DEV Community: Omoniyi

CLOUD RESOURCE DEPLOYMENT ON AZURE USING TERRAFORM

Omoniyi — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 16:39:34 +0000

TERRAFORM
it is an infrastructure as code (IaC) tool that lets you build, change, and version cloud and on-prem resources safely and efficiently. It leverages HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) syntax to construct configuration files, allowing users to specify details about their cloud infrastructure, including the cloud provider such as Azure, GCP, AWS etc. You can then use a consistent workflow to provision and manage all of your infrastructure throughout its lifecycle using the configuration file.

MAIN STAGES IN TERRAFORM
The core Terraform workflow consists of three stages:

Write: You define resources, which may be across multiple cloud providers and services. For example, you might create a configuration file to deploy an application on virtual machines in a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network with security groups and a load balancer.

Plan: Terraform creates an execution plan describing the infrastructure it will create, update, or destroy based on the existing infrastructure and your configuration file.

Apply: On approval, Terraform performs the proposed operations in the correct order, respecting any resource dependencies. For example, if you update the properties of a VPC and change the number of virtual machines in that VPC, Terraform will recreate the VPC before scaling the virtual machines.

HOW TO DEPLOY A VIRTUAL MACHINE IN AZURE USING TERRAFORM
PREREQUISITES
Before we begin, make sure you have the following prerequisites:
Azure Subscription: You need an active Azure subscription ID, Tenant ID, Azure Portal login details.
Azure CLI: Install the Azure Command-Line Interface to interact with Azure from the command line.
Terraform: Install Terraform on your local machine.

STEPS TO DELOYMENT

Create a working directory (folder) eg Terraform. located in C:\Users\Presh\Documents. This can also be created by using mkdir command.
Open Virtual Studio Code, Go to File menu and open the directory you created above

Create a file in the directory and name it main.tf

Open up the file as there is no content in it.
Copy a Virtual Machine configuration file sample from https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/azurerm/latest/docs/resources/virtual_machine and paste it in main.tf file.

Customize as desired, edit the VM Parameters, Resource Group Parameters, Network Parameters etc and save.

On Terminal,

run the command az login to confirm active azure subscription and set up authentication. Choose the account you want to use Choose which of the desired subscriptions by inputting the corresponding figure.

run the command terraform init to initialize Terraform in the working directory. this will create a .terraform folder and .terraform,lock,hcl file in the working directory

run the command terraform plan. This reviews the contents of the configuration files and give a summary for validation.

run the command terraform apply. This performs the configuration file proposed operation in the correct order.

Go to the Azure Portal and navigate to the Resource Groups section. You should see the newly created resource group, "acctestrg".

To remove the resource created using terraform,

run the command terraform destroy
type yes at the subsequent prompt

Conclusion
Following through the step-by-step procedures, we have successfully deployed a cloud infrastructure (virtual machine in this case),it could be any cloud infrastructure. Exploring through additional resources and hand-on will definitely firm you grip.

Its been nice having you again. Its been Sunday Omoniyi aka Presh

USING ARM TEMPLATE TO DEPLOY A VIRTUAL MACHINE

Omoniyi — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 20:21:55 +0000

WHAT ARE ARM TEMPLATES?
ARM stands for Azure Resource Manager, which is Microsoft’s deployment and management service for Azure. You use the ARM management layer for creating, updating, and deleting Azure resources. ARM templates are a form of infrastructure as code, a concept where you define the infrastructure you need to be deployed. You no longer need to click around the portal creating virtual machines or writing scripts to deploy a storage account. Instead, the template defines the resources, and the Azure ARM management layer is responsible for creating the infrastructure.

USES OF ARM TEMPLATE

Its a repeatable sets of code that helps in multiple repetitive deployment
It controls order of operations for deployment removes the requirement of writing complicated deployment scripts to handle multiple deployment scenarios
It reduces human errors enhances consistency
It saves time by parallel deployment
It can be used to deploy different resources in Azure eg Virtual Networks, Web Apps etc
Its usable with other deployment scripts written in powershell or bash. These and many more are other uses and advantages of using ARM Templates.

