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Azure Marketplace UI Guide: Deploy Sparrow Community Edition

This guide walks you through deploying a virtual machine using the Sparrow Community Edition image from the Azure Marketplace via the Azure Portal.

Before you begin

Ensure you have:

  • An active Azure subscription
  • Access to the Azure Portal

Step-by-Step Instructions​

1. Log in to Azure Portal​

2. Locate SparrowCommunityEdition Image​

  • Use the search bar to go to Marketplace.

  • Search for Sparrow Community Edition.

  • Select the appropriate image.

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3. Start the Creation Wizard​

  • Click on Create on the image page

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4. Configure Basic Settings​

  • Subscription: Choose your Azure subscription

  • Resource Group: Select or create one

  • VM Name: e.g., SparrowVM

  • Region: Choose a nearby Azure region

  • Image: Confirm it's SparrowCommunityEdition

  • Size: Select a size like Standard_B2s

  • Authentication: Use SSH or password as preferred

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5. Configure Disks​

  • Choose your preferred disk type (HDD, SSD)

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6. Networking​

  • Create/select Virtual Network and Subnet

  • Enable Public IP, allow SSH & Sparrow api port (port 22 & 9000)

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7. Management, Monitoring​

  • Configure as needed or leave

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8. Review and Create​

  • Review all configuration

  • Click Create to begin deployment

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9. Configure Networking for Sparrow​

To enable external access to the Sparrow service, you must open port 9000 in the VM's Inbound Port Rules:

  • Ensure the following ports are open in your VM’s Networking settings:

    PortPurposeProtocol
    9000Sparrow BackendTCP
    80HTTP (Nginx)TCP
    443HTTPS (SSL via Certbot)TCP

  • Navigate to the VM resource in the Azure Portal

  • Click on Networking

  • Under Inbound port rules, click Add inbound port rule

  • Set:

    • Source: Any
    • Source port ranges: *
    • Destination: Any
    • Destination port ranges: 9000
    • Protocol: TCP
    • Action: Allow
    • Priority: (e.g., 1000)
    • Name: Allow-9000

  • Click Add to save the rule

10. Sparrow VM is Ready​

  • Once the VM is running and you configure the Newtork settings, the Sparrow backend is up and running

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    note

    No manual start is required. The Sparrow service is configured to run on boot.

  • You can check the health of Sparrow service using the VM's public IP and the appropriate port (e.g., http://YOUR_PUBLIC_IP:9000/health or https://YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME/health)

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11. Connect to the VM​

Once deployed, go to the VM resource

  • Click Connect > SSH and run:

  • ssh azureuser@public_ip

Replace public_ip with the one shown on your VM

12. Map a Domain to the VM​

To map your custom domain to the VM:

  • Go to your DNS provider’s dashboard (e.g., Azure DNS, GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare)
  • Create an A record pointing to the public IP of the VM:
  • Host: @ (or your subdomain)
  • Type: A
  • Value: YOUR_VM_PUBLIC_IP
  • TTL: Automatic or 3600 seconds

Wait for DNS propagation (can take up to 24 hours, usually faster)

13. Configure Nginx on the VM​

Configure Nginx to act as a reverse proxy for the Sparrow backend:

  • Open the configuration file

     cd /etc/nginx/sites-available/
     nano sparrow

update the server name with your domain name (which you created at step no.12) as mentioned in image

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  • Enable the configuration and restart Nginx: 
    sudo nginx -t
    sudo systemctl restart nginx

14. Obtain an SSL Certificate with Certbot​

To secure your domain with HTTPS, Certbot is already installed in VM and obtain a free SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt:

  • Run below cmd:

    sudo certbot --nginx -d YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME

Follow the on-screen instructions. Certbot will:

  • Obtain a certificate
  • Update your Nginx config
  • Reload Nginx

Verifying Certbot Auto-Renewal

Let’s Encrypt certificates expire every 90 days. Certbot automatically sets up a systemd timer to renew certificates within 30 days of expiration.

  • To check the status of the timer:

    sudo systemctl status certbot.timer

  • To test the renewal process, you can do a dry run with certbot:

    sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Verify that HTTPS is working by visiting: https://YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME/api/docs

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Support​

If you encounter issues:

🎉 Congratulations! You’ve successfully deployed Sparrow with a secure domain. Happy computing!