DEV Community: JICDev

Understanding Basic Networking Fundamentals as a Devops Engineer

JICDev — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:12:19 +0000

Networking is one of the most important foundations for anyone learning DevOps. Whether you’re working with servers, containers, cloud platforms, or automation tools, everything relies on systems communicating with each other correctly.

This post is a simple, beginner-friendly guide covering the essential networking concepts I learned early in my DevOps journey. By the end, you’ll understand IP addressing, subnets, DNS, ports, routing, SSH, and common Linux networking tools.

1. What Is Networking?

Networking is the practice of connecting devices so they can share information. Every time you browse a website, access a server, or deploy an application, networking is involved.

Different types of networks serve different purposes:

Type	Description	Example
LAN	Covers a small area	Home Wi-Fi, office network
MAN	Covers a city-sized area	City-wide fiber or Wi-Fi
WAN	Connects networks across long distances	The Internet

Even large cloud providers like Azure, AWS and Google Cloud are built on top of massive WAN infrastructures.

2. IP Addressing

Every device on a network has an IP address. It acts like a home address: without it, data wouldn’t know where to go.

IPv4 Format

IPv4 addresses are written in four sections:

192.168.1.10

Each IP contains:

Network ID – identifies the network
Host ID – identifies the device inside that network

Although older systems used fixed “classes” (Class A, B, C), modern networks rely on CIDR notation for flexibility.

3. CIDR and Subnetting

Subnetting is the process of dividing a network into smaller parts. DevOps engineers work with subnets all the time in cloud environments like AWS VPCs or when designing Docker/Kubernetes networks.

CIDR Basics

CIDR notation looks like this:

10.0.0.0/24

The number after the slash tells you how many bits belong to the network. The rest are for hosts.

Example:

/24 → 24 bits for network, 8 bits for hosts
Host capacity → 2^8 = 256 total IPs (254 usable)

Subnetting Example

If you divide a /24 network into four equal networks:

You borrow 2 bits
New CIDR becomes /26
Each subnet has 64 IP addresses

Another Example: Divide 10.0.0.0/24 Into 8 Subnets

Borrow 3 bits:

2^3 = 8 subnets

Each subnet becomes /27.

This level of subnetting is common when organizing infrastructure into dev, staging, and production networks.

If you want to check your work, the ipcalc tool helps:

ipcalc 192.168.10.0/26

4. DNS: Turning Names Into IPs

Computers communicate using IP addresses, but humans remember names. DNS (Domain Name System) converts readable names like:

google.com

into machine-friendly IP addresses.

How DNS Resolution Works

You enter a domain in your browser.
Your computer checks its local DNS cache.
If it’s not found, it asks a DNS resolver (like 8.8.8.8).
The resolver contacts DNS servers to find the IP.
The IP is returned to your system.
Your computer connects to the website.

Useful commands:

dig google.com
nslookup google.com

In DevOps, DNS issues often cause “site not reachable” or “service can’t connect” errors.

5. Ports and Protocols

An IP address can host many services. Ports help differentiate them.

Examples:

22 → SSH
80 → HTTP
443 → HTTPS
53 → DNS
3306 → MySQL

TCP vs UDP

TCP is reliable and connection-oriented (used for SSH, HTTPS, APIs).
UDP is faster but connectionless (used for DNS, streaming, VoIP).

Check open ports:

ss -tuln

Or test a web server:

curl -I https://example.com

6. Routing and Gateways

A gateway is the device that forwards your traffic to other networks. On home networks, your router serves that role.

View your routing table:

ip route show

You will usually see a line like:

default via 192.168.1.1

This means anything not on your local network goes through the router.

To see how your packet travels to a website:

traceroute google.com

This helps diagnose slow or failing network paths.

7. Essential Linux Networking Tools

These commands are used daily by DevOps engineers to diagnose issues.

Command	Purpose
ping	Test basic connectivity
traceroute	See the path traffic takes
curl	Make HTTP requests
ss / netstat	Check open ports and connections
dig / nslookup	Inspect DNS
telnet or nc	Test if a port is open

Examples:

ping google.com
curl -I https://google.com
telnet google.com 443

Understanding these tools makes network debugging much easier.

8. SSH: Secure Remote Access

SSH (Secure Shell) is how DevOps engineers connect to remote Linux servers.

Basic usage:

ssh user@server_ip

SSH encrypts all traffic and is far safer than older remote-login methods.

SSH Keys

SSH keys allow password-less authentication.

Generate keys:

ssh-keygen

Upload the public key:

ssh-copy-id user@server_ip

Most cloud platforms (AWS, DigitalOcean, Azure) depend heavily on SSH keys for secure access.

9. A Small Practice Lab (Optional)

Try these on your system:

Find your IP and default gateway
Use ping, curl, and traceroute on any website
Use dig to look up the IP of a domain
SSH into a local VM or server
Subnet 10.0.0.0/24 into 8 subnets
Describe what happens when you run:

ping google.com

Hands-on practice will cement your understanding.

Final Thoughts

Networking isn’t just “another topic” in DevOps—it’s the foundation everything else sits on. You’ll need it when working with Docker, Kubernetes, cloud networking (AWS VPCs), load balancers, service discovery, firewalls, and CI/CD pipelines.

You now understand the essentials:

What networks are and how devices communicate
How IP addresses and subnets work
Why DNS is critical
How ports enable multiple services
How routing moves traffic
How to test and troubleshoot connectivity
How to access servers using SSH

Master these fundamentals and you’ll be ready to tackle more advanced DevOps networking topics like load balancing, NAT, container networking, and Kubernetes networking.

Deploying a PHP Web App to Azure App Service CI/CD Pipelines

JICDev — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 12:37:06 +0000

What You’ll Learn

How Azure App Service works
How to set up a PHP environment on Azure
How to upload and host your PHP files
Common setup errors (and how to fix them)

What is Azure App Service?

Azure App Service is a managed platform by Microsoft that lets you easily deploy and scale web applications.

Think of it as your own web server in the cloud — no need to install Apache or Nginx, Azure takes care of all of that.

