DEV Community: ijeoma omolade

Career Pivot to Cloud: Step-by-Step Azure Virtual Machine Deployment Story

ijeoma omolade — Thu, 14 May 2026 11:20:04 +0000

I work as a travel consultant, helping people move smoothly across the world — from flights and hotels to visas and tours as long as it is travels.

When I started learning DevOps and cloud computing, I noticed something surprising:cloud infrastructure works a lot like the travel industry. We reserve spaces, choose locations, and manage access — only this time in the digital world.

One of the first practical skills I learned in Microsoft Azure was deploying a Virtual Machine (VM).
So A VM is essentially a virtual computer running in the cloud — just like booking a fully equipped digital hotel room that you can access from anywhere in the world.

In this beginner-friendly guide, we will create an Azure Virtual Machine step by step with clear explanations designed to make the process easy to understand

- Step 1A: Create a Resource Group

Before deploying resources in Microsoft Azure, you must first create a Resource Group. Look at it as a centralized folder that keeps all related cloud resources organized, similar to how a travel consultant manages flights, hotels, and transfers within one client itinerary.
Sign in to the Azure portal, search for Resource Groups, then click on it.

step 1B click on +create

Step 1C Configure the Resource Group

Select your subscription, enter a unique Resource Group name, and choose your preferred region.
Just as a travel consultant selects a destination and creates a unique booking reference for a client’s trip, Azure requires a region and Resource Group name to properly organize and identify your cloud environment.
Once completed, click Review + Create.

step 1D click on create

step 2 Creating the Virtual Machine

Now that our Resource Group is ready, it’s time to create the Virtual Machine (VM).

A simple way to understand this is, when you want to travel, your itinerary is just the plan. The real journey begins when the flight, hotel, and transfers are booked and active.

Similarly, in Azure, the Resource Group is the plan. The Virtual Machine is the actual working computer in the cloud — where you can run applications, store data, and work remotely without relying on physical hardware.
A VM is simply a virtual computer hosted in Microsoft’s cloud.

step 2a:In the Azure Portal, search for Virtual Machines

step 2b:click + Create.

step 2c: Select the Resource Group you just create, give your vm a name and choose your region.

step 3C: availability options select no infrastructure redundancy required select windows2025 Datacenter for security type

Step 3D: check the run with azure spot for available discount, navigate through to check for sizes and select a suitable size for your pc, create an administrator username, and a password and confirm it.
Step 4D: Configure Inbound Port Rules,Under Inbound port rules, select RDP (3389). Next, click on the dropdown box and select HTTP (80). Once the required ports have been selected, click on Review + Create.

Step 4: Create the Virtual Machine

:The validation has been completed succcessfully. click on **Create **to deploy the virtual machine.

Step 5:the deployment is now successfully completed,

Go to resource to open the virtual machine resource page.

step 6: from the overview, click on the IP address

Step 7:Configure the Idle Timeout:Navigate to the Idle timeout (minutes) setting and increase the value to 30 minutes. Once updated, click on Apply to save the changes.

Why Did We Increase the Idle Timeout?

We increased it so our connection to the VM doesn’t disconnect quickly when you’re idle.
Just like when I arrange an airport pickup as a travel consultant, I don’t want the driver to leave after 5 minutes if the client is running late.
Increasing the idle timeout gives you more comfortable time before Azure ends the connection.

next we are going to how to associate and disassociate public IP addresses

step 8:type ip public address on the search bar, select and click

step 9: Click on the vm ip address this already shows us the ip address

step 10: from the overview page you can choose to dissociate the ip by just clicking on disassociate and confirm.

Step 11: **Associate** the Resource
To associate the resource, click **on the **Associate icon and do the following.
select Network interface,under Interface, select the virtual machine network interface that was previously created.click OK to apply the configuration.

Step 12: Connect to the Virtual Machine
Return to the Virtual Machine dashboard and click on the Connect icon.
Just as travelers need a boarding pass or airport access to begin their journey, the Connect option provides secure access to your Virtual Machine in the cloud.

Step 13: Confirm Access and Download the RDP File

To confirm access, click on the **Check access **button.cOnce access has been verified successfully, proceed to download the RDP file.

