DEV Community: Lillie Mae

SIMPLE WAYS TO ENSURE HIGH AVAILABILITY FOR APPLICATIONS HOSTED IN AZURE.

Lillie Mae — Wed, 17 May 2023 11:08:10 +0000

HIGH AVAILABILITY IN AZURE: This refers to the capability of ensuring that applications and services hosted in the Azure cloud infrastructure are accessible and operational without significant downtime. It involves implementing strategies and utilizing Azure services to minimize service disruptions and maintain continuous availability.

1. Employ Azure Load Balancer: Azure Load Balancer distributes incoming network traffic across multiple virtual machines (VMs) or instances of your application. It helps achieve high availability by distributing the workload and automatically routing traffic to healthy instances in case of failures.

2. Deploy Azure Traffic Manager: Azure Traffic Manager enables you to distribute user traffic across multiple endpoints (such as different Azure regions or availability zones). It can perform load balancing, failover, or even prioritize traffic based on different routing methods, ensuring your application remains accessible and responsive.

3. Utilize Azure Availability Zones: Azure provides the concept of Availability Zones, which are physically separate data centers within a region. By deploying your application across multiple availability zones, you can ensure that even if one zone goes down, your application remains available in other zones.

4. Purchase Azure Application Gateway: Azure Application Gateway acts as a web traffic load balancer that provides layer 7 (application layer) load balancing and advanced application delivery features. It can handle application-level routing, SSL termination, and other features that improve the performance and availability of your application.

5. Utilize Azure Functions with App Service Plans: Azure Functions is a serverless compute service that allows you to run your application code in a scalable and event-driven manner. By using App Service Plans with Azure Functions, you can automatically scale your application based on demand, ensuring high availability during peak usage periods.

N/B: Remember that high availability also depends on proper design considerations, such as using redundant storage, configuring automatic backups, monitoring application health, and designing for fault tolerance.

STEPS TO CREATE AN AZURE COMPUTE GALLERY, CAPTURE THE IMAGE OF A VM AND STORE IN A COMPUTE GALLERY.

Lillie Mae — Wed, 17 May 2023 10:44:33 +0000

Before you begin with this exercise, you must have a virtual machine running already. If you do not have a vm yet, please see previous videos to guide you on how to deploy a virtual machine.

STEP 1:
a. Go to your Azure portal and search for "Azure compute galleries" and click on it.

STEP 2:
a. Click on "Create"
b. Choose your resource group, Give it a name of your choice. Leave every other thing as default then click on review+create" and once validation passes, click on "create"

STEP 3:
a. Click on "Go to resource"
b. Go back to your Azure Home page and click open your virtual machine.
c. Click on Capture"

STEP 4: Fill in the columns
a. Share image to azure compute gallery column should be YES
b. Target azure compute gallery column should be the name you gave your gallery.
c. Under Target vm image definition, Click on "Create new", give it a name and click on a Ok"
d. Version number column should be 0.0.1
e. Change your Target region replica to 2 so your image can be backedup in other regions. Here, i used East US and West uS
f. Change your default replica count to 2 so it can match the target region.
g. Click on review+create

STEP 5:
a. After the validation has passed, Click on Create"

STEP 6
a. After deployment is complete;
b. Click on "Go to resource"
c. Go back to your compute gallery to see the captured image and also see that it's in the gallery.

N/B Deployment will take a while because it's more than 1 region and the vm has to be generalised so the admin username and password can be added for easy access.

!!!

CREATING A VIRTUAL MACHINE SCALE SET AND A LOAD BALANCER IN IT.

Lillie Mae — Thu, 11 May 2023 20:28:08 +0000

STEP 1:
a. On your azure portal, search for "Scale set" and click on it.
b. Click on "Create"

STEP 2:
a. Select your subscription and your resource group .
b. Choose a name of the virtual machine, give the administrator account a name and password.

STEP 3:
a. Go to "Networking" and click on "enable load balancer.
b. Go to "Scaling" and increase it to 2 or more. Here, i used 2 instances.
c. Go to "Health" and click on "enable application health monitoring"

STEP 4:
a. Click on "review+create
b. After validation has passed, click on "Create and wait for it to deploy.

STEP 5:
a. After deployment is complete, click on "Go to resource"
b. You can click on instance to see the 2 instances running.
c. Click on "Scaling", then choose either Manual or Custom scale depending on what you want.
d. You can also change your instances to any number you want.