It supports multiple programming languages:

PHP
Python
Node.js
Java
.NET

For this tutorial, we’ll use the PHP runtime stack.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

A Microsoft Azure account (Create one here)
A PHP project (with at least index.php i.e ## Example: Simple PHP App

If you want to test Azure’s setup, try this simple app:

<?php
echo "<h1>Hello Azure</h1>";
echo "<p>This is my first PHP app on Azure App Service.</p>";
?>

Save this as index.php and upload it to /site/wwwroot.

---)

A stable internet connection

Step 1: Create a Web App on Azure

Step 1.1: Go to Azure Portal

Visit https://portal.azure.com

Step 1.2: Search for “App Services”

In the top search bar, type App Services, then click Create → Web App

Step 1.3: Configure the Basics

Fill out the required information:

Setting	Description	Example
Subscription	Choose your active Azure subscription	Pay-As-You-Go
Resource Group	Create new	php-demo-rg
Name	Your app’s unique name	my-php-app-demo
Publish	Code
Runtime Stack	PHP	PHP 8.3
Operating System	Linux
Region	Closest to you	West Europe
App Service Plan	Create new	php-service-plan

Why this matters:
The App Service Plan defines the CPU, memory, and scaling limits for your app.

Step 1.4: Deployment Settings

Choose:

Deploy manually (no CI/CD for now)

You can connect GitHub later if you want continuous deployment.

Step 1.5: Review + Create

Click Review + Create, then Create.
Azure will deploy your web app — this usually takes 2–3 minutes.

Step 2: Upload Your PHP Files

Once your web app is deployed, upload your project files.

Step 3: Connect GitHub for Continuous Deployment

If you want Azure to automatically redeploy your app whenever you push updates to GitHub:

Open your App Service → Deployment Center
Choose GitHub as the source
Select your repo and branch
Save settings

Now, every GitHub push automatically redeploys your app.

Step 4: Test Your Website

Open your browser and visit:

https://yourappname.azurewebsites.net


![ ](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/q9wteiinpp2i0yejd2if.png)

If everything went well, your PHP app should now be live.

Option ways to upload your Php files to Azure Web App

Option 1: Upload via Azure Portal

Open your App Service from the Azure dashboard
Go to Development Tools → Advanced Tools → Go → Open Kudu
Click Debug Console → CMD
Navigate to /site/wwwroot
Drag and drop your PHP files (e.g. index.php, style.css, etc.)

Note:
The /site/wwwroot directory is the public folder Azure serves to users.

Option 2 : Upload via FTP

If your project has many files, use FTP.

Go to your App Service → Deployment Center → FTP
Copy the FTP Hostname, Username, and Password
Open FileZilla
Upload your PHP files into /site/wwwroot

Common Errors and Fixes

Error	Cause	Solution
404 Not Found	Wrong folder or missing index.php	Make sure your files are in `/site/wwwroot`
Blank Page	PHP version mismatch	Check your runtime stack in App Settings

Tip: Restart your App Service after uploading new files.

Understanding What’s Happening Behind the Scenes

When you create a Web App:

App Service Plan defines your hosting resources (CPU, memory, scaling)
Web App is your hosted website instance
wwwroot is the public directory
PHP Runtime Stack is Azure’s PHP environment that executes your code

Step 5: Optional – Add a Custom Domain

If you want to use your own domain (like www.myportfolio.com):

Go to your App Service → Custom Domains
Add your domain name
Update your DNS records using Azure’s values

Lessons Learned

When I first did this:

I once had a blank page — caused by using the wrong PHP version.
After re-uploading my files and restarting the app, everything worked.

Conclusion

Deploying a PHP web app to Azure App Service is straightforward once you understand how the pieces fit together.

To summarize:

Create a Web App using the PHP runtime
Upload your project to github then connect to the Azure for CI/CD
Test it at your azurewebsites.net URL

You now have a PHP site hosted in the cloud!

Next Steps

In a future post, I’ll cover how to:

Automate deployments using GitHub Actions so do well to follow me not to miss out

How to Configure NGINX, and Host Your Local Website on Ubuntu Installed on VMware

JICDev — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 22:37:53 +0000

Introduction

This guide walks through my full journey of:

Enabling copy-paste and VMware Tools
Installing and configuring NGINX
Hosting a local HTML website
Fixing common Linux/VMware errors

Every problem I faced is documented, including why it happened and how to fix it.

You can follow this tutorial even as a complete beginner.

1. Installing Ubuntu on VMware

After downloading the Ubuntu ISO and creating a new VMware virtual machine, the installation completed successfully.

However, I immediately noticed something was wrong:

Copy/paste did not work from Windows → Ubuntu neither from Ubuntu → Windows

This usually means VMware Tools is missing or not properly installed.

2. Installing and Verifying VMware Tools

Run

sudo apt update
sudo apt install open-vm-tools open-vm-tools-desktop -y

To first update your VM and then install the tools.

Then I rebooted the VM with

sudo reboot

To check if VMware Tools was installed, I ran:

vmware-toolbox-cmd -v

Correct output (after installation)

12.5.0.51152 (build-24276846)

What happened initially

At first, copy/paste only worked in one direction. This confirmed that VMware Tools needed to be installed.

Fix

From VMware:

VM → Install VMware Tools

Ubuntu mounted the VMware Tools installer. After installation and a reboot, two-way copy/paste worked correctly.

Why VMware Tools matters

Enables clipboard sharing
Enables drag-and-drop
Improves display resolution
Improves VM performance

3. Installing NGINX

Before installation, I updated Ubuntu:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Then installed NGINX:

sudo apt install nginx -y

Check the installed version:

nginx -v

Start NGINX:

sudo systemctl start nginx

Enable at boot:

sudo systemctl enable nginx

At this point, visiting the VM IP address in a browser should show the default NGINX welcome page.

4. Hosting a Local Website with NGINX

I decided to host a simple website from this directory:

/var/www/myresume

Creating the directory

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/myresume

Assigning permissions

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /var/www/myresume

Creating the HTML File

nano /var/www/myresume/index.html

You would notice in the image above I imputed it all together! Linux terminal allows you run multiple commands at a time.

