The Azure VM extension for Tentacle was deprecated in 2021 but we didn't remove it from the marketplace. It's no longer fully compatible with newer versions of Tentacle, so we plan to remove it in late March 2023.
In this post, I walk you through alternatives if your workflow is impacted.
The VM extension only applies to Windows VMs in Azure.
Why we're removing the Azure VM extension for Tentacle
In a recent post about the Tentacle .NET version change, we explained we're no longer supporting older .NET versions in Tentacle. This means Windows VMs without .NET 4.8 runtime no longer run the latest version of Tentacle.
In 2022, there were still a few thousand Windows VMs deployed by the Azure VM extension. We deprecated the extension a couple years ago, as Azure was moving towards ARM templates and script extensions. As a result, the extension no longer works when deploying to VMs with older OS versions.
We're also going to remove the extension from the marketplace in late March 2023, as it's overstayed its deprecation period.
How to provision Tentacle VMs going forward
We recommend using ARM templates and PowerShell DSC extensions to deploy Tentacles from now on.
Below are basic steps to do this.
Tentacle version & .NET version
Whatever your provisioning method, Tentacle from 6.3 onwards requires the .NET 4.8 runtime to run on Windows. We recommend OS versions that have .NET 4.8 installed by default. If not, install on your VM using the ARM template or the DSC config.
Alternatively, you can lock the Tentacle version to 6.2 which is compatible with most old .NET framework versions. After the version is locked, you can use the DSC config to install a 6.2 Tentacle and ignore newer versions. An example DSC config is shown in the next section.
- See .NET Framework & Windows OS versions for whether .NET 4.8 is or can be installed on a given OS version.
- See Tentacle versioning and when to update for how to lock your Tentacle version.
Preparing the DSC extension
Octopus Deploy offers a DSC module that you can use to deploy Tentacles. As explained in our docs, the first step is creating a ZIP file containing the DSC source and a DSC config. The config file can remain simple, or you can modify it to accept parameters for your workflow. For example, here we add a CommunicationMode parameter to deploy Tentacles in different modes.
configuration OctopusTentacle
{
param ($ApiKey, $OctopusServerUrl, $Environments, $Roles, $ServerPort, $CommunicationMode)
Import-DscResource -Module OctopusDSC
Node "localhost"
{
cTentacleAgent OctopusTentacle
{
Ensure = "Present"
State = "Started"
# Tentacle instance name. Leave it as 'Tentacle' unless you have more
# than one instance
Name = "Tentacle"
# Registration - all parameters required
ApiKey = $ApiKey
OctopusServerUrl = $OctopusServerUrl
Environments = $Environments
Roles = $Roles
# How Tentacle will communicate with the server
CommunicationMode = $CommunicationMode
ServerPort = $ServerPort
# Where deployed applications will be installed by Octopus
DefaultApplicationDirectory = "C:\Applications"
# Where Octopus should store its working files, logs, packages etc
TentacleHomeDirectory = "C:\Octopus"
}
}
}
If you're locking Tentacle to version 6.2, update the DSC config to only download 6.2 during installation.
configuration OctopusTentacle
{
param ($ApiKey, $OctopusServerUrl, $Environments, $Roles, $ServerPort, $CommunicationMode)
Import-DscResource -Module OctopusDSC
Node "localhost"
{
cTentacleAgent OctopusTentacle
{
Ensure = "Present"
State = "Started"
# Tentacle instance name. Leave it as 'Tentacle' unless you have more
# than one instance
Name = "Tentacle"
# Registration - all parameters required
ApiKey = $ApiKey
OctopusServerUrl = $OctopusServerUrl
Environments = $Environments
Roles = $Roles
# How Tentacle will communicate with the server
CommunicationMode = $CommunicationMode
ServerPort = $ServerPort
# Where deployed applications will be installed by Octopus
DefaultApplicationDirectory = "C:\Applications"
# Where Octopus should store its working files, logs, packages etc
TentacleHomeDirectory = "C:\Octopus"
# Lock Tentacle to 6.2 to support older runtimes
tentacleDownloadUrl = "https://download.octopusdeploy.com/octopus/Octopus.Tentacle.6.2.277.msi"
tentacleDownloadUrl64 = "https://download.octopusdeploy.com/octopus/Octopus.Tentacle.6.2.277-x64.msi"
}
}
}
Preparing the ARM template
Location of the DSC extension
The DSC extension needs to be deployed to the same location as the VM to find it. You can use the same expression for both the VM and the extension's locations, such as [resourceGroup().location], or use a parameter such as [parameters('vmLocation')].
