Azure

Create an Ubuntu VM for Grovs in your Azure subscription from the ARM template.

When to use

You want the full stack on one Ubuntu 24.04 VM in your Azure subscription. The template creates a virtual network, restricted SSH access, a static public IPv4 and a persistent disk. The default VM is Standard_D4s_v5 with 4 vCPU, 16 GiB RAM and a 128 GiB disk. Azure bills your subscription for these resources.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Notes
Permissions	Create compute and network resources in a new resource group
SSH key	The contents of your `.pub` file
A domain you control	For the DNS records

Review the template before you deploy. The form defaults to published release 2.3.1 and a pinned Compose source commit.

1. Prepare DNS and firewall

The template restricts SSH to the source you set in sshSourceCidr. Point the DNS records at the public IP from Outputs after step 2.

2. Create the server

Start the deployment

Select Deploy to Azure. Choose your subscription, a new resource group and a region where the VM size is available.

Fill in the form

Enter your app domain (such as grovs.example.com), administrator email and SSH public key. Set sshSourceCidr to your public IPv4 followed by /32. Leave adminUsername as grovsadmin unless you need another.

Create

Review the VM size, disk, image release and costs, then create. Open the deployment's Outputs for the IP address and SSH command.

3. Install Grovs

The VM installs Grovs with cloud-init. VM creation can finish before application setup does. Point the DNS records at the public IP.

4. Deploy and verify

SSH with the printed command, then:

Bash

sudo cloud-init status --wait
sudo tail -100 /var/log/cloud-init-output.log
sudo systemctl status grovs --no-pager
sudo docker compose --project-directory /opt/grovs ps -a
sudo cat /opt/grovs/.env

Open https://dashboard.grovs.example.com and sign in with BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_EMAIL and BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_PASSWORD from .env. Keep that file private. Create a project and a link, open the link, and confirm analytics before you connect your apps.

Upgrades

grovs.service restarts the existing stack on reboot. Follow Upgrades and Backups from /opt/grovs as root.

Gotchas

A successful ARM deployment does not prove that migrations or DNS have completed. Run the checks above.
Back up databases, uploads and .env outside the resource group before removal.
Deleting only the VM detaches and retains its disk. Retained disks and IPs can keep billing.
Deleting the resource group deletes the disk and its Grovs data too.

Last updated 2026-10-26

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