Wait for gallery replication before reusing a managed image for another version

Source facts

Microsoft requires a gallery image version to finish both building and replication before the same managed image is used to create another version. The guide warns that replication to every target region can take time and shows tracking the asynchronous PowerShell job. Microsoft Learn

Applicability

This guide applies to an Azure Compute Gallery pipeline that creates successive versions from one managed-image source. The dependency concerns reusing that same source; the article does not establish a universal concurrency limit for all image creation.

DSE recommendation

DSE recommends making this dependency explicit in the pipeline before enabling overlapping runs. Record the source managed-image identifier, first version identifier, and intended replication regions together. Assign an owner to define the observed completion condition and the response to a stalled replication job. Keep a later job queued while the earlier version is incomplete, and preserve the operation evidence if a retry is needed.

Verification

In an approved pipeline test, retain the build and regional replication observations for the first version before allowing the next job to reuse its managed image. Compare the observed sequence with the dependency in the plan. Verify that an incomplete or failed replication result leaves the next dependent job waiting for investigation. Treat successful request submission as a different observation from completed replication across the required regions.

Official references

• Microsoft: Create an image definition and image version – Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Learn