LocalBox delivers a streamlined, one-click sandbox experience for exploring the full power of Azure Local. With this 25H2 release, we are introducing support for Azure VM Spot pricing for the LocalBox Client VM, removed service principal dependency and transitioned to Managed Identity, added support for deploying the LocalBox Client VM and Azure Local instance in separate regions, added dedicated PowerShell modules and updated LocalBox to the Azure Local 2505 release - making it possible for you to evaluate a range of new features and enhancements that elevate the functionality, performance, and user experience. 

Following our LocalBox rebranding last month, today, we are thrilled to announce our second major update – LocalBox 25H2!

Jumpstart LocalBox architecture diagram

Key Azure Local Updates

Azure Local 2505 Solution Version 

In this release, we have updated the base image for the Azure Local nodes to the 2505 solution version. 

Started in the previous Azure Local 2504 release, a new operating system was introduced for Azure Local deployments. For 2505, all new deployments of Azure Local will run the new OS version 26100.4061. This unlocks several new features: 

Registration and Deployment Updates 

Starting with this release, you can now download a specific version of Azure Local software instead of just the latest version. For each upcoming release, you will be able to choose from up to the last six supported versions. 

Security Updates 

The Dynamic Root of Trust for Measurement (DRTM) is enabled by default for all new 2504 deployments running OS version 26100.3775. 

Azure Local VM Updates 

Data disk expansion - You can now expand the size of a data disk attached to an Azure Local VM. For more information, see Expand the size of a data disk attached to an Azure Local VM. 

Live VM migration with GPU partitioning (GPU-P) - You can now live migrate VMs with GPU-P.  

You can read more about what is new in Azure Local 2505 in the documentation. 

Jumpstart LocalBox 25H2 Updates Features 

Cost Optimizations with Azure Spot VM Support 

LocalBox now supports enabling Azure VM Spot pricing for the Client VM, allowing users to take advantage of cost savings on unused Azure capacity. This feature is ideal for workloads that can tolerate interruptions, providing an economical option for testing and dev environments. By leveraging Spot pricing, users can significantly reduce their operational costs while maintaining the flexibility and scalability offered by Azure. 

You may leverage the advisor on the Azure Spot Virtual Machine pricing page to estimate costs for your selected region. Here is an example for running the LocalBox Client Virtual Machine in the East US region: 

The new deployment parameter enableAzureSpotPricing is disabled by default, so users who wants to take advantage of this capability will need to opt-in. 

Visit the LocalBox FAQ to see the updated price estimates for running LocalBox in your environment. 

Deploying the LocalBox Client VM and Azure Local Instance in Separate Regions 

Our users have been sharing with us feedback around the Azure capacity requirements of deploying LocalBox, specifically when it comes to regions with sufficient compute capacity (vCPU quotas) for the VM SKU (Standard E32s v5/v6) used in LocalBox. To address this, we have now introduced a new parameter for specifying the region the Azure Local instance resources will be deployed to. 

In the following example, LocalBox is deployed into Norway East while the Azure Local instance is deployed into Australia East. In practice, this makes it possible to deploy LocalBox into any region where users have sufficient vCPU quotas available for the LocalBox VM SKU (Standard E32s v5/v6). 

Enhanced Security - Support for Azure Managed Identity

We have now introduced an enhanced security posture by removing the Service Principal Names (SPN) user requirement in favor of Azure Managed Identity at deployment time. This follows the same pattern we introduced in Jumpstart ArcBox last year, and now, with Azure Local fully support deployments without an SPN, we are excited to share this update in LocalBox.  

Dedicated PowerShell modules 

Arc Jumpstart has been evolving and growing significantly since its beginning more than 5 years ago. As the code base is growing, we see the opportunity to consolidate common code and separate large scripts into modules. 

Our first PowerShell module, Azure.Arc.Jumpstart.Common, was moved into its own repository — and was published to the PowerShell Gallery via a GitHub Actions workflow last month. 💥

With this LocalBox release, we have also separated functions in LocalBox into the newly dedicated Azure.Arc.Jumpstart.LocalBox module. Both modules are now installed during provisioning and leveraged in automation scripts. 

While these modules are targeted for use in automation, it makes the scripts readable for those who want to understand the logic and potentially contribute with bugfixes or new functionality. 
 
What we’ve achieved: 
✅ New repo structure for PowerShell modules 
✅ CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions 
✅ Cross-platform testing on Linux, macOS, Windows PowerShell 5.1 & 7 
✅ Published module to PowerShell Gallery 
✅ Sampler module used to scaffold and streamline the module structure 
 
🎯 This is a big step toward better reusability and scalability for PowerShell in Jumpstart scenarios. As we continue building out new use cases, having this modular foundation will keep things clean, maintainable, and extensible. 

Check out our SDK repository on GitHub and the modules on PowerShell Gallery. 

Other Quality of Life Improvements 

We appreciate the continued feedback from the Jumpstart community and have incorporated several smaller changes to make it easier for users to deploy LocalBox. These include, but are not limited to: 

• Added configuration of start/shutdown settings for the nested VMs to make sure that they are shutdown properly and started in the correct order when the LocalBox Client VM is stopped and started. 

• Moved the manual deployment steps to a separate page for clarity 

• Added information about the Pester-tests in the Troubleshooting section, including how to open the log-file to see which tests have failed 

• Added shortcut to Hyper-V Manager on the desktop in the LocalBox Client VM 

Getting started!

The latest update to LocalBox not only focuses on new features but also on enhancing overall cost and deployment experience.  

We invite our community to explore these new features and take full advantage of the enhanced capabilities of LocalBox. Your feedback is invaluable to us, and we look forward to hearing about your experiences and insights as you navigate these new enhancements. 

Get started today by visiting aka.ms/JumpstartLocalBox!