Azure Resource Creation: A Step-by-Step Guide to Provisioning Core Infrastructure
Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
Introduction
If you are just getting started with Microsoft Azure, one of the first skills you will need is creating basic infrastructure resources. Let us walk through this guide provisioning:
- A Resource Group (to organize everything)
- A Virtual Network with one subnet
- A Linux Virtual Machine
- A Storage Account
At the end, you will have a working Azure environment ready for management tasks and a solid foundation for future Azure projects.
Prerequisite: An active Azure subscription is needed. If you don't have one, you can sign up for a free Azure account that includes $200 in credits that would enable you practice.
Once logged in, you'll see the Azure Portal home page with dashboards and recent resources.
Step 1: Create a Resource Group
Resource groups are containers that hold related Azure resources. They make cleanup much easier when you are done with a project.
In the search bar at the top of the portal, type "resource groups" and select it from the results.
Click Create at the top of the Resource Groups page.
Fill in the following:
Subscription: Your active subscription (auto-selected)
Resource group name: guided-project-rg
Region: Leave the default (e.g., East US)
Click Review + create, then Create.
Click Home to return to the portal home page.
Pro tip: Take note of any existing resource groups (like NetworkWatcherRG). During cleanup later, you will want to delete only the groups you created.
Step 2: Create a Virtual Network with One Subnet
Virtual networks (VNets) provide the networking foundation for Azure resources like VMs.
From the portal home page, search for "virtual networks" and select it under Services.
Click Create > Virtual network.
On the Basics tab:
Resource group: Select guided-project-rg
Name: guided-project-vnet
Region: Same as your resource group
Click Next: IP Addresses. You'll see a default IPv4 address space of 10.0.0.0/16 with a default subnet 10.0.0.0/24. Keep these defaults.
Click Review + create, then Create.
Step 3: Create a Virtual Machine (Ubuntu Linux)
Now let's create an Ubuntu Linux VM inside your virtual network.
From the portal home page, search for "virtual machines" and select it.
Here is how you can create Ubuntu Linux Virtual machines from my previous article.
Link:
Click Create > Virtual machine.
Fill out the Basics tab:
Subscription: Your subscription (auto-selected)
Resource group: guided-project-rg
Virtual machine name: guided-project-vm
Region: Same as before
Image: Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS - x64 Gen2 (or any recent Ubuntu LTS)
Size: Leave default (e.g., Standard B1s—free tier eligible)
Scroll to Administrator account:
Authentication type: Password
Username: guided-project-admin
Password: Enter a strong password (minimum 12 characters with uppercase, lowercase, digit, and special character)
Confirm password: Re-enter the same password
Leave all other settings as defaults. Scroll down and click Review + create.
Azure will validate your configuration. Once validation passes, you'll see a cost estimate.
Click Create to deploy the VM.
Wait for deployment to complete, then click Home to return to the portal home page.
Note: VM creation takes 2-3 minutes.
Step 4: Create a Storage Account
Storage accounts provide cloud storage for blobs, files, queues, and tables.
From the portal home page, search for "storage accounts" and select it.
Click Create.
On the Basics tab:
Subscription: Your subscription (auto-selected)
Resource group: guided-project-rg
Storage account name: Enter a globally unique name (e.g., guidedprojectsa2027). If the name is taken, try adding numbers or your initials.
Region: Same region
Performance: Standard
Redundancy: Locally-redundant storage (LRS)
Click Review + create.
After validation, click Create.
Wait for your deployment is complete, then click Home.
Step 5: Verify Your Deployed Resources
Let's confirm everything was created successfully.
From the portal home page, go to Resource groups.
Click on guided-project-rg.
You should see:
guided-project-vm (Virtual machine)
guided-project-vnet (Virtual network)
Your storage account name
Possibly NetworkWatcherRG (created automatically—do not delete if it existed before)
Cleanup (Optional but Recommended)
To avoid ongoing costs, delete the resource group when you're done:
Step 6:
Navigate to guided-project-rg
Click Delete resource group
Type the resource group name to confirm
Click Delete
Warning: Only delete the resource group you created. Do not delete NetworkWatcherRG if it existed before you started this guide.
What you have Accomplished
Congratulations! You've successfully provisioned:
Resource Purpose
Resource Group Logical container for organization
Virtual Network Networking foundation
Ubuntu VM Compute resource for running applications
Storage Account Persistent cloud storage
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