Manual scale means you configure everything yourself.

*Custom means you want everything done automatically for you and you can add your conditions by scrolling down the page then click on "scale condition".

HOW TO SSH INTO A LINUX VIRTUAL MACHINE, ENTER THE ROOT ENVIRONMENT, UPDATE IT AND CREATE DIRECTORIES OR FILES IN IT.

Lillie Mae — Sun, 07 May 2023 15:16:20 +0000

Please check previous videos on how to create or deploy a linux virtual machine to get started.

STEP 1
a. Click and open your virtual machine if you have created one. *Here, the name of my already created vm is "Mayworkload"

STEP 2
a. Click on your public ip address to extend the "idle timeout" from 4 - 30minutes and save it.

STEP 3
a. Click on "overview" then click on "Connect"
b. Choose SSH, scroll down and copy no.4

STEP 4
a. Open the terminal on your system
b. Paste the ip address you copied in your terminal,(please see diagram below)
Follow this command arrangement to edit it.
ssh username@ipaddress
c. You can also type in the command arrangement in 4b. directly to your terminal, then input your ipaddress seen in no.4 of step 3 in the ipaddress space.
Note* username here refers to the username you gave your administrator account when creating the virtual machine. When creating my vm,the administrator account name was azureuser. Please see the last diagram below to know what it should look like after editing.
d. Hit ENTER key

STEP 5
a. The next space is asking for a password, enter the password you used for the administrator account.
Note* Microsoft azure doesn’t show what you’re typing in when it comes to passwords so just type in your password in to the space.
b. Hit ENTER key and allow it to load.

STEP 6
a. Type in the command Sudo su
b. Hit ENTER key
Note* Sudo su enables you into the root environment, you can download or update anything only when you’re in the root environment.

STEP 7
a. Type in command apt update
b. Hit ENTER key and wait for it to load.

STEP 8
a. Type in a file name already existing in your system that you want to create directory on by using the command mkdir then followed by the file name. E.g i have a folder with the name Grace , my command will be- mkdir Grace
Note* mkdir is used to create directory or subdirectories or other files, while directory is a place where you keep folders.

STEP 9
a. Type in the command ls to list a directory or the contents of a directory.
Note* ls (list of files or subdirectories) as a command is used to list the content of a directory or file.

b. You can go on to add more files as much as you want and also list them.

!!!!

STEPS TO CREATE A WINDOWS VIRTUAL MACHINE, RDP INTO IT, INSTALL A WEB SERVER AND ADD A DATA DISK TO IT USING MacOS

Lillie Mae — Sun, 07 May 2023 13:04:56 +0000

STEP 1
a. On your Azure portal, Go on the search bar and search for "Virtual machine".

STEP 2
a. Click on "Create" and in the options given from the search, choose "Azure virtual machine.

step 3
a. Under BASICS, fill in the required details.
b. Choose your subscription and choose a resource group or create a new one.
c. Give the virtual machine a name.
d. Choose windows 11 server for your image, change the public key to password.
e. Choose a username and password for your administrators account.
f. Select RDP and HTTP(80) for the inbound port and tick your licensing box.

STEP 4
a. Go to MONITORING, disable Boot diagnostics.
b. Click on review+create
C. Once validation has passed, click on create
d. After deployment is complete, click on "Go to resource"

Your Virtual machine has been created.

STEP 5
a. Click on connect

STEP 6
a. Choose RDP then click on download to. Download the file.
b. Click on the file you just downloaded to open it.
c. Type in the username and password you used to register your administrators account in Step 3.
d. Click on continue. Once this is done, your virtual machine has been created and connected.

STEP 7 Notice how your vm interphase is different from your systems interphase.

a. On the vm you just created, go on the search bar and type in POWER SHELL, then choose "windows powershell app" from the options to install it.

STEP 8
a. Once the powershell has loaded, type in the command Install-WindowsFeature Web-Server
b Click on ENTER to install the web server role. Your web server has been successfully installed.

To test your web server,Go back to your Azure portal, click on OVERVIEW b. Copy the public ip address, paste it on your system browser and hit enter to see if the web server is running.