Inside the file "nano /var/www/myresume/index.html":

<h1>My Resume Website</h1>
<p>Hosted locally on Ubuntu using NGINX.</p>

You could use whatever website template you have available or prefer. This sould be imputed in the editor
Save and exit:

CTRL + O = save
ENTER = save name
CTRL + X = exit

Important Mistake I Made

At first, I accidentally typed:

/var/www/myreusme

Because of this typo, NGINX could not find the correct directory and displayed:

404 Not Found
nginx/1.24.0 (Ubuntu)

I confirmed the issue with:

ls -l /var/www/myresume
ls -l /var/www/myreusme

The second path did not exist, confirming the error.

Fixing the directory name resolved the issue.

5. Configuring NGINX to Serve the Website

Create a server block:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/myresume

Add:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name _;

    root /var/www/myresume;
    index index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
    }
}

Enable the site:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/myresume /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Test configuration:

sudo nginx -t

Reload NGINX:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

6. Testing the Website

Get the VM IP address:

ip a

Mine was:

192.168.107.13?

Test in browser:

http://192.168.107.13?

It loaded correctly.

7. Real Errors I Encountered (And How I Fixed Them)

Error: 404 Not Found

Cause:
Incorrect directory name due to a typo (myreusme instead of myresume).

Fix:
Corrected the folder name and HTML file path.

Error: curl not found

When testing:

curl http://192.168.107.13?

I got:

Command 'curl' not found

Fix:

sudo apt install curl -y

Warning: NGINX config changed on disk

Warning: The unit file or drop-ins changed on disk
Run 'systemctl daemon-reload'

Fix:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart nginx

8. Final Verification

Browser test: success
curl test: success
Nginx reload: success
VM tools: fully working

The website was now being served perfectly from NGINX.

Conclusion

In this project, I learned:

How to install Ubuntu on VMware
How to verify and install VMware Tools
How to install and manage NGINX
How to host a website locally
How to debug directory issues, missing tools, and configuration errors

By documenting all the mistakes I made, I hope this guide saves others time and frustration.

How to Deploy and Connect to an Azure VMSS

JICDev — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 17:30:53 +0000

What is Azure VMSS?

Azure Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS) is a Microsoft Azure service that lets you deploy and manage a group of identical virtual machines (VMs) — automatically.

Think of it like:

“A smart cluster of servers that can grow or shrink depending on workload.”

It’s designed for:

Auto-scaling: Automatically adds/removes VMs based on demand.
Load balancing: Distributes traffic evenly across VMs.
High availability: If one VM fails, others keep running.
Easier management: All instances share the same configuration and can be updated together.

Real-World Example

Imagine your app runs fine on 2 VMs during the day, but at night or during traffic spikes, you need 10.

With VMSS, Azure can automatically scale up when CPU > 70% and scale down when traffic drops — no manual effort.

Core Components of a VMSS

Component	Description
Instance Template	Defines the base image, size, and configuration of each VM.
Scaling Policy	Rules for how to increase or decrease the number of VMs.
Load Balancer	Distributes incoming traffic across all VM instances.
Health Probe	Monitors VMs and removes unhealthy ones from the load balancer.

Types of Scaling

Manual scaling — You decide how many VMs to run.
Automatic scaling — Azure scales based on rules (e.g., CPU usage, memory, request count).

Step-by-Step: How to Create a VMSS on Azure Portal

Step 1: Go to the Azure Portal

👉 https://portal.azure.com

🧰 Step 2: Search for "Virtual Machine Scale Sets"

In the search bar at the top, type Virtual Machine Scale Sets
Click Create

⚙️ Step 3: Basics Tab

Fill out the required info:

Field	Example Value
Subscription	Your active Azure subscription
Resource Group	Create new → `vmss-demo-rg`
Virtual machine scale set name	`myVMSS`
Region	Choose closest to you (e.g., East US, West Europe)
Orchestration mode	Uniform (default)
Image	Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS
VM Size	Standard_B1s (cheap & small for demo) NB: Depending on the region, The size might not activate, therefore you might need to adjust select the appropriate zones

Then under Authentication type, select Password or SSH public key.
Under “Scaling policy”:

Choose Custom autoscale
Example rules:
- Scale out when CPU > 70% for 10 mins
- Scale in when CPU < 30% for 10 mins
- Minimum: 1 instance
- Maximum: 3 instances

NB: I am using 2

🌐 Step 4: Networking

Leave Create new virtual network selected.
Load balancing: select Azure Load Balancer (default).
Health probe: leave automatic.

Create a Load Balancer

Click on create new if you have none and then give it a name. the rest of the data should be left on default.

💾 Step 6: Review + Create

Click Review + Create
Wait for validation → Click Create

If everything checks out you should have your VM successfully deployed

Azure will deploy your VMSS — takes about 5–7 minutes.

🚀 Step 7: Access Your VMSS

Once it’s ready:

Go to the VMSS Overview Page
Click Instances to view all running VMs
Open the Load Balancer public IP in your browser — it connects to your VMSS backend.

If you set up a load balancer, you can access the VMSS via its frontend public IP.

🧪 Step 8: Test Scaling

You can:

Manually increase instance count in the Scaling tab
Or simulate load using:

  sudo apt install stress
  stress --cpu 2 --timeout 120

Step 7: Verify and Access Your VMSS

Once deployment completes:

Go to the VMSS Overview Page
Click Instances to view all running VMs
Open the Load Balancer public IP in your browser — it connects to your VMSS backend.

Step 8: Simulate Load and Test Autoscaling

SSH into your instance and run:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install stress -y
stress --cpu 2 --timeout 120

After a few minutes, Azure will detect high CPU usage and automatically scale up your VM count.

Summary

Feature	Benefit
Auto-scaling	Adjusts to traffic automatically
Load balancing	Ensures even distribution of requests
High availability	Handles failures gracefully
Cost-efficient	Only pay for what you use

Final Thoughts

With Azure VMSS, you don’t have to manually add or remove servers.
It scales intelligently, maintains uptime, and saves cost — all while being beginner-friendly to set up.

