DEV Community: Adeola Adebari

Create an Azure Virtual Machine using an ARM Template

Adeola Adebari — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 20:31:43 +0000

Deploying an Azure Virtual Machine (VM) using an Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template allows for a consistent and repeatable deployment process. Below is an example of a simple ARM template that deploys an Azure VM with basic settings, such as a public IP address, virtual network, network interface, and storage.

Deploy custom template

1 - Sign in to the Azure portal.

2 - Click on the search bar and type "Deploy a custom template"

3 - Click on "Build your own template in the editor"

4 - Build your JSON code in the editor.

5 - Save your JSON code to create your VM

6 - Fill in your parameters and click on "Review + create".

7 - Review information provided and click on "create"

8 - Goto resource group overview to confirm resources created.

This template sets up a basic Azure VM running Ubuntu Server, along with the necessary network components. You can expand this template by adding additional resources or parameters to customize the deployment further.

Create a practical IoT solution using Azure IoT Hub

Adeola Adebari — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 21:45:14 +0000

To create a practical IoT solution using Azure IoT Hub, follow these steps:

Set up Azure IoT Hub
Register a device
Simulate the device to send telemetry data
Store the telemetry data in Azure Blob Storage

Here's a detailed guide on how to accomplish this:

1. Set up Azure IoT Hub

Create an Azure IoT Hub

Click on "Create a resource" .

Search for "IoT Hub" and click "Create".

Fill in the necessary details like subscription, resource group, region, and IoT Hub name.
Choose the pricing and scale tier that fits your needs.

Review and create the IoT Hub.

2. Register a Device

Add a device to the IoT Hub

In the Azure portal, navigate to your newly created IoT Hub.
Under the "Device Management" section, click on "Devices".
Click "Add Device" to add a new device.

Provide a device ID (e.g., ade-smartphone) and keep the authentication type as symmetric key.

Save the device. Note down the primary connection string; you will need this for device simulation.

3. Simulate the Device to Send Telemetry Data

Set up a mobile environment to simulate

Download the "IoT Play and Plug" app on your mobile

Copy and paste the primary connection string into the app to initiate connection between the iot hub and the mobile app.

4. Store Telemetry Data in Azure Blob Storage

Set up an Azure Storage account

In the Azure portal, click on "Create a resource" and search for "Storage account", click on "Create".

Fill in the necessary details.

Create a container.

Create a route in IoT Hub to send data to Blob Storage

In the IoT Hub, go to "Message Routing" under "Messaging".
Click "Add" to create a new route.

Provide a name for the route.
Select "Azure Storage" as the endpoint type and configure it with your storage account details.
Define the routing query to specify which messages should be sent to Blob Storage.
Save the route.

Verify the setup

Connect your IoT plug and Play app on your mobile and route the telemetry data by uploading an image to the Blob Storage as per the route configuration.

Navigate to the Blob Storage account in the Azure portal to verify that the data is being stored.

Create an Azure virtual network with four subnets using this address space 192.148.30.0/26

Adeola Adebari — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 14:00:14 +0000

Creating an Azure Virtual Network (VNet) with four subnets using the address space 192.148.30.0/26 involves a few detailed steps.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a VNet with Four Subnets in Azure

Sign in to Azure Portal

Open a web browser and go to the Azure portal.
Sign in with your Azure account credentials.

Create a Virtual Network

In the Azure portal, click on "Create a resource" in the upper-left corner.

In the "Search the Marketplace" box, type "Virtual Network" and select it from the list.

Click on the "Create" button.

Basics Tab

Subscription: Select your subscription.
Resource group: Select an existing resource group or create a new one.
Name: Provide a name for your virtual network (e.g., MyVNet).
Region: Choose the region where you want to create the VNet.
Click on the "Next: IP Addresses" button.

IP Addresses Tab

IPv4 address space: Enter 192.148.30.0/26.
Click on the "+ Add subnet" button to start adding your subnets.

Add Subnets

You need to divide the 192.148.30.0/26 address space into four subnets. Each subnet in this case will have an address space of /28, which provides 16 addresses per subnet.
Subnet 1:

Name: Subnet1
Subnet address range: 192.148.30.0/28
Click "Add".

Subnet 2:

Name: Subnet2
Subnet address range: 192.148.30.16/28
Click "Add".

Subnet 3:

Name: Subnet3
Subnet address range: 192.148.30.32/28
Click "Add".

Subnet 4:

Name: Subnet4
Subnet address range: 192.148.30.48/28
Click "Add".

Review and Create

Once all subnets are added, click on the "Review + create" button.
Review the configuration details and then click on the "Create" button.

Final Address Space Configuration

Subnet 1: 192.148.30.0/28 (Range: 192.148.30.0 - 192.148.30.15)
Subnet 2: 192.148.30.16/28 (Range: 192.148.30.16 - 192.148.30.31)
Subnet 3: 192.148.30.32/28 (Range: 192.148.30.32 - 192.148.30.47)
Subnet 4: 192.148.30.48/28 (Range: 192.148.30.48 - 192.148.30.63)

By following these steps, you will have successfully created an Azure Virtual Network with four subnets using the address space 192.148.30.0/26.

