Implementation:Interpretml Interpret Powerlift BicepAzureContainerInstance

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

Overview

Bicep-based Azure Container Instance executor that provisions ACI resources via Azure Resource Manager ARM/Bicep template deployments rather than direct SDK calls.

Description

The BicepAzureContainerInstance class extends the Executor base class and provides an alternative approach to Azure Container Instance provisioning. Instead of using the Azure Container Instance SDK directly (as in AzureContainerInstance), this executor uses Azure Resource Manager deployments with Bicep/ARM templates.

Key characteristics:

• Template-based deployment -- Reads an ARM template JSON file (aci.json) and a startup shell script (startup.sh) from the same directory as the executor module.
• Resource Manager integration -- Uses azure.mgmt.resource.ResourceManagementClient to deploy container groups via begin_create_or_update with incremental deployment mode.
• Parameterized provisioning -- Passes container count, batch size, image, startup script, experiment ID, database URL, timeout, and resource group as deployment parameters.
• Deployment tracking -- Stores the deployment poller and name for join/cancel operations. The join() method waits on the deployment poller, while cancel() uses the Resource Management client to cancel the deployment.
• No max_undead parameter -- Unlike the direct ACI executor, this version does not support the max_undead parameter since container lifecycle is managed by the ARM deployment.

Usage

Use this executor when you prefer Infrastructure-as-Code style provisioning of Azure Container Instances, or when you need to customize the ARM template for advanced container group configurations. Requires the aci.json template and startup.sh files to be present alongside the executor module.

Code Reference

Source Location

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

Signature

class BicepAzureContainerInstance(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,
        num_cores: int = 4,
        mem_size_gb: int = 16,
        image: str = "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:3.12",
        docker_db_uri: Optional[str] = None,
        resource_uris: Optional[List[str]] = None,
        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.bicep_azure_ci import BicepAzureContainerInstance

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	Number of containers to deploy (default: 1)
num_cores	int	No	CPU cores per container (default: 4)
mem_size_gb	int	No	RAM in GB per container (default: 16)
image	str	No	Docker image for containers (default: "mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/python:3.12")
docker_db_uri	str	No	Database URI override for container use
resource_uris	List[str]	No	Azure resources to grant contributor access to
delete_on_complete	bool	No	Whether to delete containers after completion (default: True)
wheel_filepaths	List[str]	No	Wheel files to install in the container environment

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
join() return	List	Empty list (deployment results are managed by the ARM template)

Usage Examples

from powerlift.bench.store import Store
from powerlift.executors.bicep_azure_ci import BicepAzureContainerInstance
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

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

executor = BicepAzureContainerInstance(
    store=store,
    azure_tenant_id="your-tenant-id",
    subscription_id="your-subscription-id",
    azure_client_id="your-client-id",
    credential=credential,
    n_instances=8,
    num_cores=4,
    mem_size_gb=16,
)

executor.submit(experiment_id=1, timeout=3600)
executor.join()

Related Pages

• Interpretml_Interpret_Powerlift_Executor -- Abstract base class that BicepAzureContainerInstance extends
• Interpretml_Interpret_Powerlift_AzureContainerInstance -- Direct SDK-based alternative for ACI provisioning
• Interpretml_Interpret_Powerlift_AzureVMInstance -- Alternative executor using full Azure VMs
• Interpretml_Interpret_Powerlift_Schema -- Database schema models used by the Store