#Azure #DevOps #Cloud #Scaling #VMSS

Deploying a simple NGINX web server on Azure and hosting a custom web page

JICDev — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 23:54:57 +0000

🧩 Overview

This task involves setting up a GitHub workflow, deploying and configuring an NGINX web server, and serving a custom webpage accessible via a public IP or domain on port 80. The README.md in the main branch must include personal and project details, and the deployed index.html should display specified custom content. The server must be publicly accessible and remain live until grading is complete. The task is currently in progress.

The goal is to deploy a simple NGINX web server on a cloud platform and host a custom web page that displays:

The name and Slack username
The cloud platform used
The date of deployment

Prerequisites

Platform: Microsoft Azure
Date Deployed: 18/10/2025
Server IP: http://172.191.198.160/

🪜 Step 1 — Forking the Repository

The first step was to fork the official repository:
👉 hng13-stage0-devops

✅ Steps:

Go to the GitHub repo.
Click Fork (top-right corner).
The forked repo now appears under your own GitHub account.

🪜 Step 2 — Creating and Editing the README.md

After forking, add a README.md file to the main branch.
This file contains my name, Slack username, a brief project description, and the server IP.

# HNG13 Stage 0 - DevOps Project

## 👤 Author
**Name:** Justice Obioha  
**Slack Username:** @JIC  

---

## 🧠 Project Description
This project demonstrates the setup and deployment of an NGINX web server on **Microsoft Azure**.  
The server hosts a custom HTML page that confirms successful deployment and is publicly accessible on port 80.

---

## 🌐 Deployment Information
**Platform:** Microsoft Azure  
**Server IP:** http://172.191.198.160/  
**Deployed:** October 18, 2025.

🪜 Step 3 — Creating and Configuring the Virtual Machine (Azure)

I deployed a Linux Virtual Machine using Azure Portal.

⚙️ Configuration:

OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Authentication: SSH key
Port Allowed: 80 (HTTP)
Public IP: 172.191.198.160
First Open login in to you Azure Portal and click Virtual Machine then Create

Fill in the details

Click Review + Create

After review and accepting price cost click on **Create**

If successful Then Click on Go to Resource

Go to Overview and copy you Public IP

🪜 Step 4 — Connecting to the Server via SSH

Using the Azure-provided SSH command, I connected to my VM:

ssh jic-hng@172.191.198.160

🪜 Step 5 — Installing and Running NGINX

Once connected, I installed and enabled NGINX using the commands below:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx -y
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx

To verify that NGINX was running:

systemctl status nginx

Then, I visited http://172.191.198.160/ and saw the default “Welcome to nginx!” page.

🪜 Step 6 — Replacing the Default HTML Page

Next, I replaced the default file located at /var/www/html/index.nginx-debian.html with my custom index.html.

cd /var/www/html
sudo rm index.nginx-debian.html
sudo nano index.html

Then I added this HTML content:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Welcome to DevOps Stage 0</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Welcome to DevOps Stage 0 - Justice Obioha / @JIC</h1>
    <p>Successfully deployed on Azure</p>
    <p>Deployed: 18/10/2025</p>
  </body>
</html>

After saving with Ctrl + O, Enter, and Ctrl + X, I verified my page:

cat index.html

🧠 Lessons Learned

Cloud deployment is simple when broken into clear steps.
NGINX serves as an excellent lightweight web server for testing deployments.
Small details (like date format) matter in automated validation environments.
Proper documentation makes future tasks easier and more professional.

🧾 Summary of Commands

# Update system
sudo apt update

# Install NGINX
sudo apt install nginx -y

# Start and enable the service
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

# Replace default HTML
cd /var/www/html
sudo rm index.nginx-debian.html
sudo nano index.html

✅ Final Output

Visit: http://172.191.198.160/
You’ll see:

“Welcome to DevOps Stage 0 - Justice Obioha / @jic
Successfully deployed on Azure
Deployed: 18/10/2025”

🏁 Conclusion

This project helped me understand how to deploy and manage a simple web server using Azure and NGINX.
It’s a solid foundation for more advanced DevOps tasks like CI/CD, monitoring, and containerization in my cloud computing journey

Webserver #NGINX #DEVOPS #AZURE #Linux

# Cloud Resume Challenge (Azure) — PArt 3: Setting Up HTTPS and Understanding Azure CDN

JICDev — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 23:25:44 +0000

Stage 5 of the Cloud Resume Challenge (Azure Edition) focuses on securing your website with HTTPS and improving global performance using Azure CDN (Content Delivery Network).

This stage helped me understand not just how to enable HTTPS, but also how CDN, caching, and compression come together to make a website faster and more reliable.

Below is my step-by-step process, what I learned, and how I handled the challenges that came up along the way.

Step-by-Step Procedure

Step 1: Understanding the Goal

The main goal of this stage was to add HTTPS and improve the performance of my static website hosted on Azure Storage.

My current site was already live at:
https://myresumejic.z19.web.core.windows.net/

However, this endpoint does not support HTTPS by default.
To fix this, Azure recommends placing a CDN (Content Delivery Network) in front of your static site to handle HTTPS requests and deliver cached content faster to users.

Step 2: Learning What a CDN Does

Before jumping into the setup, I took some time to understand what a CDN actually does.

A CDN:

Stores cached copies of your website on global edge servers closer to users.
Provides HTTPS and SSL/TLS certificates automatically.
Reduces latency, so pages load faster.
Offloads requests from the origin (Azure Storage).

I also learned that enabling compression helps reduce file sizes for text-based files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), while caching makes frequently requested content load instantly from the nearest server.

Blog Tip:
“I also enabled file compression on my CDN endpoint to reduce load time and bandwidth. Azure automatically uses Gzip and Brotli for text-based content, which complements caching for optimal performance.”

Step 3: Attempting to Create the CDN Profile

After understanding the concept, I opened the Azure Portal and searched for:
Front Door and CDN profiles → + Create

I entered the following details:

Name: myresumejic-cdn
Tier: Standard Microsoft
Origin: myresumejic.z19.web.core.windows.net

Then I clicked Review + Create, but Azure immediately displayed this message:

Microsoft.CDN is not registered for the subscription.

Step 4: Registering the CDN Resource Provider

Azure requires each service to be registered under a resource provider namespace.

Here’s how I fixed it:

I navigated to Subscriptions → My Subscription → Resource Providers.
I searched for Microsoft.CDN.
I clicked Register.
After about a minute, the status changed from Not Registered to Registered.