Step 14:Download file and connect

step 15: type in your password

Step 16:click connect

A new interface appears (as shown below your Virtual Machine is now successfully deployed and ready to use!
Just like a client safely arriving at their dream destination, your VM is live in the cloud and waiting for you.

We have successfully deployed a Virtual Machine on Microsoft Azure. From creating the Resource Group to configuring the VM and connecting securely, every step came together perfectly.
Just like organizing a complete travel itinerary — where flights, hotels, transfers, and experiences all align for a smooth journey — you now have a fully functional and accessible cloud environment ready to use.

Provide storage for the public website

ijeoma omolade — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 19:18:17 +0000

#In this post, you’ll see how to set up storage for a public website using Microsoft Azure. This is a simple and straightforward process that allows you to host a static website directly from a storage account.

In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.

For resource group **select **new. Give your resource group a name and select OK Set the Storage account name to publicwebsite. Make sure the storage account name is unique by adding an identifier.

Take the defaults for other settings.

Select Review and then Create.

2.This storage requires high availability if there’s a regional outage. Additionally, enable read access to the secondary region,

In the storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

-Ensure Read-access Geo-redundant storage is selected.

Review the primary and secondary location information.

3.Information on the public website should be accessible without requiring customers to login.

In the storage account, in the Settings section, select the** Configuration **blade.

Ensure the Allow blob anonymous access setting is Enabled.

-Be sure to Save your changes.

3.Create a blob storage container with anonymous read access.

The public website has various images and documents. Create a blob storage container for the content.

-In your storage account, in the Data storage section, select the Containers blade.

-Select + Container.

Ensure the Name of the container is public.

-Select Create.

Notice that the access is currently set to private, but it needs to be configured for public access.

Customers should be able to view the images without being authenticated. Configure anonymous read access for the public container blobs.

At this stage, the container has been created, but access is still restricted. This means users cannot view files such as images without authentication.
To make the content publicly accessible, anonymous read access needs to be enabled for the container.
The steps below show how to update the access level and allow users to view the files without signing in.

-Select your public container.

On the Overview blade, select Change access level.

Ensure the Public access level is Blob (anonymous read access for blobs only).Click on the dropdown box and select “Blob (anonymous read access)” as the public access level.

-Select OK.

Blob(anonymous read access)” is available.

we are going to practice uploading files and testing access For testing upload a file to the public container

Ensure you are viewing your container.

Select Upload.
Browse to files and select a file. Browse to a file of your choice.

Select Upload.

Close the upload window, Refresh the page and ensure your file was uploaded.

Determine the URL for your uploaded file. Open a browser and test the URL.

Select your uploaded file

On the Overview tab, copy the URL.

Paste the URL into a new browser tab.

If you have uploaded an image file it will display in the browser. Other file types should be downloaded.

Provide storage for the IT department testing and traning

ijeoma omolade — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:46:32 +0000

### what is Azure storage
Azure Storage is a cloud storage service by Microsoft used to store large amounts of data, including text, images, and videos.
It offers different storage types like Blob, File, Table, and Queue to handle different kinds of data.

In this article I will show how to create a stroage account for the department testing and traning using this steps below.

Create and deploy a resource group to hold all your project resources.

In the Azure portal, search for and select Resource group
Select + Create

Give your resource group a name. For example, storagerg.

Select a region. Use this region throughout the project.

Select Review and create to validate the resource group.

2.Create and deploy a storage account to support testing and training.

In the Azure portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.
On the Basics tab,select your **Resource group.
Provide a Storage account name. The storage account name must be unique in Azure.

Set the Performance to Standard.

-Select Review, and then Create.

Wait for the storage account to deploy and then Go to resource.

3.Configure simple settings in the storage account

In your storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Select Locally-redundant storage (LRS) in the Redundancy drop-down.

- Be sure to **Save your changes.**

Refresh the page and notice the content only exists in the primary location.

The storage account should only accept requests from secure connections.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure Secure transfer required is Enabled.

3.Developers would like the storage account to use at least TLS version 1.2.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.
Ensure the Minimal TLS version is set to Version 1.2.

4.Until the storage is needed again, disable requests to the storage account.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure Allow storage account key access is Disabled.

Be sure to Save your changes.

5.Ensure the storage account allows public access from all networks

In the Security + networking section, select the Networking blade.

Ensure Public network access is set to Enabled from all networks.

Be sure to Save your changes.