DEV Community: Adeyemi A

HOW TO ATTACH A DATA DISK TO A VIRTUAL MACHINE AND INITIALIZE IT FOR USE

Adeyemi A — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:46:06 +0000

This step-by-step article describes the different types of Disks of a virtual machine (VM) and shows how to attach a new managed data disk to a Windows virtual machine (VM), using the Azure portal.

Types of Data Disks

- Ultra disks: designed to meet the demand of mission-critical applications requiring extremely low latency(easily accessible / fast response time) and high IOPS(Input/Output Operations Per second)

- Standard HDD : Cost-effective, suitable for low I/O Workloads

- Standard SSD : Balance between cost and performance

- Premium SDD : High-performance, suitable for high I/O workloads.

There are three main disk roles in Azure namely OS Disk, the Data Disk and the Temporary Disk

- OS DISK : The operating system (OS) disk is the primary disk for the VM. It contains the OS and is used to boot the VM. It is created automatically when you deploy a VM.

- Data disks : used to store application data, databases, logs, or other files. They are separate from the OS disk and allow for scalable storage. You can attach multiple data disks to a VM, depending on its size (e.g., the number of data disks varies with VM SKU).

- The Temporary Disk : provides non-persistent storage for temporary data, such as swap files, page files, or application caches. For Windows VMs, it appears as the D: drive.

Attaching a Data Disk to your Windows Virtual Machine

i) Sign in to your Azure portal and Create a Windows Virtual Machine

You can refer to my previous post on How to create a Windows Virtual Machine in Azure

ii) Navigate to the left pane of your VM Dashboard, Click "Settings" dropdown and select "Disks"

iii) Scroll down the Disks page and select "Create and attach a new Disk"

iv) Name your new Data disk, Ignore the other information as the default and Apply accordingly

Notice how the Operating System Disk and the Data Disk are two different disks

Initializing a Data Disk in a Windows Virtual Machine
When you attach a new data disk to your Windows virtual machine (VM), it’s not immediately ready for use. You need to initialize and format the disk to start using it for storing data. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the simple steps to prepare a data disk in a Windows environment.

Steps to Initialize and Use a Data Disk in a Windows VM

1. Connect and Log Into Your Windows Virtual Machine
Click "Connect" on your VM page, download the RDP File, and proceed to log into your Windows Virtual Machine
Enter your VM’s IP address or hostname, along with your login credentials.

2. Open Disk Management
Once logged in:

Right-click the Start button (or press Win + X).
Select Disk Management from the menu.

3. Initialize the New Disk
When Disk Management opens:

A pop-up window may prompt you to initialize the newly attached disk.
If you don’t see this prompt, locate the disk manually:
Look for the disk labeled Unknown and Not Initialized.
Right-click the new disk and select Initialize Disk.
Choose a partition style:

GPT (GUID Partition Table)
: Recommended for modern systems and larger disks.
MBR (Master Boot Record)
: Use for compatibility with older systems.

Click OK to complete the initialization.

4. Create and Format a New Volume
Scroll down and Locate the initialized disk’s Unallocated space.

Right-click the unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume".
Follow the New Simple Volume Wizard:
Assign a volume size (use the default to allocate the entire disk).

Choose a drive letter (e.g., D: or E:).

Select a file system:
NTFS: Recommended for most use cases.
exFAT: Useful for cross-platform compatibility.

Optionally, add a volume label (e.g., "DataDisk").
Click Finish to format the disk and create the volume.

In the new volume highlighted Blue, you can see that our new volume has been initialized.
To confirm Initialization , Double Click on your new data disk highlighted Blue

6. Verify the Disk
Once the process is complete:

Open File Explorer.
You should see the new disk with the assigned drive letter and label.
The disk is now ready for use!