This allowed me to continue with the CDN setup.

CLI Alternative:

az provider register --namespace Microsoft.CDN

Once it showed Registered, I retried creating the CDN profile.

Step 5: Hitting Another Error — Account Restriction

This time, the deployment failed again, but with a new message:

Free Trial and Student account is forbidden for Azure Front Door resources.

That’s when I realized that Azure had merged the CDN service with Front Door, and currently Free Trial or Student subscriptions are restricted from creating these resources.

Step 6: Making an Informed Decision

After researching and reading documentation, I confirmed this wasn’t a temporary bug — it’s a known limitation.

So, I made the decision to pause HTTPS setup temporarily and move forward with the next stages of the challenge (backend and database).

Blog Note:
“Azure Front Door (CDN) is currently restricted on Free Trial and Student subscriptions. To keep progressing, I’ve decided to continue to the backend stages first and will enable HTTPS later once I migrate to a Pay-As-You-Go plan or Azure Static Web Apps. This doesn’t affect the functionality of the Cloud Resume Challenge — it’s only a temporary pause on the HTTPS stage.”

This decision allowed me to stay productive and continue the challenge without losing momentum.

What I Learned

Azure Resource Providers
Every major Azure service belongs to a namespace that must be registered before use.
Example: Microsoft.CDN for CDN/Front Door, Microsoft.Storage for Blob, Microsoft.Web for App Services.
Azure Subscription Tiers Have Limits
Free and Student accounts cannot use some premium global services (like Front Door/CDN).
CDN Concepts: Caching & Compression
I learned how caching and compression work together to speed up content delivery and reduce bandwidth costs.
Adaptability Is Key
Cloud engineering often involves service limitations — being able to research and find workarounds is just as important as completing the setup.

Tips for Others Doing This Stage

Tip 1: Register all needed providers early (Microsoft.CDN, Microsoft.Web, Microsoft.Network, Microsoft.Storage).
Tip 2: If your free subscription blocks Front Door/CDN, continue the challenge and complete backend stages first.
Tip 3: Consider using Azure Static Web Apps — it provides free HTTPS and global delivery out of the box.
Tip 4: Always document what went wrong and how you fixed it. That’s how you build true cloud troubleshooting experience.

Reflection

Although I couldn’t enable HTTPS in this stage, I learned valuable lessons about Azure’s architecture, resource provider registration, subscription limitations, and the logic behind CDN performance settings.

I also realized that real cloud work isn’t always about reaching the goal on the first try — it’s about learning, adapting, and moving forward intelligently.

Next, I’ll begin Stage 6, where I’ll integrate my frontend with a backend visitor counter using Azure Functions and Cosmos DB.

Cloud #Azure #DevOps #CloudResumeChallenge #LearningInPublic

Would you like me to add a simple diagram (User → CDN → Azure Storage) under Step 2 to visually show how CDN works? It’ll make your post look more professional on Dev.to.

Cloud Resume Challenge (Azure) — Part 3: Setting Up HTTPS and Understanding Azure CDN

JICDev — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 23:07:45 +0000

Stage 5 of the Cloud Resume Challenge (Azure Edition) focuses on securing your website with HTTPS and improving global performance using Azure CDN (Content Delivery Network).

This stage helped me understand not just how to enable HTTPS, but also how CDN, caching, and compression come together to make a website faster and more reliable.

Below is my step-by-step process, what I learned, and how I handled the challenges that came up along the way.

Step-by-Step Procedure

Step 1: Understanding the Goal

The main goal of this stage was to add HTTPS and improve the performance of my static website hosted on Azure Storage.

My current site was already live at:
https://myresumejic.z19.web.core.windows.net/

Step 2: Learning What a CDN Does

Before jumping into the setup, I took some time to understand what a CDN actually does.

A CDN:

Stores cached copies of your website on global edge servers closer to users.
Provides HTTPS and SSL/TLS certificates automatically.
Reduces latency, so pages load faster.
Offloads requests from the origin (Azure Storage).

Step 3: Attempting to Create the CDN Profile

After understanding the concept, I opened the Azure Portal and searched for:
Front Door and CDN profiles → + Create

I entered the following details:

Name: myresumejic-cdn
Tier: Standard Microsoft
Origin: myresumejic.z19.web.core.windows.net

Tip:
“I also enabled file compression on my CDN endpoint to reduce load time and bandwidth. Azure automatically uses Gzip and Brotli for text-based content, which complements caching for optimal performance.”

Then I clicked Review + Create, but Azure immediately displayed this message:

Microsoft.CDN is not registered for the subscription.

NB: I missed saving the screenshot; however, it is a red note under the subscription selection box.

Step 4: I had to Register the CDN Resource Provider

Azure requires each service to be registered under a resource provider namespace.

Here’s how I fixed it:

I navigated to Subscriptions - My Subscription - Settings - Resource Providers.
I searched for Microsoft.CDN.
I clicked Register.
After about a minute, the status changed from Not Registered to Registered.

This allowed me to continue with the CDN setup.

After this stage, you should back to stage 3 again and create the CDN Profile.

Step 5: Hitting Another Error — Account Restriction

This time, the deployment failed again, but with a new message:

Free Trial and Student account is forbidden for Azure Front Door resources.

That’s when I realized that Azure merging the CDN service with Front Door, and currently Free Trial or Student subscriptions are restricted from creating these resources.

Step 6: Making an Informed Decision

After researching and reading documentation, I confirmed this is a general limitation.

So, I made the decision to pause HTTPS setup temporarily and move forward with the next stages of the challenge (backend and database).

Note:
“Azure Front Door (CDN) is currently restricted on Free Trial and Student subscriptions. To keep progressing, I’ve decided to continue to the backend stages first and will enable HTTPS later once I migrate to a Pay-As-You-Go plan or Azure Static Web Apps. This doesn’t affect the functionality of the Cloud Resume Challenge — it’s only a temporary pause on the HTTPS stage.”

This decision allowed me to stay productive and continue the challenge without losing momentum.