DEPLOYMENT PROPER

Log on to www.Portal.azure.com with your details
Search for template and select deploy a custom template

Click on the any of the options
select build your own template in the editor if you have a customised .json file to upload as template OR
select any of the common templates depending on the kind of resource you want to deploy. This option was selected for this lecture.

Select edit template to edit the template to your custom taste OR
Select edit parameter to edit some of the custom parameter in the chosen template. This option was selected for this lecture

Customize some of the parameter to your choice and save

Select/create a Resource Group, input the username and password. You will observe that other parameters as edited in the parameter file have taken effect. Then select *Review and Create *

The system validates your settings and pops the image below, select create

The deployment of the virtual machine is in progress with every accompany resources

When the deployment is complete, select go to resource to access the configuration of the deployed resources.

Just like that, VM deployment with ARM Template completed.

I hope You Have Added Value.

Its Been Omoniyi, S> A. Precious (Presh)

WEB APP DEPLOYMENT WITH A CI/CD PIPELINE ON AZURE APP SERVICE USING GITHUB AND VS CODE

Omoniyi — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 12:06:58 +0000

Today's focus is to deploy an already built html file on Azure App Service using CI/CD Pipeline.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
WEB APP:A web application (web app) is an application program that is stored on a remote server and delivered over the internet through a browser interface eg netflix, canva, pinterest, spotify etc.

AZURE APP SERVICE: App Services are an interconnected pool of internal and external services, like containers that provide the platform to build and deploy web, mobile, or integration applications.

CI/CD PIPELINE:CI/CD, which stands for continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment, aims to streamline and accelerate the software development lifecycle.
Continuous integration (CI) refers to the practice of automatically and frequently integrating code changes into a shared source code repository. Continuous delivery and/or deployment (CD) is a 2 part process that refers to the integration, testing, and delivery of code changes. Continuous delivery stops short of automatic production deployment, while continuous deployment automatically releases the updates into the production environment.

1. SET UP A LOCAL DEPOSITORY TO PUSH THE FILE

Install VSCode
Call up VSCode
Open up the folder that has the file to be deployed

The file to be deployed is PreshWebApp.html and its resident in WEBSITE folder.

On VSCode, go to the 3dots beside Run, select Terminal, then select New Terminal. This opens a terminal below, issue the following commands...

git init - to make the WEBSITE folder a git repository
git status - to know git status if there are files yet to be added or already added. From the image below, there are 2 files yet to be added i.e Presh.txt and PreshWebApp.html.
git add filename i.e PreshWebApp.html in this case
git status - this now shows that PreshWebbApp.html has been added.

2. CREATE A REMOTE REPOSITORY AND GET FILE FROM LOCAL REPOSITORY

Go to www.git.com, register and log in
Create a Remote Repository

Enter the parameters of the proposed remote repository, make it public, add a read me file and create Repository

Copy the url of the remote repository, this is the direction that the vscode will be pointed to so as to connect to the remote repository

Go back to VSCode to connect it to GitHub with the copied link.

Issue the following commands

git commit -m " commit message" - This command saves the file and gets set to be pushed to the remote repository
git push (url of the remote repository) - This command pushes the file to the remote repository

CREATE A WEB APP USING AZURE APP SERVICES
Login to www.portal.azure.com. Search for app services, click on app services from the drop down.

Click on CREATE, then WEB APP

Customize the parameters as below.

Click on Create afterwards

Click on GO TO RESOURCE to have an overview of the created Web App.

4. DEPLOY THE HTML FILE
At the overview page of the Web App, go to Deployment Center, Select the source of your file (ie the tool, GITHUB) and authorise

Click on AUTHORISE AZURE APP SERVICE, this gives access to Azure App Service into GitHub to get the file for deployment. Enter all needed parameters.

The Workflow file is as in the image. CI/CD procedures for automation are as depicted in the file. This same file will be synced with GitHub for Git Action to implement also. Remember to save after all and done.

Click on Browse to access the HTML file on the browser OR click the url on the DEFAULT DOMAIN in the webapp overview page.

The same CI/CD workflow will be push to Git Action for implementation as below

Its necessary to configure the deployment slot to all seamless integration and deployment so at to avoid reduce down time. It tells the percent to migrate at the smell of new deployment.

Below is the Deployment of PreshWebApp.html using Azure App Service

Hope You Have Added Value.