Best Practices for Managing Data Disks

Back Up Your Data:
Regularly back up critical files to protect against accidental loss.
Monitor Disk Performance:
Use built-in tools like Performance Monitor to ensure optimal disk usage.
Resize When Needed:
In cloud environments, you can easily resize data disks to accommodate growing storage needs.

Conclusion
Initializing and formatting a data disk in a Windows virtual machine is quick and easy. By following these steps, you can prepare your disk for use, ensuring your VM has the storage it needs to run efficiently. Properly managing your data disks will improve organization, performance, and scalability.

HOW TO CREATE A WINDOWS VIRTUAL MACHINE ON AZURE

Adeyemi A — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 12:23:29 +0000

This is a guide to take us through the process of deploying a virtual machine on Azure without altering any default setting for disk, networking, management, security, or monitoring.

Deploying a Windows 10 virtual machine (VM) on Azure allows for utilization of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure for various purposes, such as development, remote work and best for testing out new operating systems, including beta releases.

STEPS TO DEPLOYING A VIRTUAL MACHINE

- STEP 1: Sign up and Sign in to Azure portal
Having an Azure subscription is a prerequisite to deployment. You can sign up here, Follow the prompts to set up your account and proceed to log in upon successful registration with your email and password respectively. Please note that registration may involve verifying your identity with a credit/internationally recognized debit card.

- STEP 2: Create a Virtual Machine
Upon Sign in, the dashboard view should look like the below

Navigate to Virtual Machines:

In the Azure Portal, click on the left-hand menu indicated by the red arrow

- Select “Virtual machines”

- Select "Create" and then "Azure Virtual Machine"

Project Details
- Step 3.1: Basics

Subscription: Select your Azure subscription by clicking on the “Azure subscription icon”. if you have multiple subscription you can choose the one you desire to use as well.

Resource Group: Resource groups help you manage related resources that you use in the Azure cloud. This groups the resources that you create with the same permissions, policies and lifecycle for better accessibility and functionality. Create a new Resource by clicking on “Create new”, type in the preferred name of resource and Press ok, your resource group will be created or Choose an existing resource group by clicking on the “(New) resource group” dropdown and select your resource group.

Instance Details

Virtual Machine name: Create a unique VM name (VM stands for Virtual Machine)

Region : 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. Select a region that is closest to your users or resources for better performance.

Availability Options & Availability Zones : You can choose options like availability sets or zones for redundancy. This option gives the opportunity to select the number of available zones preferred. These zones are in different areas in the selected region and the data centers are built in those zones and we can have multiple data centers within those zones. So, selecting a zone(e.g Zone 1) means your VM is in one of the datacenters in that Particular zone (Zone 1). You can select all the available zones for high availability, so when one zone checks out, the resources will still be highly available in the other zones.

Security Type : Select your security type from the drop-down

Image : An image is an operating system. It's like a outline for creating virtual machines / computer systems. It has all the instructions and settings required to set up a computer with a specific operating system and software. Select “Windows 10 Pro” from the list of available images. if you can’t find search for it by typing it in on the blue space bar underneath the red arrow or click on “see all images”.

DO NOT CHECK THE "Run with Azure Spot Discount". Azure Spot discount is a way to buy unused virtual machine (VM) capacity at a discount from Microsoft Azure. Spot VMs can offer discounts of up to 90% compared to pay-as-you-go prices. It's a cost savings option that you can use to run workloads that are not critical, so whenever Azure rescinds the discount, you would not be affected.

Size : Choose the size of the VM. Azure provides different VM sizes based on your performance and cost needs. You can see recommended sizes based on your selected image

"Enable Hibernation" checkbox allows you to resume from where you left on your VM, exactly like hibernating a computer system. However, you need a more extensive size to be eligible for the enable hibernation option.

Administrator Account

Username and Password : Enter your desired username and a password for the Admin access into the VM

Inbound port rules : You’ll see a section titled “Public inbound ports. Select either “Allow selected ports” or “None”. If you choose “Allow selected ports” you can check boxes for common ports like: RDP (3389): For remote desktop access.