When defining the location as a parameter, the value must be the ID of the region, for example, australiacentral or westus2.
To see the list of all regions and their IDs, use the command az account list-locations -o table.
If it's an existing VM, you can also find this by going to the VM page and looking at JSON View.
Using ARM template to provision Tentacle VM
The easiest option is to deploy Tentacle along with your VM and other related resources. Everything is defined together and deployed at the same time, and can be easily redeployed if needed.
Here's what the ARM template might look like.
{
"$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {
"vmAdminUsername": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "Admin username for the Virtual Machine."
}
},
"vmAdminPassword": {
"type": "securestring",
"metadata": {
"description": "Admin password for the Virtual Machine."
}
},
"vmDnsName": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "Unique DNS Name for the Public IP used to access the Virtual Machine."
}
},
"vmSize": {
"defaultValue": "Standard_D2_v2",
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "Size of the Virtual Machine"
}
},
"tentacleOctopusServerUrl": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "The URL of the octopus server with which to register"
}
},
"tentacleApiKey": {
"type": "securestring",
"metadata": {
"description": "The Api Key to use to register the Tentacle with the server"
}
},
"tentacleCommunicationMode": {
"defaultValue": "Listen",
"allowedValues": [
"Listen",
"Poll"
],
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "The type of Tentacle - whether the Tentacle listens for requests from server, or actively polls the server for requests"
}
},
"tentaclePort": {
"defaultValue": 10933,
"minValue": 0,
"maxValue": 65535,
"type": "int",
"metadata": {
"description": "The port on which the Tentacle should listen, when CommunicationMode is set to Listen, or the port on which to poll the server, when CommunicationMode is set to Poll. By default, Tentacle's listen on 10933 and poll the Octopus Server on 10943."
}
},
"tentacleRoles": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "A comma delimited list of roles to apply to the Tentacle"
}
},
"tentacleEnvironments": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "A comma delimited list of environments in which the Tentacle should be placed"
}
}
},
"variables": {
"namespace": "octopus",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"tags": {
"vendor": "Octopus Deploy",
"description": "Example deployment of Octopus Tentacle to a Windows Server."
},
"diagnostics": {
"storageAccount": {
"name": "[concat('diagnostics', uniquestring(resourceGroup().id))]"
}
},
"networkSecurityGroupName": "[concat(variables('namespace'), '-nsg')]",
"publicIPAddressName": "[concat(variables('namespace'), '-publicip')]",
"vnet": {
"name": "[concat(variables('namespace'), '-vnet')]",
"addressPrefix": "10.0.0.0/16",
"subnet": {
"name": "[concat(variables('namespace'), '-subnet')]",
"addressPrefix": "10.0.0.0/24"
}
},
"nic": {
"name": "[concat(variables('namespace'), '-nic')]",
"ipConfigName": "[concat(variables('namespace'), '-ipconfig')]"
},
"vmName": "[concat(variables('namespace'),'-vm')]"
},
"resources": [
{
"type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
"apiVersion": "2021-04-01",
"name": "[variables('diagnostics').storageAccount.name]",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"tags": {
"vendor": "[variables('tags').vendor]",
"description": "[variables('tags').description]"
},
"kind": "Storage",
"sku": {
"name": "Standard_LRS"
},
"properties": {}
},
{
"type": "Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups",
"apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
"name": "[variables('networkSecurityGroupName')]",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"tags": {
"vendor": "[variables('tags').vendor]",
"description": "[variables('tags').description]"
},
"properties": {
"securityRules": [
{
"name": "allow_listening_tentacle",
"properties": {
"description": "Allow inbound Tentacle connection",
"protocol": "Tcp",
"sourcePortRange": "*",
"destinationPortRange": "10933",
"sourceAddressPrefix": "*",
"destinationAddressPrefix": "*",
"access": "Allow",
"priority": 123,
"direction": "Inbound"
}
}
]
}
},
{
"type": "Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses",
"name": "[variables('publicIPAddressName')]",
"apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"tags": {
"vendor": "[variables('tags').vendor]",
