DEV Community: EMMAMAG

How To Host a Static Website in Azure Blob Storage

EMMAMAG — Wed, 29 May 2024 22:14:38 +0000

Introduction
A static website is like an electronic brochure that contains fixed information and doesn't change frequently. It consists of web pages that have text, images, and other content that remains the same for everyone who gains access to the website.

An example of such websites are cloud courses like whizlab or cantril.io

By hosting a static website on Blob Storage, you can save costs and enjoy a straight forward hosting solution that ensures your website is easily accessible and efficient.

In this tutorial, we will be hosting our static website in Azure Storage. Please ensure the following prerequisites are followed before we begin.
Prerequisites

As a prerequisite to deploying a static website with Azure storage;

Install Visual Studio Code on your desktop.
Install the Azure Subscription, Azure Account and Azure storage account extensions on the visual studio code.

3.Create a storage account in the Azure portal

4.Create a folder that houses your static website data
Enable Static Website in Azure

a) Go to your storage account, and click on the Static website button on the left side of the search bar.

b)Click on the "Enabled" button to enable the static website

c)On the index document name type "index.html" and the Error document path type "error.html"

d) Click on the save button

e)Once it's saved, It generates your primary and secondary endpoint

d) When you go back to your storage account, click on containers, you can see that a web container has been created to host your static website data

Open Your File On Visual Studio Code

a)The next step is to click on File at the top-left corner of your VScode.

b) Click on "Open File" and select the folder that houses your static website codes and data.

c)Once you open it, the file appears here as shown below.

d) Click on your file drop-down and click index.html

e) Once you click it, your html code automatically reflects as shown below

Connect To Azure

a) To connect to your $web container, click on the Azure extension.

b) Next click on the Resources drop-down, click on the Azure subscription drop-down

c) Under the Azure subscription, click on the storage account drop-down

d)You will see the storage account you created in the Azure Portal, right-click on it.

e) Click on "Deploy to the static website via Azure Storage"

f) You will be prompted to select your folder to deploy the static website

g) Wait for the deployment to be complete and click on browse static website

h) You will be redirected to your static website as shown below

i) On the Azure portal, go to the $web container in your storage account, you can see that all your static website data has been deployed in the container

HOW TO ADD A DATA DISK TO A VIRTUAL MACHINE

EMMAMAG — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 19:48:48 +0000

As we all know, storage plays a vital role in a virtual machine as we need to store necessary data and as we know OS disk will not be enough and we may need extra storage to store the data. So let us see how can we attach the data disk to a VM. We already know what a data disk is. If you don't know, please go through this article, where I have explained all the basics about the Azure virtual machine.

We will learn how to create and attach a data disk to a virtual machine. Furthermore, we will also remotely access the Windows virtual machine and initialize our data disk for use.
It is important to know that there is a difference between an (operating system) OS disk and a data disk
Azure documentation explains that every virtual machine is equipped with a single (operating system) OS disk that is directly attached to it. This disk comes with a pre-installed operating system that was chosen during the creation of the virtual machine. It serves as the primary storage for the boot volume, essential for initiating the system.
While data disk is a managed disk that is attached to a virtual machine to store application data or other data you need to keep.

Let's say I have a VM named EMMAMAGDemoVM that I have already created (please refer to this article to learn about creating a virtual machine on Azure) and I want to attach an extra data disk to this VM to storage.

Let's Get Started........

a)The first step is to create our Windows 11 virtual machine

b)Once you've created your virtual machine click on it.

c) On the left sidebar click on "Disks".

e) Once you click on it, scroll down and click on Create and attach a new disk.

f)Give your new disk a name, increase the size and leave the other information as default.

g)Click on Apply as shown below.

h)You can see that the (operating system) OS disk and data disk are two different disks.

Connect to your virtual machine and download the RDP file once you've downloaded follow the prompt, input your username and password.

Now that you have been able to gain remote access to your Windows Desktop, right-click on the Windows icon and click on Disk Management.

Right click on the disk 2 below.

From the drop-down click on "new simple volume".

To continue click next on the new simple volume wizard.

Click "Next" on the specify volume size.

Also click "Next" on the Format Partition

To close the wizard click "finish"

In the new volume highlighted Red, you can see that our new volume has been initialized.

Click on your new data disk highlighted Orange.

As shown below, our new data disk is available and ready for use.

Step-By-Step: How To Create a Linux Virtual Machine In Azure

EMMAMAG — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 12:31:01 +0000

Ubuntu is a free and easy to install flavor of the Linux operating system, and it’s for desktops and servers. A lot of technologies used for the web, data science and software development are designed for Linux. You can run them using command-line. I’ve used Ubuntu when creating and hosting web pages, setting up SQL databases and Elasticsearch clusters, and managing containers with Docker.
In this blog post, we will explore the steps involved in setting up a Linux virtual machine using Ubuntu Server. By default, SSH access to virtual machines often relies on public key authentication for enhanced security. However, in this blog, we will use password-based authentication preferably.