What I Learned

Azure Resource Providers
Every major Azure service belongs to a namespace that must be registered before use.
Example: Microsoft.CDN for CDN/Front Door, Microsoft.Storage for Blob, Microsoft.Web for App Services.
Azure Subscription Tiers Have Limits
Free and Student accounts cannot use some premium global services (like Front Door/CDN).
CDN Concepts: Caching & Compression
I learned how caching and compression work together to speed up content delivery and reduce bandwidth costs.
Adaptability Is Key
Cloud engineering often involves service limitations — being able to research and find workarounds is just as important as completing the setup.

Tips for Others Doing This Stage

Tip 1: Register all needed providers early (Microsoft.CDN, Microsoft.Web, Microsoft.Network, Microsoft.Storage).
Tip 2: If your free subscription blocks Front Door/CDN, continue the challenge and complete backend stages first.
Tip 3: Consider using Azure Static Web Apps — it provides free HTTPS and global delivery out of the box.
Tip 4: Always document what went wrong and how you fixed it. That’s how you build true cloud troubleshooting experience.

Reflection

I also realized that real cloud work isn’t always about reaching the goal on the first try — it’s about learning, adapting, and moving forward intelligently.

Next, I’ll begin Stage 6, where I’ll integrate my frontend with a backend visitor counter using Azure Functions and Cosmos DB.

Cloud #Azure #DevOps #CloudResumeChallenge #LearningInPublic

# Cloud Resume Challenge (Azure) - Part 2: Hosting My Resume Website

JICDev — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 20:34:15 +0000

Today I reached Stage 4 of the Cloud Resume Challenge — getting my resume website hosted on Azure Blob Storage as a static site. This is the stage where all the work from earlier (HTML, CSS, responsive design, and content integration) finally comes alive on the internet.

🎯 Goal

The main goal of this stage was to:

Upload my HTML/CSS resume website to Azure Storage.
Enable static website hosting.
Make sure my page can be accessed over the internet using the Azure-provided endpoint.

This is the first real step where my resume left my local machine and became available online.

✅ What I Did

Created a Storage Account in Azure

Storage name: myresumejic
Region: West Europe (you can choose nearest region incase you get an error just change location).
Performance: Standard, Redundancy: LRS.

Enabled Static Website Hosting

In the Azure Portal, click on Data Management then click on Static Website under my storage account.
Enabled the feature.
Set index.html as the main document and 404.html as the error document.

Uploaded My Files

Uploaded index.html, style.css, and 404.html into the $web container.

📸 Screenshot: $web container showing index.html, style.css, and 404.html

Tested the Endpoint

Azure generated a public URL: 👉 https://myresumejic.z19.web.core.windows.net/

* When I visited it in the browser, I saw my resume live for the first time! 🎉

How I Achieved It

Followed the official Microsoft docs on Static Website Hosting in Azure Storage.
Used the Azure Portal upload for simplicity (later I’ll automate with Azure CLI / GitHub Actions).
Ensured consistent naming since Azure is case-sensitive.

⚡ Challenges & Solutions

Case Sensitivity

Problem: CSS didn’t load at first because of mismatched file names (Style.css vs style.css).
Solution: Renamed everything consistently to lowercase.

Browser Caching

Problem: After re-uploading, my browser showed old content.
Solution: Cleared cache. Later, Azure CDN (Stage 5) will solve this properly.

File Paths

Problem: At first, index.html didn’t find my CSS.
Solution: Used relative paths (href="style.css") since Azure serves files directly.

📌 Next Steps

Stage 5 → Add HTTPS support with Azure CDN.
Configure a custom domain.
Start building the Azure Function (Python) for the visitor counter.

🌟 Reflection

This stage was exciting because it’s the first time my resume was truly online on Azure. For now, it’s basic (no HTTPS, no custom domain), but it’s a major milestone. From here, I’ll improve the site with security, custom branding, and a dynamic backend.

Cloud #Azure #DevOps #CloudResumeChallenge #100DaysOfCloud

Cloud Resume Challenge Azure - Part 1

JICDev — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 21:49:52 +0000

I have been wanting to do this for a while. Now I have officially kicked off the Cloud Resume Challenge (Azure edition). This is a hands-on project where I wouldbuild and host my personal resume on the cloud (Azure), step by step, using modern DevOps practices.

Today was front-end day — designing, coding, and structuring my resume website as the foundation of everything else to come.

Goal

The goal was to create a functional, modern, and responsive web page that:

Displays my resume and portfolio details.
Introduces me as a cloud/IT enthusiast.
Has a clear navigation structure (Home, About, Projects, CV, Contact) I might decide to add more later on.
Create the HTML and Style with the CSS.

How I Achieve this?

Created HTML Structure NB: I had previous experience in web-development, i.e. HTML, CSS. So it was easy to blend along. However, "ChatGPT" was a resource for the rescue.

Wrote the main sections: Hero (intro), About, Projects, CV/Experience, and Contact.
Used semantic HTML5 (<section>, <nav>, <footer>) to keep the page clean.

Example of my navigation bar:

   <nav class="navbar">
     <ul>
       <li><a href="#home" class="active">Home</a></li>
       <li><a href="#about">About</a></li>
       <li><a href="#projects">Projects</a></li>
       <li><a href="#cv">CV</a></li>
       <li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>
     </ul>
   </nav>

Added Styling with CSS

Defined a dark theme with Azure-inspired colours:

 body {
   background-color: #111; 
   color: #fff;
   font-family: 'Segoe UI', Tahoma, sans-serif;
 }

 .navbar {
   background: #111;  /* matches body background */
   position: fixed;
   width: 100%;
   top: 0;
   box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
 }

Integrated Resume Content

Added About Me summary, Projects, CV

*I Created a placeholder <span> that will later display live visitor counts: ( This was suppose to be a step further down the line, i only added a place holder now which is to be effected later)
```
 <section id="visitors" class="section">
   <h2>Visitor Counter</h2>
   <p>This page has been viewed 
      <span id="visitor-count">0</span> times.</p>
 </section>
```

Linked a counter.js file so the counter can fetch data once the backend is live.

