vMX install in Azure fails

[JGrantB]

I have already engaged Meraki support but thought I would ping on the community too!

I am using the vMX Setup Guide for Microsoft Azure for reference.

I have tried 7 deployments and they all failed. On three of them, I tried fix suggestions from Reddit/Meraki community posts and those are:

#1 Set the zone field property to 'None'

#2 Used the Azure 'preview' portal

#3 Set the DNS servers property on the VNet to 8.8.8.8

The error is the same on all 7 attempts I have made today,

"The resource write operation failed to complete successfully, because it reached terminal provisioning state 'Failed'. (Code: ResourceDeploymentFailure)"

AND

specifically, "OS Provisioning for VM '[myvmname]' did not finish in the allotted time."

The time to failure is approximately 22 minutes after I start the deployment. The deployments are all to US East Azure region & I am owner on the subscription.

Is there an alternative way to deploy the vMX in Azure?

[PhilipDAth]

The #1 most common reason for Azure VMX failure (in my experience) is DNS.

In Azure, get the public IP address assigned to the VMX.  Then when it is deploying, point your web browser at that public IP address.  After a while it will start responding.  Now you'll be able to see the reason why the VMX is reporting a failure.

I mention DNS; if your DNS is set to point to "internal" servers (such as AD controllers) the VMX will often fail to deploy.  In this case, make the DNS statically point to something like 8.8.8.8 via the local status page.

[TyShawn]

Just to verify when you say you set the DNS on the V-Net to 8.8.8.8 was it on DNS 1 or 2? The reason for this question is if it's set to 3 or lower the vMX will not honor any DNS below 2.

[PhilipDAth]

I mean set the DNS on the VMX appliance via the local status page.

You can use 8.8.8.8 for DNS #1, and 8.8.4.4 for DNS #2.

[TyShawn]

You're good @PhilipDAth. for me I never set the vMX DNS until I see the unit come up. This is my method doesn't make it right. Once it comes up I point DNS 2 to my internal DNS server and DNS 1 to an external server. 

The tip I gave @JGrantB was due to an issue I ran into a few months back when I had DNS 3 set to 8.8.8.8 on the VNET.

[JGrantB]

I had only tried the DNS setting on the 'DNS Servers' on the VNet blade in Azure and only added 8.8.8.8.

Meraki support has passed this off as an Azure problem but I am going to try setting the DNS on the local status page and see what happens. I also spotted in the deployment guide under (Re)deployment failure:
A few common fixes for (re)deployment failures could be:
• updating the VNET DNS settings <-- Already tried this
• removing any special characters in the name of the vMX <-- I do have dashes in my naming convention so this might be the smoking gun.

Thank you both for the suggestions!