How to set up a static website on Azure Blob Storage

Adeola Adebari — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 18:47:33 +0000

Hosting a static website on Azure Blob Storage is a cost-effective and scalable solution.

Here's a step-by-step guide to help you set up a static website on Azure Blob Storage:

Step-by-Step Guide to Hosting a Static Website on Azure Blob Storage

Sign in to Azure Portal:

1 - Open a web browser and go to the Azure portal.
2 - Sign in with your Azure account credentials.

Create a Storage Account:

1 - In the Azure portal, click on "Create a resource" in the upper-left corner.

2 - In the "Search the Marketplace" box, type "Storage account" and select it from the list.

3 - Click on the "Create" button.

4 - Fill in the necessary details:

Subscription: Select your subscription.
Resource group: Select an existing resource group or create a new one.
Storage account name: Provide a unique name for your storage account.
Region: Choose the region closest to your users.
Performance: Choose Standard.
Replication: Choose your desired replication option (e.g., LRS, GRS).

5 - Click on the "Review + create" button, and then click "Create".

Enable Static Website Hosting:

1 - Once the storage account is created, navigate to it.
2 - In the storage account menu, scroll down to the "Data management" section and click on "Static website".
3 - Click on the "Enabled" button.
4 - Specify the default file name (e.g., index.html) and the error document path (e.g., 404.html).
5 - Click on the "Save" button. After saving, you will see a primary endpoint URL, which is the URL of your static website.

Upload Your Website Files:

1 - In the storage account menu, go to "Containers" under the "Data storage" section.
2 - A container named $web will be created automatically for static website hosting. Click on the $web container.

3 - Launch Visual Studio Code, highlight your website files (e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images) and click on " upload to azure storage".

4 - Select your resource group and storage name.

5 - Select "Blob Container" from the option.

6 - Select your container name in this case "$web"

7 - Click the enter key on your keyboard to initiate upload.

8 - Your website files are successfully uploaded.

Access Your Static Website:

1 - After uploading your files, navigate to the static website endpoint URL provided in the static website settings.

2 - Your static website should now be live and accessible via the URL.

How to create a Virtual Machine Scale Set

Adeola Adebari — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 19:38:23 +0000

Creating a Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS) in Azure allows you to manage and scale multiple VMs as a single unit. Here’s a step-by-step guide to create a VMSS in the Azure portal:

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a VM Scale Set in Azure

Sign in to Azure Portal

1 - Open a web browser and go to the Azure portal.
2 - Sign in with your Azure account credentials.

Navigate to Virtual Machine Scale Sets

1 - In the Azure portal search bar, search for and select, "Virtual machine scale sets".

2 - Select Create on the Virtual Machine Scale Sets page.

Basics Tab

1 - Subscription: Select the subscription you want to use.
2 - Resource group: Select an existing resource group or create a new one.
3 - Name: Provide a name for your scale set.
4 - Region: Choose a region where you want to deploy the scale set.
5 - Availability zone: Select the availability zone (if needed).

6 - Orchestration mode: Select the orchestration mode (Uniform or Flexible). Uniform is more common and is used for consistent scaling.

7 - Image: Click on the dropdown menu and select a base image for the VMs (e.g., Ubuntu Server, Windows Server, etc.).
8 - VM size: Click on "Change size" and select the appropriate VM size for your needs.

Instances and Scaling

1 - Instance count: Set the initial number of VM instances.
2 - Scaling policy: Configure the scaling policy, whether you want manual or automatic scaling.
3 - Autoscale settings: Configure autoscale rules if you selected automatic scaling.

Disks Tab

1 - OS disk type: Choose the type of disk (e.g., Standard SSD, Premium SSD).
2 - Data disks: If you need additional data disks, you can add them here.

Networking Tab

1 - Virtual network: Select an existing virtual network or create a new one.
2 - Subnet: Select a subnet within the virtual network.
3 - Public IP: Choose whether to create a new public IP or use an existing one.

4 - Load balancing: Select whether to configure load balancing for your scale set instances. You can choose an Azure load balancer or an application gateway.

Management Tab

Leave as default

Advanced Tab

Leave as default

Tags Tab

Leave as default

Review + Create Tab

1 - Review all the settings you have configured.
2 - Click on the "Create" button to start the deployment of the VM scale set.

Post-Creation Steps

Access Your Scale Set Instances

1 - Once the scale set is created, navigate to the "Virtual machine scale sets" section in the Azure portal.
2 - Select your scale set to manage and view the individual VM instances.

3 - You can connect to the instances using SSH or RDP, depending on the OS and configuration.

View the web server in action

Use a web browser of your choice to view the default NGINX welcome page. Type the public IP address of the VM as the web address. The public IP address can be found on the VM overview page or as part of the SSH connection string you used earlier.