We will also demonstrate how to prevent unexpected SSH disconnections due to idle sessions, it's important to extend the idle timeout for your IP address to prevent unexpected logouts.

Also, apart from deleting your resource group that houses your virtual machine and its dependents, I will show you how you can disassociate your IP address from the virtual machine when not in use to ensure cost optimization.

Let's get Started!!

SIGN IN TO AZURE PORTAL

As a prerequisite, If you don't have an Azure subscription, log in here to create a free account before we get started. Now that you have created your Azure subscription, sign in to the Azure portal using your mail and password to get started.

CREATE YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE

a. In the search bar, type "Virtual Machine"

b. From the search results, select "Virtual Machine" from the list of resources shown

c. Click on the "Create" button

d.) Select the virtual machine highlighted

e)You will be directed to the "Basics" page.

Project Details

In the project details category, we have the subscription and resource group;

a) Subscription

An Azure subscription in simple terms means a membership or access pass to use Microsoft Azure. It's similar to subscribing to a service or signing up for a subscription plan. With an Azure subscription, individuals or organizations can use and benefit from the various services and resources provided by Azure at a cost depending on your type of subscription. However, it also offers free and trial options, giving you a chance to explore and experiment with Azure before committing to a paid subscription.

b)Resource Group

A resource group in Azure is like a container or folder that helps you organize and manage the different resources such as virtual machines and databases that you use in the Azure cloud.

Imagine you have a room with different items scattered all over the place. It becomes challenging to find what you need when everything is upside down. In this scenario, the room represents your Azure cloud environment, and the resources are the items in the room. Now, imagine you decide to tidy up and arrange your items where they are initially meant to be. Each compartment keeps related items organized and makes it easier to find what you need.

In the how-to guide, select your resource group or click on "Create new" to create a new resource group.

Instance Details

a) Give your virtual machine a name

b) In the region section, select the location you want your virtual machine to be.

A region refers to a specific geographical location with data centers that host infrastructure and services. Each region operates independently and is designed to be self-contained, with its own set of resources and infrastructure.

c) Next, click on the drop-down to select your availability option and availability Zone.

In Azure, a region can consist of three availability zones, known as Zone 1, Zone 2 and Zone 3. Each zone has one or more data centers that are kilometers apart from each other.

These data centers are equipped with independent power, networking, and cooling infrastructure to minimize the impact of failures and disruptions. What physically Links these data centers together is Fibre Optic Cable. Fiber optic technology allows for high-speed data transmission over long distances while maintaining low latency and high bandwidth capabilities.

d) Select your security type from the drop-down

e) In the image section, select any Ubuntu Server.

Ubuntu is a Linux Operating System. An image is an operating system. It's like a blueprint for creating virtual machines or computer systems. It has all the instructions and settings needed to set up a computer with a specific operating system and software.

f) Select the size of your virtual machine from the drop-down or click on "See all sizes". Leave the other information in its default state.

Administrator Account

a) Select the password authentication type.

Password-based authentication involves using a username and secret password to access a system as shown below.

While SSH public key authentication relies on key pairs and cryptographic algorithms for secure remote access. Public key authentication offers stronger security and protection against various attacks, making it a preferred choice for secure remote connections.

However, for the purpose of this demo, we will use Password.

b) Type your username and your password.

Inbound Port Rules

a) In this category, select SSH (22) as your inbound port to connect to the Linux server.

b) Click "Next: Disk>" to direct you to the disk page

Disk

a) On the Disk page click on the OS disk type drop-down and select Premium SSD or any disk type of your choice as shown below. Leave the other columns as default.

b) Leave the networking, management, monitoring and advanced pages as default. Skip to the Tag page.

Tag

a) Give your tag a name

Tags are a way to label and organize resources in cloud computing environments. The purpose of tags is to provide metadata or additional information that helps in managing, organizing, and tracking resources within a cloud infrastructure.

b) Next, click on Review+create

c) Review the summary of your virtual machine configuration and click on the "Create" button to begin the deployment process

d)Once the deployment is complete, click on "Go to resource".

CONNECT TO YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE

a) Click on the connect button to SSH to your Virtual Machine

b) Scroll down to No 4, Copy the command in the red box and delete the command in the blue box. This will give you:

ssh username@ipaddress

c) Open PowerShell on your Laptop and input the command, Press enter

d) You would be asked if you want to continue connecting, type "yes" and press enter

e)At this stage, my connection has closed because it took me a while to run the command. If you got this, the next thing to do is to go back to Azure portal and locate your virtual machine.

f)On the overview page, click on your IP address.

g) Click on Configuration and increase the idle timeout to 30 minutes. Once you are done, ensure to save it.

h) Go back to your Powershell and input the ssh username@ip, press enter.

NOTE: If your connection did not time out/close, once you type yes and press enter, it would ask that you input your password.

i) Now input your password and press enter.

j) Once you press enter, you would be logged in to your virtual machine as shown below.

