diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/azure-common.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/azure-common.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4fc7a085f868
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/azure-common.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
+
+with lib;
+{
+  imports = [ ../profiles/headless.nix ];
+
+  boot.kernelParams = [ "console=ttyS0" "earlyprintk=ttyS0" "rootdelay=300" "panic=1" "boot.panic_on_fail" ];
+  boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ "hv_vmbus" "hv_netvsc" "hv_utils" "hv_storvsc" ];
+
+  # Generate a GRUB menu. 
+  boot.loader.grub.device = "/dev/sda";
+  boot.loader.grub.version = 2;
+  boot.loader.grub.timeout = 0;
+
+  # Don't put old configurations in the GRUB menu.  The user has no
+  # way to select them anyway.
+  boot.loader.grub.configurationLimit = 0;
+
+  fileSystems."/".device = "/dev/disk/by-label/nixos";
+
+  # Allow root logins only using the SSH key that the user specified
+  # at instance creation time, ping client connections to avoid timeouts
+  services.openssh.enable = true;
+  services.openssh.permitRootLogin = "without-password";
+  services.openssh.extraConfig = ''
+    ClientAliveInterval 180
+  '';
+
+  # Force getting the hostname from Azure
+  networking.hostName = mkDefault "";
+
+  # Always include cryptsetup so that NixOps can use it.
+  environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.cryptsetup ];
+
+  networking.usePredictableInterfaceNames = false;
+
+  services.udev.extraRules = ''
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:0", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/0",
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:1", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/1",
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:2", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/2"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:3", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/3"
+
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:4", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/4"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:5", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/5"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:6", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/6"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:7", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/7"
+
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:8", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/8"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:9", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/9"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:10", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/10"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:11", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/11"
+
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:12", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/12"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:13", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/13"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:14", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/14"
+    ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", KERNEL!="sda" SUBSYSTEM=="block", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNELS=="?:0:0:15", ATTR{removable}=="0", SYMLINK+="disk/by-lun/15"
+
+  '';
+
+}
diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/azure-image.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/azure-image.nix
index ab5a9c51fa5b..3f554d127c35 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/azure-image.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/azure-image.nix
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ let
   diskSize = "4096";
 in
 {
-  imports = [ ../profiles/headless.nix ];
-
   system.build.azureImage =
     pkgs.vmTools.runInLinuxVM (
       pkgs.runCommand "azure-image"
@@ -24,7 +22,6 @@ in
 
           postVM =
             ''
-              echo Converting
               mkdir -p $out
               ${pkgs.vmTools.qemu}/bin/qemu-img convert -f raw -O vpc $diskImage $out/disk.vhd
               rm $diskImage
@@ -93,34 +90,11 @@ in
         ''
     );
 
-  fileSystems."/".device = "/dev/disk/by-label/nixos";
+  imports = [ ./azure-common.nix ];
 
   # Azure metadata is available as a CD-ROM drive.
   fileSystems."/metadata".device = "/dev/sr0";
 
-  boot.kernelParams = [ "console=ttyS0" "earlyprintk=ttyS0" "rootdelay=300" "panic=1" "boot.panic_on_fail" ];
-  boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ "hv_vmbus" "hv_netvsc" "hv_utils" "hv_storvsc" ];
-
-  # Generate a GRUB menu. 
-  boot.loader.grub.device = "/dev/sda";
-  boot.loader.grub.version = 2;
-  boot.loader.grub.timeout = 0;
-
-  # Don't put old configurations in the GRUB menu.  The user has no
-  # way to select them anyway.
-  boot.loader.grub.configurationLimit = 0;
-
-  # Allow root logins only using the SSH key that the user specified
-  # at instance creation time.
-  services.openssh.enable = true;
-  services.openssh.permitRootLogin = "without-password";
-
-  # Force getting the hostname from Azure
-  networking.hostName = mkDefault "";
-
-  # Always include cryptsetup so that NixOps can use it.
-  environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.cryptsetup ];
-
   systemd.services.fetch-ssh-keys =
     { description = "Fetch host keys and authorized_keys for root user";
 
@@ -157,8 +131,4 @@ in
       serviceConfig.StandardOutput = "journal+console";
      };
 
-  networking.usePredictableInterfaceNames = false;
-
-  #users.extraUsers.root.openssh.authorizedKeys.keys = [ (builtins.readFile <ssh-pub-key>) ];
-
 }