Its Been Omoniyi, S. A. Precious (Presh)

GIT: Pulling and Pushing Commits Using Git

Omoniyi — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 19:40:12 +0000

WHAT IS GIT?
The simple sentence to describe Git is to describe it as an Open Source Distributed Version Control System. Its really a simple sentence but all encompassing.

Breaking it down...
Distributed Version Control System: This basically means that Git is a content tracker. So Git can be used to store content — it is mostly used to store code due to the other features it provides. Git has a remote repository which is stored in a server and a local repository which is stored in the computer of each developer. This means that the code is not just stored in a central server, but the full copy of the code is present in all the developers’ computers. Git is a Distributed Version Control System since the code is present in every developer’s computer at different locations around the world.
The code which is stored in Git keeps changing as more code is added. Also, many developers can add code in parallel. So Version Control System helps in handling this by maintaining a history of what changes have happened.
Version control system like Git is always needed to ensure there are no code conflicts between the developers.
Additionally, the requirements in such projects change often. So a version control system allows developers to revert and go back to an older version of the code.

HOW TO START UP WITH GIT
With the assumption that the system has Visual Studio Code running on it, Download git:
The link below has details on how to install Git in multiple operating systems:
https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git

Open Visual Studio Code as ADMINISTRATOR
As annotated, go to the three dots, select Teminal, Select New Terminal

A terminal, an interface to run command will be created as below

Run the following commands on the terminal...
git version (To confirm that git is installed on the system)
git status (To know the status of git and confirm if there is any pending commit)
git config --global user.name "username" **eg "Presh2005" as used
**git config --global user.email "email address" eg "preciousinsight2@gmail.com" as used
mkdir folder name to create a folder to work with eg GitLabPresh
git init to make the folder GitLabPresh a repository folder for git to operate...ie put git in it. This will create a .git hidden folder in GitLabPresh folder.

From VSCode, Go call up the GitLabPresh Folder to work with as below
and create the file you want to push to the remote repository in the folder.

Note the content in the file Presh.docx

Call up a new terminal as below, click on the dropdown to select the code editor of your choice

Issue the the following commands...
git.status - comfirm that there is a change yet to be committed ie Presh.docx
git add . - this is to add the file Presh.docx
git commit -m "commit message" - this is to save the changes in git

Go to www.github.com to create a repository in which Presh.docx will be resident

Copy The Link Of the remote Repository

Issue a git push command using url of the remote repository. This action creates a file or sends the changes to the replica file on the remote repository

The committed file Presh.docx reflects on the remote repository and the content is the same as the one in the local repository

We will add the content below to file in the remote repository and save.

from the remote repository
i can edit and i am confirming that your clain it true
Keep it up
Your are a good Devops engineer in the making
Kindly note that you can now collaborate with your colleagues using GIT
No git! No Collaboration!! No Devops
Weldone

From VSCode, issue a git pull command to track changes at the remote repository. These changes immediately reflect on the Presh.docx above

Conclusively, it is clear that the steps to get starting with git, to create local and remote directories, to commit change from any vantage, and to pull or push across the repository is simpler than one would have thought of.

On this note, happy reading.

HOW TO CREATE AN AZURE VIRTUAL NETWORK WITH MULTIPLE SUBNETS USING SPECIFIED ADDRESS SPACE

Omoniyi — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 15:53:05 +0000

INTRODUCTION
An Azure Virtual Network is a service that provides the fundamental building block for your private network in Azure. An instance of the service (a virtual network) enables many types of Azure resources to securely communicate with each other, the internet, and on-premises networks. A virtual network is similar to a traditional network that you'd operate in your own datacenter but it brings extra benefits of the Azure infrastructure, such as scale, availability, and isolation which are actually beyond the scope of this write-up.

When a network, big or small is divided or grouped into smaller categories, the smaller categories are called SUBNETS. Subnet is actually SUBNETWORK which means a part of the parent network but in a smaller representation. Network or subnetworks can be virtual as well as on-premise.

The scope of this write-up is to use Azure resources to create virtual networks and create 4 nos of subnetworks from the virtual network, all these using a specified address range of 192.148.30.0/26. Lets start...