"description": "[variables('tags').description]"
},
"properties": {
"publicIPAllocationMethod": "Dynamic",
"dnsSettings": {
"domainNameLabel": "[parameters('vmDnsName')]"
}
}
},
{
"type": "Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks",
"name": "[variables('vnet').name]",
"apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"tags": {
"vendor": "[variables('tags').vendor]",
"description": "[variables('tags').description]"
},
"dependsOn": [
"[concat('Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups/', variables('networkSecurityGroupName'))]"
],
"properties": {
"addressSpace": {
"addressPrefixes": [
"[variables('vnet').addressPrefix]"
]
},
"subnets": [
{
"name": "[variables('vnet').subnet.name]",
"properties": {
"addressPrefix": "[variables('vnet').subnet.addressPrefix]",
"networkSecurityGroup": {
"id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups', variables('networkSecurityGroupName'))]"
}
}
}
]
}
},
{
"type": "Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces",
"name": "[variables('nic').name]",
"apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"tags": {
"vendor": "[variables('tags').vendor]",
"description": "[variables('tags').description]"
},
"dependsOn": [
"[concat('Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/', variables('vnet').name)]",
"[concat('Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses/', variables('publicIPAddressName'))]",
"[concat('Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups/', variables('networkSecurityGroupName'))]"
],
"properties": {
"ipConfigurations": [
{
"name": "[variables('nic').ipConfigName]",
"properties": {
"privateIPAllocationMethod": "Dynamic",
"publicIPAddress": {
"id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses', variables('publicIPAddressName'))]"
},
"subnet": {
"id": "[concat(resourceId('Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks', variables('vnet').name), '/subnets/', variables('vnet').subnet.name)]"
}
}
}
]
}
},
{
"type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines",
"name": "[variables('vmName')]",
"apiVersion": "2021-04-01",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"tags": {
"vendor": "[variables('tags').vendor]",
"description": "[variables('tags').description]"
},
"dependsOn": [
"[concat('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/', variables('diagnostics').storageAccount.name)]",
"[concat('Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/', variables('nic').name)]"
],
"properties": {
"hardwareProfile": {
"vmSize": "[parameters('vmSize')]"
},
"osProfile": {
"computerName": "[variables('vmName')]",
"adminUsername": "[parameters('vmAdminUsername')]",
"adminPassword": "[parameters('vmAdminPassword')]"
},
"storageProfile": {
"imageReference": {
"publisher": "MicrosoftWindowsServer",
"offer": "WindowsServer",
"sku": "2016-Datacenter",
"version": "latest"
},
"osDisk": {
"createOption": "FromImage",
"caching": "ReadWrite",
"managedDisk": {
"storageAccountType": "Standard_LRS"
}
}
},
"networkProfile": {
"networkInterfaces": [
{
"id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces', variables('nic').name)]"
}
]
},
"diagnosticsProfile": {
"bootDiagnostics": {
"enabled": true,
"storageUri": "[concat('http://', variables('diagnostics').storageAccount.name, '.blob.core.windows.net')]"
}
}
}
},
{
"type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions",
"name": "[concat(variables('vmName'),'/dscExtension')]",
"apiVersion": "2021-04-01",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"dependsOn": [
"[concat('Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/', variables('vmName'))]"
],
"properties": {
"publisher": "Microsoft.Powershell",
"type": "DSC",
"typeHandlerVersion": "2.77",
"autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true,
"forceUpdateTag": "2",
"settings": {
"configuration": {
"url": "https://url-to-storage/OctopusTentacle.zip",
"script": "OctopusTentacle.ps1",
"function": "OctopusTentacle"
},
"configurationArguments": {
"ApiKey": "[parameters('tentacleApiKey')]",
"OctopusServerUrl": "[parameters('tentacleOctopusServerUrl')]",
"Environments": "[parameters('tentacleEnvironments')]",
"Roles": "[parameters('tentacleRoles')]",
"ServerPort": "[parameters('tentaclePort')]",
"CommunicationMode":"[parameters('tentacleCommunicationMode')]"
}
},
"protectedSettings": null
}
}
]
}
In this example, the network group security rule allows Listening Tentacles to be talked to via the default port 10933. Polling Tentacles don't require an open port and can be deployed without one.