STEP 9
a. Go back to your azure portal page
b Click on Disks
c. Click on "create and attach a new disk"
d. Give the Data disk a name also change the size to a higher Gb
e. Click on "save"

STEP 10
a. Go back to that virtual machine you created so you can format the new disk you just created.
b. Search for Disk on the search bar
c. Choose "create and format hard disk partitions" from the options given.

STEP 11
a. A pop-up "initialize the Disk" will show, click on OK
b. Scroll down to Disk 2.

Disk 1 is a default disk in a new vm. c. Click on it, then click on "New Simple Volume" from the options given.

STEP 12
a. Follow through with all the defaults for the next few pages by clicking on "NEXT"
b. Once you reach the "Format partition" page, change the "volume label" to the name you gave your datadisk earlier in step 9
c. Click on "next
d. Click on "finish

Your Data disk has been added successfully.

HOW TO CREATE TAGS IN MICROSOFT AZURE AND HOW TO DELETE THEM.

Lillie Mae — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 17:15:13 +0000

STEP1
1a: In your azure portal, search and select "Policy"

Step 1a image:

STEP 2
2a: Click on "Assignments"

Step 2a image

STEP 3
3a: Click on "Assign Policy"

STEP 4
4a: Click on policy definitions"
4b: Search for "Tag" in the search bar then choose "Require a tag and it’s value on resources" from the options.
4c: Click on Add"

Step 4a image
Step 4b

STEP 5
5a: Click on parameters" to input your Tag name and Tag value (Tag name can be a name of the environment while Tag value or the specifics of the environment).
5b: Click on review+create
5c: Click on create

Step 5a images

STEP 6 -Creating a storage account to add the tag we just created.
6a: Go back to your Home page" and click on "storage account"
6b: Click on create
6c: Choose your subscription, choose a resource group or create a new one. Give your storage account a name, choose a region.
6d: Click on Tag" heading.
6e: Add the name and value you used in step 5.
6f: Click on review then click on create.

Step 6a image
Step 6d and 6e image

STEP 7 Deleting the tag we just created
7a: Go back to the Home page, On the search bar, search and select 'Policy
7b: Click on "Require a tag and it’s value on resource"
7c: Click on "Delete Assignment"

How to upload a letter in ChatGPT to azure storage account and share the url

Lillie Mae — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 13:59:21 +0000

STEP 1:

In your azure portal, click on "storage account " then click on create.
Choose your subscription
choose a resource group or create a new one (any name of your choice)
-Select a region you want your account created in
Your performance can be either standard or premium based on your requirement.
Click review then click on "create".

STEP 2:

Once deployment is complete, click on "Go to resource"
Click on containers
Click on "+Containers" to create a container.
Choose a name for your container (this should be a name that explains the kind of documents you created in Chatgpt, here we will be creating a love letter so the name we will use for the container is Love letter)
Change the "public access level" to blob (blob allows you to share and others to access your stored files)
Click on create

STEP 3:

Go to your CHATgpt app or use the link https://chat.openai.com/chat
In the chat space, type in what you want Chatgpt to do for you. Here, i will ask Chatgpt to write a love letter to my best friend who’s name is Ted
Click on enter to see your result from Chatgpt.
You can ask Chatgpt to write whatever you want.

STEP 4:

Copy your result on chatgpt then go to microsoft word and save it as a pdf on your desktop or as a document.

STEP 5:

Go back to your "container" then click on the document you created on azure (i.e Love letter)
Click on upload
Choose the Pdf you just saved, then click on upload.

STEP 6:

Click on the file you just uploaded and copy the url.

HOW TO CREATE A WINDOWS VM, RDP INTO THE VM, INSTALL A WEB-SERVER AND ADD A DISK TO IT.

Lillie Mae — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 13:04:09 +0000

STEP 1: CREATING A WINDOWS VIRTUAL MACHINE

In your azure portal, search for "virtual machine". Select "Azure virtual machine".
Choose your subscription, add your resource group, give the vm any name of choice, change your "image" to windows, add a username and password for your administrators account, add Https in the "select inbound ports" row, tick the licensing box.
Click on review+create, wait for validation to be complete then click on Create.