1. LOGIN TO AZURE PORTAL with your login details, only then can you access the resources needed to carry out this task.

2.CREATE VIRTUAL NETWORK

On the search bar, type virtual machine and select it from the dropdown menu as below

Select_ CREATE_ or CREATE VIRTUAL NETWORK as shown in the image below. any of the routes leads to the same destination

Under the BASIC, **_Project Details**_ *Select the desired subscription type (Azure Subscription 1 in this writeup) *Create or Select the desired resource group ( INFOTECH for in this writeup)

Under Instant Details
*Select the Virtual network unique name (ITEngineering for example)
*Select the preferred and available region and click NEXT to setup other parameters

Under IP Addressing Menu,
*Be sure the IP Address is IPv4
*Edit the address to the address space you want to work with
*Edit the subnet space too
*Remember to delete the default subnet, it can be edited to your spec though.

At this stage, the configuration for the Virtual Network is completed.

CREATE THE SUBNETS

After all the steps above, you will have a replica of the image as below, then select ADD A SUBNET.

We are going to create 4 subnets as below
ITServersupport
ATMsupport
POSsupport
IToperations

Kindly note that all these units are under IT Engineering

When adding each of the subnets above, set the parameters as below...

Subnet Purpose - Default
Name - The Name of the subnetwork that you want to create ie each the 4 departmental names as listed above
Be sure to select the version of the IP you want to run, IPv4 in this case.
Starting address - This is the first IP of the address range you want to use
Size - This determines how big each subnet will be. I want equal division of the 64 addresses in my address range into the 4 subnets, meaning each subnet has 16 addresses to work with.
Leave every other things as default and add.

The images below show the subnet for each of the department. Kindly note the changed names and IP address range.

Subnet for IT Server Support Unit

** Subnet for ATM Support Unit**

Subnet for POS Support Unit

Subnet for IT Operation Unit

You will observe that the left pane of ADD SUBNET increases as we add another subnet for each of the added subnet and the image below shows that the four subnets for the four named units has been added to the configured Virtual Network, the select REVIEW +CREATE

At this stage, the Azure validates your parameters. If validation process is successful, it pops up a screen and tells you to CREATE as below

After a while, Azure creates the virtual network as well as the 4 subnets and pops up the screen as below. At this stage, the deployment is successful.

Select** GO TO RESOURCE **to have an overview of the just created Virtual Network

To have an overview of the 4 subnets we just created, go to SETTING, then SUBNET

CONCLUSION
Its quite an easy task to create subnets using Azure portals but care should be taken when dealing with the address ranges.
Its worth noting also that so many things can still be done on these virtual subnets like, peering, setting of firewall, creating Network Security Group, Application Security Group, DDoS Protection and all sort. We end here considering the scope of this write-up.

Remember to cleanup unused resources on your Azure portal.

Thanks
Omoniyi, S. A. Precious

HOSTING A STATIC WEBSITE

Omoniyi — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 18:44:10 +0000

INTRODUCTION
Static websites are the kind of websites that always maintain the same appearance to every of the users that access them at any point in point. It only changes when the website developer modifies the source file. Our task today is to host a website of sort on an Azure Blob Storage. This is divided into 4 major tasks as itemised and explained below with images.

CREATE A STORAGE ACCOUNT
1.Log on with your username and password to www.portal.azure.com to have access to the needed resources.

2.At the home page, select STORAGE ACCOUNT

3.Select CREATE and then select CREATE STORAGE ACCOUNT

4.Under PROJECT DETAILS, Select the SUBSCRIPTION,select an existing RESOURCE GROUP or create a new one.

5.Under INSTANCE DETAILS, input the desired STORAGE ACCOUNT NAME and the preferred REGION and leave others as default. Leave other TAB as default and select REVIEW AND CREATE as below.

6.The system tries to validate all the inputs and pops error if any, if not, it comes up with the page below...select CREATE

7.The system creates the storage account and all accompanying resources that will be needed. it pops up another page. Select GO TO RESOURCE this will unveil the configuration of the created storage account.

AT THIS STAGE AZURE STORAGE ACCOUNT HAS BEEN CREATED WITH THE NAME PRESHSTATICWEB

ENABLE STATIC WEBSITE
The static website is not enabled by default and thus needs to be activated in three or four simple steps.