🛠 How I Achieved It

HTML: Divided content into logical sections with unique IDs for smooth scrolling.
CSS: Styled the navbar to match the background, applied flexbox layouts, and added responsive @media queries for smaller screens.
Icons: Used Font Awesome for LinkedIn, GitHub, and email icons.
Resume Data: Highlighted my Skill set, emphasizing IT and cloud-relevant skills.
Visitor Counter: Designed the placeholder, ready for integration with Azure Functions.

*However, Below are Some Challenges I Faced and How I Resolved them Solutions
*

Navbar Transparency Issue

Problem: The navbar text overlapped content when scrolling making it less clean.
Solution: Applied a matching background (#111) + subtle shadow.

Mobile Responsiveness

Problem: Layout broke on smaller screens. While i needed it to be responsive on all media devices

Solution: Added @media queries like:

 @media (max-width: 768px) {
   .hero h1 { font-size: 2.2rem; }
   .navbar ul { flex-direction: column; }
 }

Visitor Counter Timing

Problem: Should I implement it now or later?
Solution: Followed the Cloud Resume Challenge steps → added the placeholder only. The backend (Azure Function + Cosmos DB) will come later.

What is My Next Step?

I Would Deploy this static site to Azure Storage (Static Website).
Configure HTTPS and set up a custom domain.
Build an Azure Function (Python) with Cosmos DB for the visitor counter.
Update counter.js to fetch live data from the API.
Automate deployments using GitHub Actions and define resources with Bicep/ARM templates.

Reflection

This stage was about laying the foundation. I now have a working resume page that reflects my cloud journey and is ready for deployment. Later on I’ll move into Azure hosting and start tackling backend integration.

NB: Most of the parts of this stage can be tackled using the right questions on ChatGPT or any AI resource of your choice. It help and to make the job faster, however jsut be sure you understand what you are implementing.

Cloud #Azure #DevOps #CloudResumeChallenge

How to Create and Attach a Disk to Your Azure Virtual Machine

JICDev — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 03:04:12 +0000

When working with Azure Virtual Machines (VMs), storage plays a critical role. By default, every VM comes with:

An OS disk (for the operating system).
A temporary disk (for temporary data).

But often, you’ll need extra storage — maybe for databases, logs, or application data. This is where data disks come in. In this post, we’ll walk through how to create and attach a new disk to your VM in the Azure Portal.

Step 1: Navigate to Your Virtual Machine
Believing that you already have an Azure account and have a VM created. If not, learn how to create one here

In the left-hand menu, select Virtual Machines. Choose the VM you want to attach the disk to.

Step 2: Add a New Disk

In the VM’s navigation menu, scroll down and click Disks.

Click + Create and attach a new disk. Iin the blue box. However if you already have a Data Disk previously created, you can easily attach it with the "attach existing disk" just beside.

After clicking "Create and attach a new disk" you will see the disk information pop out as in the red box in the image below:

** Step 3: Configure the New Disk**
This where you fill in the modalities of the disk. You’ll need to specify:

Disk name → Something descriptive (e.g., TestDk).
Storage type → As preferred and available. Depending on needs.
Size → Choose according to your needs (e.g., 8GB).
Encryption → Platform-managed key
Hosting Caching → Read/Write (SO that it is readable and editable}

Click Appy Below:

There you have it... You have created and attached your first data disk.

However, you would need to optimise/Initialise your disk into the VM. How do you do so? Follow the steps below:

🔹 Step 5: Initialize/Optimise the Disk Inside the VM

The disk is attached but not yet usable. You need to initialize/Optimise and format it from inside the VM. Depending on you VM registration method. This can be changed by clicking edit setting in the connect section.

If you used pass word. Then you can easily log into you machine. However, if it was through SSH Key, then you would have to download .pem file and load form there. In this case we use password. If you have forgotten your password, just like i did!!! You can reset it by clicking the reset password.

Open your Windows PowerShell
You would have to login into you vm as seen below:

Ref... The yellow boxes are my inputs. While the red arrows were the errors i encountered.

I.e, My Vm wasn't running, so i had to go back to azure to connect it. Therefore, your marching must be running before you can connect it on your PowerShell.

The other error was I forgot my password, which I showed you how to reset above. It everything woks right, you should see the welcome info meaning you are successfully in.

Now unto optimising the disk. Us the commands below to do so.

1. Check the disk

> sudo lsblk -f

This shows all disks. Look for /dev/sdc1 (or similar).

We would have to Format the data disk (TestDk) (only if it’s a new/empty disk)

sudo mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/sdc1

Creates an ext4 filesystem. Skip this if the disk already has data. like in my case I already have it available.

Now we have to Create a mount point. First you have to create the directory. Do so with command:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/TestDk

Now Mount the disk with:

sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/TestDk

To confirm you are doing everything right. Imput the command:

df -h | grep TestDk

REF:--- Breakdown:

/dev/sdc1 → the attached disk partition.
16G → total size of the disk.
36K → space used (basically empty).
15G → available free space.
1% → usage percentage.
/mnt/TestDk → the folder where it’s mounted.

You should see /dev/sdc1 mounted to /mnt/TestDk.

NB: Usually after mounting a disk. and optimising it on linux, usuually, at the reboot of the VM, the Data Disk disconnect. To avoid that, we would apply a command that make sure and the start of the VM, the Data disk boots with it. You achieve that with step 5.

Make it persistent (auto-mount after reboot)

sudo blkid /dev/sdc1

If you, got the information as in the image above, then you are on the right part.

Then you can confirm using

df -h | grep TestDk

If you do get the disk information above, then you might want to check how many disk mounted using :

mount | grep sdc1

If you have more than one as the above, you would have to unmount 1. Use

sudo umount -l  /mnt

to unmount it

Thereafter, reconfirm, then run

df -h | grep TestDk

There you go!!! You have add a disk and optimised it for your Linux VM.

Will you like to know the challenges i went through try to do this for the first time? Click here and how I solved them.

How to Delete and Recover a Virtual Machine Using OS Disk

JICDev — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 22:18:57 +0000

When you create a Virtual Machine (VM) in Azure, several resources are provisioned in the background—compute, networking, and storage. One of the most important of these is the OS Disk.

What is an OS Disk in Azure?

An OS Disk (Operating System Disk) is the virtual hard disk (VHD) that contains:

The operating system (Linux or Windows).
Boot files needed to start the VM.
Any system-level configurations or installed software.