How To Disassociate IP Address

Situations may arise where you need to save cost running your virtual machine.One way to optimise cost is to disassociate your IP address from your virtual machine.

a) Click on your IP address

b) Click on the Overview.

c) On the overview page, click on dissociate at the top-right of the page.

d) It will ask you to confirm dissociation, click "Yes'. Once you click yes, your IP address will be dissociated from your Virtual Machine.

How To Associate IP Address

a)To associate your IP, simply click on the Associate button.

b) A page will open up, choose the Resource type as Network interface. Select your IP address and click on OK.

c) Your IP will be associated back to your virtual machine.

Step-By-Step: How to Create and Connect a Windows 11 Pro Azure Virtual Machine

EMMAMAG — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 16:15:44 +0000

A Step by step Guide on How to Create and Connect a Windows 11 Pro Azure Virtual Machine

A Virtual Machine (VM) is a computer resource that uses software instead of a physical computer to run programs and deploy apps. One or more virtual “guest” machines run on a physical “host” machine. Each virtual machine runs its own operating system and functions separately from the other VMs, even when they are all running on the same host. This means that, for example, a virtual MacOS virtual machine can run on a physical PC.
The virtual machine runs as a process in an application window, similar to any other application, on the operating system of the physical machine. Key files that make up a virtual machine include a log file, NVRAM setting file, virtual disk file and configuration file.
Virtual machines are easy to manage and maintain, and they offer several advantages over physical machines:

VMs can run multiple operating system environments on a single physical computer, saving physical space, time and management costs. 
Virtual machines support legacy applications, reducing the cost of migrating to a new operating system. For example, a Linux virtual machine running a distribution of Linux as the guest operating system can exist on a host server that is running a non-Linux operating system, such as Windows.

This step-by-step guide outlines how to create a Windows 11 virtual machine (VM)

SIGN IN TO AZURE PORTAL
As a prerequisite, If you don't have an Azure subscription, visit: AZURE WEB PORTAL and log in to create a free account before we get started. Now that you have created your Azure subscription, sign in to the Azure portal using your mail and password to get started.

CREATE YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINE
a. In the search bar, type "Virtual Machine"

b. From the search results, select "Virtual Machine" from the list of resources shown

c. Click on the "Create" button

d.) Select the virtual machine highlighted

e)You will be directed to the "Basics" page.

Project Details

In the project details category, we have the subscription and resource group;

a) Subscription

b)Resource Group

A resource group in Azure is like a container or folder that helps you organize and manage the different resources such as virtual machines and databases that you use in the Azure cloud.

Instance Details

a) Give your virtual machine a name

b) In the region section, select the location you want your virtual machine to be.

c) Next, click on the drop-down to select your availability option and availability Zone.

In Azure, a region can consist of three availability zones, known as Zone 1, Zone 2 and Zone 3. Each zone has one or more data centers that are kilometers apart from each other.

d) Select your security type from the drop-down

e) In the image section, select Window 11 pro from the drop-down

An image is an operating system. It's like a blueprint for creating virtual machines or computer systems. It has all the instructions and settings needed to set up a computer with a specific operating system and software.

f) Select the size of your virtual machine from the drop-down or click on "See all sizes". Leave the other information in its default state.

Administrator Account

a) Give your account a username and password. Also, confirm the password to ensure it aligns.

Inbound Port Rules

On the inbound port rules section, select "Allow selected ports" and then select RDP (3389). This port will give you remote access to your physical work desktop computers.

Click on "Next: Disks>" to direct you to the Disk page

Disk

a) On the Disk page click on the OS disk type dropdown and select Standard SSD or any disk type of your choice as shown below. Leave the other columns as default.

b) Leave the networking, management, monitoring and advanced pages as default. Skip to the Tag page.

Tag

a) Give your tag a name

b) Next, click on Review+create

c) Review the summary of your virtual machine configuration and click on the "Create" button to begin the deployment process.

d) Once the deployment is complete, click on "Go to resource".

Connect to Your Windows Virtual Machine.

Create a remote desktop connection to the virtual machine. These directions tell you how to connect to your Windows 11 operating system.

a) On the overview page of your virtual machine click "Connect".

b) Connect with RDP, leave the default settings and click the download RDP file to your file

c) Open the downloaded RDP file and click "connect"

d) Input your username and password

e) Click yes to the prompt

Welcome!! You are connected to your Virtual Windows 11 Pro.

How To Disassociate IP Address

Situations may arise where you need to save cost running your virtual machine.One way to optimise cost is to disassociate your IP address from your virtual machine.

a) Click on your IP address

b) Click on the Overview.

c) On the overview page, click on dissociate at the top-right of the page.

d) It will ask you to confirm dissociation, click "Yes'. Once you click yes, your IP address will be dissociated from your Virtual Machine.

I hope this step-by-step tutorial helped you create your Windows 11 virtual machine.
Drop your questions in the comment section