Create a BYOC Cluster on Azure

To unlock this feature for your account, contact Redpanda support.

With standard BYOC clusters, Redpanda manages security policies and resources for your virtual network (VNet), including subnetworks, managed identities, IAM roles, security groups, and storage accounts. For the most security, you can manage these resources yourself with a customer-managed VNet on Azure.

Prerequisites

Before you deploy a BYOC cluster on Azure, check all prerequisites to ensure that your Azure subscription meets requirements.

Verify rpk version

Confirm you have a minimum version of Redpanda rpk v24.1. See Install or Update rpk.

Prepare your Azure subscription

In the Azure Portal, confirm that the dedicated subscription you intend to use with Redpanda includes the following:

Role: The Azure user must have the Owner role in the subscription.
Resources: The subscription must be registered for the following resource providers. See the Microsoft documentation.
- Microsoft.Compute
- Microsoft.ManagedIdentity
- Microsoft.Storage
- Microsoft.KeyVault
- Microsoft.Network
To check if a resource provider is registered, run the following command using the Azure CLI or in the Azure Cloud Shell. For example, to check for Microsoft.Compute, run:
```
az provider show -n Microsoft.Compute
```
If it is not registered, run:
```
az provider register --namespace 'Microsoft.Compute'
```
Feature: The subscription must be registered for Microsoft.Compute/EncryptionAtHost. See the Microsoft documentation.

To register it, run:
```
az feature register --namespace Microsoft.Compute --name EncryptionAtHost
```
Monitoring: The subscription must have Azure Network Watcher enabled in the NetworkWatcherRG resource group and the region where you will use Redpanda. Network Watcher lets you monitor and diagnose conditions at a network level. See the Microsoft documentation.

To enable it, run:
```
# Create the NetworkWatcherRG resource group
az group create --name 'NetworkWatcherRG' --location '<region_name>'

# Enable Network Watcher in <region_name>
az network watcher configure --resource-group 'NetworkWatcherRG' --locations '<region_name>' --enabled
```

Check Azure quota

Confirm that the Azure subscription has enough vCPUs per instance family and total regional vCPUs in the region where you will use Redpanda:

Standard LASv3-series vCPUs: 24 (3 Redpanda broker nodes)
Standard Dadsv5-series vCPUs: 8 (2 Redpanda utility nodes)
Standard Dv3-series vCPUs: 2 (1 Redpanda agent node)

Optional: If you enable Kafka Connect, Redpanda also deploys a kafka-connect node pool:

Standard Fsv2-series vCPUs: 2 (1 Kafka Connect node)

See the Microsoft documentation.

Check Azure SKU restrictions

Ensure that the Azure subscription does not have any SKU restrictions for the VM sizes in the region where you will use Redpanda. Using the Azure CLI or in the Azure Cloud Shell, run:

az vm list-skus -l eastus2 --zone --size Standard_L8as_v3 --output table
az vm list-skus -l eastus2 --zone --size Standard_D2s_v3 --output table
az vm list-skus -l eastus2 --zone --size Standard_D2ads_v5 --output table

If you see restrictions, open a Microsoft support request to remove the restrictions. For example, checking the Standard_L8as_v3 VM SKU restriction in the eastus2 region for all zones could show:

ResourceType     Locations    Name              Zones    Restrictions
---------------  -----------  ---------------   -------  ------------
virtualMachines  eastus2      Standard_L8as_v3   1,2,3    NotAvailableForSubscription, type: Zone, locations: eastus2, zones: 2,3