STEP 2: RDP IN TO THE VM

Once deployment is completed, Go to resource.
Click on "connect" and choose RDP then wait for the page to load, scroll down the page and download the RDP file.
Once it’s been downloaded, click on "open" then click on "connect"
Fill in your credentials i.e the username used for your administrator’s account earlier, click on "OK" and then "YES"

STEP 3: INSTALLING A WEB-SEVER

Once it’s been connected to the vm, search for "Powershell" in the search panel.
Click on it and choose "Run as admin"
Once the administrators windows power-shell is up then type in this command: Install-windowsFeature web-server
Click on enter, wait for the successful installation of the web-server.
Go back to the "Overview page" of the vm, copy the ip address and paste it in your browser (google), hit enter to see the web-server you just installed.

STEP 4: ADDING A DISK TO IT (DATA DISK)

Go back to your virtual machine, Click on on "Disk"
Click on create and enter a data disk, give it a random name, change "Size" to 10Gb then click on "Safe"
Go back to your vm Rdp section and on the search bar, search for Disk management.
Once it opens, click on Ok.

STEP 5:

Scroll down to disk 2, right click on it for options, choose "New simple volume"
Click on Next, go with the default for the next two pages then in the "Format partition" row, give your volume label the name "Data disk" to format the new volume label.
Click on Next, then click on Finish.

N/B Before using a new volume, you must format it by giving it a new name.

HOW TO ASSIGN A ROLE AND ALSO REMOVE A ROLE ASSIGNMENT IN MS AZURE

Lillie Mae — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 17:00:56 +0000

STEP 1:

Create a resource group by clicking on "resource group" then "create".

STEP 2:

Give it a name then click on "review+create.
once validation is complete click on "create.

STEP 3:

Go to "Access control".
Click on "Add" to add a role assignment.

STEP 4:

Search for the role you want to assign in the search panel e.g virtual machine contributor.
select the role and click on "next"

STEP 5:

Click on "select members"
Choose who to assign the role and click on "select"
Add a description (name of the assigned role)
Click on next, click on Review+assign.

STEP 6:

Go to your "activity log" to view your activity so far.
To remove the assigned role/person, go to "access control", select the role and click on remove.

DONE!!!

HOW TO CREATE A KEY VAULT AND ADD A SECRET TO IT.

Lillie Mae — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 17:37:34 +0000

STEP 1: Search "key vault" on the search panel. Click on it and click create.

STEP 2: Add or create a new resource group. Fill in all the details, give it a name of choice, pricing tier should remain on standard, purge protection should be disabled. Click on review+create then scroll down to click on create.

STEP 3: After deployment, Go to resource. Click on "Keys" under objects, click on "Generate/import". Give it a name, add an expiry date should you want it to expire later, every other details can remain on default then click on create.

STEP 4: Go back to Azure home page and click on "Key vault" then Click on the key you created to view it.

STEP 5 To create a secret, Click on the key you created click on "Secret" just below "keys" then click on "Generate/import". Fill in the name of your secret, enter your secret in the secret value panel, set an expiry date (this is optional) then click on create.

HOW DOES AZURE ADVISOR & AZURE SERVICE HEALTH DIFFER ?

Lillie Mae — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 11:38:26 +0000

AZURE ADVISOR: Helps to analyze azure resources and make recommendations based on best practices to optimize azure deployments.

AZURE SERVICE HEALTH: Helps to check the impact of azure services, advices on issues in the region of your workloads and also provides personalized guidelines and support notifications.

BENEFITS OF ARM TEMPLATES:

Repeatable results
Built in validation
Declarative templates
Exportable code
Orchestration

HOW TO CREATE A FUNCTION APP WITH A WEBHOOK TO PROVIDE A "HELLO" MESSAGE WITH YOUR NAME.

Lillie Mae — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 14:36:20 +0000

STEP 1: CREATE A FUNCTION APP

Search function app' on the search panel and click on create.
Fill in your required details.Choose your subscription, add a resource group, your "publish" should be on code, give your function app a name, choose .Net for your "runtime stack", leave the rest as default. Click on review+create then click on create.

STEP 2: CREATE A HTTP TRIGGERED EVENT FUNCTION

Once deployment is completed, click on "Go to resource".
Click on fuction and then click on create.
Select Http trigger and scroll down to input a name for your event function or maintain name given.

STEP 3: PROVIDE A HELLO MESSAGE WITH YOUR NAME THEN RUN A TEST

To run a test, click on "Get function url" to copy the url.
Paste the url in your web browser.
At the end of the url code, add "&name=your name" then hit enter. E.g &name=Victor
You will receive a hello message with your name.