HTTP (80): For web traffic.

HTTPS (443): For secure web traffic.

You can also select Custom to specify additional ports as needed.

Licensing : Confirm “licensing” by clicking on the box.

Click NEXT: DISKS > button below

DISK

On the Disk page, Click on the OS disk type dropdown and Select "Premium SSD" or any disk type of your choice as shown below.

Skip the Networking, Management, Monitoring and Advanced pages as default. Select "Review + create".

Upon Complete creation of VM, The below is expected

Step 4: Access Your Windows Virtual Machine
Now that Creation and Deployment is complete, Click on "Go to Resource"

Connect : Click "connect" dropdown and select "connect"

Download the RDP

Open the downloaded file on your laptop downloads by double clicking on it

Select "Connect"
Input your Username and Password earlier created as the Admin of the VM

Click "Yes" to the security prompt

Welcome to your Remote Windows Desktop.

Step 5: Clean Up Resources
When you’re done with your VM, it’s essential to clean up resources.

Delete the VM: If you no longer need it, delete the VM and its associated resources from the resource group. Click on “Delete resource group”, “Enter resource group name to confirm deletion” then “Delete”.

You can also delete the whole package i.e force deleting by Deleting the resource group with the VM in it. All will be deleted successfully

Conclusion
With these steps, you can easily deploy a Windows virtual machine on Azure without changing any default settings for disk, networking, management, security, or monitoring.
Enjoy exploring your new Windows environment in the Azure cloud and well on your way to being a cloud engineer!

The Core Architectural Components of Azure

Adeyemi A — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 21:30:28 +0000

This post is not to scare you. It's to give you confidence in your decision to pursue a career in Tech. So do not be phased by the big grammar. I'll break it down to it barest possible form, just the way i hope someone would do for me with no ounce of learning shame.

The Components of a thing is the parts of it, parts of a larger whole.
The Architectural Components of a thing is defines as the description of how and where each part of the whole works together to function

Microsoft Azure (formerly known as Windows Azure) is Microsoft's public cloud computing platform. It provides a wide range of cloud services, including compute, analytics, storage and networking. Users can pick and choose from these services to develop and scale new applications or run existing applications in the public cloud.

Azure offers four different forms of cloud computing:

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS),
Platform as a service (PaaS),
Software as a service (SaaS) and
Serverless functions.

Microsoft charges for Azure on a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) basis, meaning subscribers receive a bill each month that only charges them for the specific resources and services they have used.

Microsoft Azure core architectural components are:

Azure regions,
Azure availability zones,
Resource groups, and
Azure resource manager(ARM).

Azure Regions:
They are different geographical areas that consist of availability zones. It is the location of data centers. They offer high availability to protect applications and data from data center failures.
There are over 60 regions and they are available in 140 countries.

Azure Availability Zones:
They are physically separate locations within an azure region. Each zone is supported by one or more data centers. It reduces latency for global users and faster disaster recovery.
We can have a minimum of three (3) zones in a region.
Availability zone is a subset of a region

Resource groups:
A resource is the basic building block of Azure. Anything you create, provision, deploy, etc. is a resource. Virtual Machines (VMs), virtual networks, databases, cognitive services, etc. are all considered resources within Azure.
A resource group is a container that holds related resources for an Azure solution. In short, resource group is like a folder where you keep all the related parts of a project together.
It helps unifies lifecycle management, access control, security and cost management.

Azure Resource Manager(ARM):
This is the deployment and management service for Azure. It is the overall system that lets you control and manage all folders and their contents efficiently. Some of the benefits of a resource manager is that all resources are in a centralized directory, tracks project planning and high-level reporting.

The core Azure architectural components such as regions, availability zones, resource groups are like an underlying building blocks for azure deployment and the Azure resource manager is used to manage these building blocks and the solutions built on them.

These key architectural components gives a better understanding of how Azure solutions are built and supported.