Think of it as the hard drive inside your computer—even if you remove the computer (the VM), the disk still has all your data. _Note: Its should not be compared as a flash drive or external hard drive. _

How the OS Disk Works

When you deploy a VM, Azure attaches an OS disk (usually created from an image like Ubuntu, Windows Server, etc.).

By default, the OS disk is C: for Windows or /dev/sda for Linux machines. The VM boots from this disk whenever you start it. Yes, the disk drive plays a vital role on the speed of VM.

If you delete the VM (which I unknowingly did!!!) the Goodnews is that if the OS disk available, that VM can be recovered, you can later attach it to a new VM and recover everything.

HOw Can you do so?

Let's start with teaching you how to delete your VM safely.

Step 1: Deleting the VM Safely

Sometimes you delete a VM to save costs or reconfigure it. But if you might want to restore it later, you need to** make sure the OS disk is preserved.**

In Azure Portal, go to resource, click on the resource group, then select the virtual machine and click delete. You can also achieve the same thing by going to going to Virtual Machines directly.

In the case below I would be recovering a deleted VM from the Test-RG.

On the confirmation page, you’ll see resources like:

VM (Click on the VM file and delete just it. Uncheck the OS Disk so it doesn’t get deleted. If required, you can force delete)
Network Interface
Public IP
Network Security Group
OS Disks 👉

🔹 Step 2: Go back to Resource and Locate the OS Disk as in the picture below:

If you still have it there while the VM is gone, you safe and have appropriately deleted the VM.

Step 3: let's Recover the VM Using the OS Disk

Open the OS disk resource. Click Create VM at the top.

In the Basics tab:

Enter a VM name.

Choose a subscription and resource group.

Configure size, authentication (SSH key/password), and networking.

Make sure the Image you are selecting the OS Disk of the previous VM created. Then you are on the right path of recovery.

Then Click Review + Create.

Azure will deploy a new VM using the preserved OS disk.

After the review, click on create.

🔹 Step 4: Verify Recovery. Click on Go to Resource, then Go to Virtual Machines in the portal.

Open the newly created VM.

Connect via SSH (Linux) or Download RDP (Windows).

Check Access, if it checks, you have done the right thing. Congratulations. 🎉 You can now proceed to deploy you VM.

ENDNOTE: OS disk is the heart of your VM in Azure. By understanding how it works, you can confidently delete VMs when needed—knowing that as long as you keep the OS disk, you can always recover your VM later.

This simple practice can save you from data loss, reinstallation hassles, and unexpected downtime.

How to Create a Linux Virtual Machine in Azure Portal

JICDev — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 20:47:55 +0000

Microsoft Azure makes it easy to deploy virtual machines (VMs) that run Linux. Whether you want to test an application, host a service, or learn Linux administration, setting up a VM in Azure is a great way to get started.

This guide will walk you through creating a Linux VM on Azure Portal step by step.

Step 1: Sign in to Azure Portal

Go to https://portal.azure.com.
Log in with your Azure account credentials.
You’ll land on the Azure Home dashboard.

There after your interface should look like the image below. Now you can click on Virtual Machine (VM). Mind you, you can also use the search bar for this purpose.

Step 2: Click on Create

Step 3: Configure Basics - This is where you fill in all the modalities of the virtual machine. You would select as below:

Subscription → Choose your subscription.
Resource Group → Select an existing one or click Create new Click here to learn how to do so. After creating your resource, then you select the resource you created.
Virtual machine name → Example: TestMachine.
Region → Choose the closest region to you or your users (e.g., East US, West Europe). NB: This can have an impact on the costing.

Availability options → Leave as default for a simple setup. However, you choose zone if you what your Vm to be deployed to different zones. Mind you, the more the zones, the higher the pricing. For this test, kindly choose "No infrastructure redundancy required"

Select your image* Here you would see various operating system available. Since we are creating for a Linux VM we would use the Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS as in the image below:

Size → Pick a VM size (e.g., Standard_B1s for testing "if you are using a free account" But if you are using a pay as you go account you can use any other that fits your needs".

Step 4: Administrator Account

Set up the login details:

Authentication type → Choose SSH public key (recommended) or Password.
Username → Enter a Linux username (e.g., Testuser1).
SSH public key source →
- If you already have a key, paste the public key.
- Or generate a new one inside the portal.

🔹 Step 5: Inbound Port Rules

To connect via SSH, you need to allow port 22.

Public inbound ports → Select Allow selected ports.
Select inbound ports → Check SSH (22).

Security Note: For production, it’s better to allow SSH only from your IP.

🔹 Step 7: Review + Create

Click Review + Create.
Azure will validate your configuration.
If validation passes, click Create.

Deployment will take a few minutes.

At this point you would be prompted to download the .pem file which would enable you to possible deploy the Linux VM (if you used SSH as your login type) Download it for later as seen below:

It should like below:

🔹 Step 8: Connect to Your Linux VM

Once the VM is deployed: Clickk on "Go to resource"

Go to Virtual machines in the left menu.

Select your new VM and click on Connect:

Copy the SSH command provided, e.g.:

   ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa azureuser@<Public-IP>

Run the command from your Windows PowerShell or a Linux terminal. So open you PowerShell if you use a windows computer like me. i.e see image below any one will do.

Apply the following prompts: Note if you logged in using SSH: you need to navigate to the file.pem location to run the your VM.

Once in, do the following paste the copied SSH command

   ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa azureuser@<Public-IP>

If you did everything right!!! You will be required to authenticate, type in yes. There you go!!!

You can use the following command to confirm you are in the right VM i.e "pwd" "whoami"

Now free to logout, by typing "Logout" command.

If you are using a "pay as you go" Azure account, always remember to disconnect/stop the machine from running in the background to avoid being heavily charged. You can do so y going to your virtual machine and click stop or you delete entirely.

You’re now connected to your Linux VM!

Conclusion

Creating a Linux VM on Azure is straightforward: From here, you can start installing packages, hosting services, or experimenting with Linux commands.

After this you can now decide to start installing packages, hosting services, add data disks (click here) or experimenting with Linux commands.