1.From the created storage account, select CAPABILITY (7) and then select ENABLE

2.After selecting ENABLE, it pops up 2 different fields to input the INDEX DOCUMENT NAME **(this is the name of the file for the host page) and the **ERROR DOCUMENT NAME (This is the error page it will display for users to see in case of any error).

3.Remember to save after this action. The system creates a web container ($Web), also includes the PRIMARY ENDPOINT field and automatically fills the url for the static website as below, copy the url and make it handy for use soonest.

UPLOAD THE FILES
After all well said and well done, the next step is to upload the files to the storage account for reference purpose. We will use the web container created above to upload the needed files for the task.

CLick on $web and select upload upload the necessary files via the pop-up screen and click on UPLOAD

At this stage, the needed files and folders are resident on the storage account for references.

TEST THE STATIC WEBSITE USING THE URL ON BROWSER
1.In the created static web, go to DATA MANAGEMENT/STATIC WEBSITE/PRIMARY ENDPOINT and copy the URL or use the copied URL in Step 3 above if its still handy

Open a web browser and paste the URL for this example, https://preshstaticweb.z1.web.core.windows.net/ and below is the static website

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO DELETE THE RESOURCES THAT ARE NOT NEEDED.

Thanks for following, I promise more educating resources.

I am Omoniyi, S.A. Precious A.K.A. Presh

AZURE VIRTUAL MACHINE SCALE SET (VMSS)

Omoniyi — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 19:39:35 +0000

INTRODUCTION TO VIRTUAL MACHINE SCALE SET
Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) is a feature on the Azure portal that allows you create and manage a group of load balanced virtual machines (VM). The number of VM instances can automatically increase or decrease in response to demand or a defined schedule following a predifined setting. Scale sets provide the following key benefits:
Easy to create and manage multiple VMs
Provides high availability and application resiliency by distributing VMs across availability zones or fault domains
Allows your application to automatically scale as resource demand changes
Works at large-scale

CREATION OF VIRTUAL MACHINE
You can deploy a scale set with a Windows Server image or Linux image, Ubuntu image was used in the training session.

1.Type vmss in the search box. In the results, under services, select Virtual Machine Scale Sets. Select Create on the Virtual Machine Scale Sets page, which opens the Create a Virtual Machine Scale Set page.

2.In the Basics tab, under Project details, make sure the correct subscription is selected and select the desired Resource Group from resource group list or or you create new, be sure the desire VM scale set name, the region and availability zone as desired too.

3.Under Orchestration, ensure the Uniform option is selected for Orchestration mode, standard for security type and autoscaling for scaling mode

4.Select configure under scaling configuration and get prepared to do the necessary configurations as in the images below

5.Select the VMSS condition that you just configured. Select a marketplace image for Image. In this example, we have chosen Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS.

6.Select the desired scale-in policy. Newest VM is the desired option in this example and click save

7.Under Administration account, Enter your desired username, and select which authentication type you prefer. A Password must be at least 12 characters long and meet three out of the four following complexity requirements: one lower case character, one upper case character, one number, and one special character.

8.Select Next to move the other pages. Leave the defaults for the Disks page.

9.On the Networking page, use a preferred network name or use default, under Load balancing, select the Use a load balancer option to put the scale set instances behind a load balancer.

In Load balancing options, select Azure load balancer.

In Select a load balancer, select the load balancer that you created earlier.

10.When you're done, select Review + create.

11.After it passes validation, select Create to deploy the scale set.

12.Click to generate key and save it in a known location

13.It takes a few seconds before deployment is achieved. Thereafter, go to resource to check the configuration of the VMSS.

To check the instances created, go to instances as below. it will show the number of instances created, 2 for this example.

REMEMBER TO CLEAN UP RESOURCES WHEN YOU ARE DONE.

THANKS

HOW TO CREATE AND CONNECT TO A LINUX VM USING A PUBLIC KEY

Omoniyi — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 20:35:22 +0000

In this blog, you will be taught how to create a Linux Virtual Machine running on Ubuntu image, how to connect to the virtual machine through a SSH protocol using a Public Key and go the extra mile of creating a web application, connect to it using the public key and lastly browse the web server.

