Can I configure Azure Batch to use Nvidia VM images?

Question

I'm trying to configure an Azure Batch pool to use "PyTorch from NVIDIA" VM images. I'm provisioning the pool using the Azure Python SDK and I'm getting the following error:

Reason: The specified imageReference with publisher nvidia offer pytorch_from_nvidia sku pytorch_from_nvidia_19_11_3 is not supported.

When I tried to provision the pool using the Azure Portal I was unable to find Nvidia among the supported publishers (see image below).

Is it possible to use Azure Batch with an Nvidia VM image?

Answer 1

I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding of the VM image on you. The Azure VM image does not decide the GPU which you need, it only decides the operating system which you would use, such as Ubuntu, Redhat or Windows Server. The VM size is what would decide the GPU or not for you. Take a look at the GPU optimized virtual machine sizes, which are designed to decide the capacity of GPU you gonna have.

So you don't need to find the VM image which has Nvidia GPU, what you need to do is find an OS that you need and select a size which has enough GPU capacity to meet your requirements.