How to create and connect to a Linux VM using a Public Key.

Adeola Adebari — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 16:08:57 +0000

Azure virtual machines (VMs) can be created through the Azure portal. The Azure portal is a browser-based user interface to create Azure resources. This quickstart shows you how to use the Azure portal to deploy a Linux virtual machine (VM) running Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS. To see your VM in action, you also SSH to the VM and install the NGINX web server.

Sign in to Azure

1 - Sign in to the Azure portal.

Create virtual machine

1 - Enter virtual machines in the search.
2 - Under Services, select Virtual machines.

3 - In the Virtual machines page, select Create and then Virtual machine. The Create a virtual machine page opens.

4 - In the Basics tab, under Project details, make sure the correct subscription is selected and then choose to Create new resource group. Enter AdeResourceGRP for the name.*.

5 - Under Instance details, enter AdeVM for the Virtual machine name, and choose Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS - Gen2 for your Image. Leave the other defaults. The default size and pricing is only shown as an example. Size availability and pricing are dependent on your region and subscription.

6 - Under Administrator account, select SSH public key.
7 - In Username enter azureuser.
8 - For SSH public key source, leave the default of Generate new key pair, and then enter AdeVM_Key for the Key pair name.

9 - Under Inbound port rules > Public inbound ports, choose Allow selected ports and then select SSH (22) and HTTP (80) from the drop-down.

10 - Leave the remaining defaults and then select the Review + create button at the bottom of the page.

11 - On the Create a virtual machine page, you can see the details about the VM you are about to create. When you are ready, select Create.

12 - When the Generate new key pair window opens, select Download private key and create resource. Your key file will be download as myKey.pem. Make sure you know where the .pem file was downloaded; you will need the path to it in the next step.

13 - When the deployment is finished, select Go to resource.

14 - On the page for your new VM, select the public IP address and copy it to your clipboard.

Connect to virtual machine

Create an SSH connection with the VM.

1 - If you are on a Mac or Linux machine, open a Bash prompt and set read-only permission on the .pem file using chmod 400 ~/Downloads/AdeVM_Key.pem. If you are on a Windows machine, open a PowerShell prompt.

2 - At your prompt, open an SSH connection to your virtual machine. Replace the IP address with the one from your VM, and replace the path to the .pem with the path to where the key file was downloaded.

Install web server

To see your VM in action, install the NGINX web server. From your SSH session, update your package sources and then install the latest NGINX package.

1 - Update package sources

2 - Install latest NGINX package

View the web server in action

Creating a windows 11 VM on Azure.

Adeola Adebari — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 16:13:52 +0000

Creating a Windows 11 Virtual Machine (VM) on Azure involves several steps. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you set up your VM:

Prerequisites

Azure Subscription: You need an active Azure subscription. If you don't have one, you can sign up for a free account.
Azure Portal Access: Ensure you can log into the Azure Portal.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Log in to Azure Portal

1 - Navigate to the Azure Portal.

2 - Log in with your Azure account credentials.

Step 2: Create a Virtual Machine

1 - Navigate to Virtual Machines:

In the Azure portal, select "Create a resource" from the top left corner.

Choose "Compute" and then select "Virtual Machine."

2 - Basics Tab:

Subscription: Select your subscription.
Resource Group: Create a new resource group or select an existing one.
Virtual Machine Name: Enter a name for your VM.

Region: Choose the region where you want to deploy the VM.
Availability Options: Choose based on your need (e.g., no infrastructure redundancy required).
Image: Select "Windows 11" from the list of available images. If it's not listed, you might need to use a custom image (see additional notes below).

Size: Select an appropriate size based on your needs (e.g., Standard_D2s_v3).
Administrator Account: Create a username and password for the VM.

Inbound port rules: Select which VM port is accessible from the public internet.

3 - Disks Tab:

Select the OS disk type (Standard SSD, Premium SSD, etc.).
Add data disks if necessary.

4 - Networking Tab:

Configure the virtual network, subnet, public IP, and NIC network security group.
Enable or disable public IP based on your requirement.

5 - Management Tab:

Enable or disable boot diagnostics.
Configure monitoring options like Azure Monitor, Auto-shutdown, and Backup.

6 - Monitoring Tab:

Configure monitoring options for your VM

7 - Advanced Tab:

Configure advanced settings like extensions and custom scripts.

8 - Tags Tab:

Optionally, add tags to categorize your resources.

9 - Review + Create:

Review the configuration settings.
Click "Create" to start the deployment.

Step 3: Access Your VM

Once the VM is created, navigate to the "Virtual Machines" section in the Azure Portal.

Select your newly created Windows 11 VM.
Click on "Connect" to obtain the RDP file.
Use the RDP file to connect to your VM using the username and password you set up.

This guide provides a basic overview of setting up a Windows 11 VM on Azure. Adjust the configurations based on your specific requirements and organizational policies.