift_Schema -- Database schema models used by the Store