For more examples, see our documentation about installing the Tentacle via DSC in an ARM template.
Using an ARM template to install Tentacle onto an existing VM
It's also possible to use an ARM template to deploy Tentacle onto an existing VM. The extension needs to be deployed to the same region as the VM to find it. You must provide both the name and location of the VM.
Here's what the ARM template might look like.
{
"$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {
"vmName": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "Name of the Virtual Machine to run the extension on"
}
},
"vmLocation": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "Region id of the Virtual Machine, e.g. westus2"
}
},
"tentacleOctopusServerUrl": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "The URL of the octopus server with which to register"
}
},
"tentacleApiKey": {
"type": "securestring",
"metadata": {
"description": "The Api Key to use to register the Tentacle with the server"
}
},
"tentacleCommunicationMode": {
"defaultValue": "Listen",
"allowedValues": ["Listen", "Poll"],
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "The type of Tentacle - whether the Tentacle listens for requests from server, or actively polls the server for requests"
}
},
"tentaclePort": {
"defaultValue": 10933,
"minValue": 0,
"maxValue": 65535,
"type": "int",
"metadata": {
"description": "The port on which the Tentacle should listen, when CommunicationMode is set to Listen, or the port on which to poll the server, when CommunicationMode is set to Poll. By default, Tentacle's listen on 10933 and poll the Octopus Server on 10943."
}
},
"tentacleRoles": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "A comma delimited list of roles to apply to the Tentacle"
}
},
"tentacleEnvironments": {
"type": "string",
"metadata": {
"description": "A comma delimited list of environments in which the Tentacle should be placed"
}
}
},
"resources": [
{
"type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions",
"name": "[concat(parameters('vmName'),'/dscTentacleExtension')]",
"apiVersion": "2021-04-01",
"location": "[parameters('vmLocation')]",
"properties": {
"publisher": "Microsoft.Powershell",
"type": "DSC",
"typeHandlerVersion": "2.77",
"autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true,
"forceUpdateTag": "2",
"settings": {
"configuration": {
"url": "https://url-to-storage/OctopusTentacle.zip",
"script": "OctopusTentacle.ps1",
"function": "OctopusTentacle"
},
"configurationArguments": {
"ApiKey": "[parameters('tentacleApiKey')]",
"OctopusServerUrl": "[parameters('tentacleOctopusServerUrl')]",
"Environments": "[parameters('tentacleEnvironments')]",
"Roles": "[parameters('tentacleRoles')]",
"ServerPort": "[parameters('tentaclePort')]",
"CommunicationMode":"[parameters('tentacleCommunicationMode')]"
}
},
"protectedSettings": null
}
}
]
}
Deploying the ARM template
You can deploy the ARM template from:
Next steps
- We plan to republish Tentacle 6.3 to our downloads page and Chocolatey on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. We had to pull the latest Tentacle from these sources because of the Azure VM extension issues described in this post. If you have issues with the extension, this is likely why.
- We plan to remove the Azure VM extension from the marketplace at the end of March 2023, to complete the deprecation process.
Conclusion
With the Azure VM extension being retired, we now recommended you use ARM templates and DSC extensions to deploy your Windows Tentacle VMs in Azure. This gives you more control over how you deploy your VMs and Tentacles. It also lets us update Tentacle with more confidence, so we can bring you a more robust and smooth deployment experience.
Happy deployments!