SIGN IN TO AZURE PORTAL
To do anything on Azure portal, the first thing is to login to the portal (www.portal.azure.com) with your sign in details (Username and Password). You may need to register and sign up if you are a new user.

CREATE A VIRTUAL MACHINE ON AZURE PORTAL
After signing in, the next thing to is to create VM. The steps are as detailed below with images and annotations

Enter virtual machines in the search or select "Create a Resource" or select "Resource Group". any of the 3 will guide your steps.
Select Virtual Machine
In the Virtual machines page, select Create and then Virtual machine. The Create a virtual machine page opens.
In the Basics tab, under Project details, make sure the correct subscription is selected and then choose to Create new resource group or select an existing one. I entered PRENNIEX for sample purpose. Type in the preferred virtual name for your VM (PreshlinuxVM for me) , pick the other options as in the image
Let the security type be standard and choose Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS - Gen2 for your Image. This is one of the differences between Windows Vm and Linux VM. Leave the other defaults. Size availability and pricing are dependent on your region and subscription. If you experience any error at any stage or during validation and its referencing the Region, please, option for another region.
Choose the memory size of your VM
Under Administrator account, select SSH public key. This basically indicates that you want to connect to your VM using public keys. In Username enter your desired username (PreshlinuxVM for me). For SSH public key source, leave the default of Generate new key pair, pick other options as in the image
Under Inbound port rules > Public inbound ports, choose Allow selected ports and then select SSH (22) and HTTP (80) from the drop-down. Then choose,

Leave the remaining defaults and then select the Review + create button at the bottom of the page.
When the Generate new key pair window opens, select Download private key and create resource. Your key file will be download as PreshlinuxVM.pem. Make sure you know where the .pem file was downloaded; you will need the path to it in the next step.

When the deployment is finished, select Go to resource
On the page for your new VM, select the public IP address and copy it to your clipboard.

CONNECT TO THE VIRTUAL MACHINE

Go to windows, search for Powershell and run as administrator
At your prompt, open an SSH connection to your virtual machine. Replace the IP address with the one from your VM, and replace the complete path to the .pem ( for this sample, the path is c:/user/prenniex/Downloads/PreshlinuxVM.pem) This is the path that the key file was downloaded. For sample sake, the command is as below
ssh -i c:/user/prenniex/Downloads/PreshlinuxVM.pem PreshlinuxVM@40.84.55.12

INSTALL A WEBSERVER
To see your VM in action, install the NGINX web server. From your SSH session, first update your package sources and then install the latest NGINX package with the commands below
**sudo apt-get -y update
sudo apt-get -y install nginx
**

BROWSE THE WEBSERVER
Use a web browser of your choice to view the default NGINX welcome page. Type the public IP address of the VM as the web address. The public IP address can be found on the VM overview page or as part of the SSH connection string you used earlier.

DO NOT FORGET TO CLEAN UP RESOURSES BY DELETING RESOURCE GROUPS AND THE RESOURCES THAT ARE NOT NEEDED.

GOODLUCK!

VIRTUAL MACHINE-VM PROVISION ON AZURE PORTAL

Omoniyi — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 19:26:01 +0000

WHAT ARE VIRTUAL MACHINES?
The easiest way to think of a virtual machine (VM) would be as a computer within a computer. Current technology and processing power now allow for easy creation of virtual computing environments within a “host on-prem” computer. VMs may be more sophisticated or less sophisticated compared to the host computer depending on configuration demands. VMs are not physical but virtual.

To create a Virtual Machine on an Azure portal, the following are the steps.

SIGN IN TO AZURE PORTAL
Its totally impossible to provision a VM on an Azure portal without logging in to the portal. You cant log in to the portal without having a an Azure Account/login detail. Azure account must be created if not created earlier and login details provided at the portal gateway as below

CREATE A VIRTUAL MACHINE
1.Enter The Virtual Machine: After gaining access to the Azure portal, the next step is to get a way to start up the creation a the VM.

There are 3 ways to start up the VM creation

By typing "Virtual Machine" in the search bar as in 1 in the diagram above
By clicking on "Create Resource" as in 2 in the image above
By clicking on "Virtual Machine " icon as in 3 in the image above

2. In the Virtual Machines Page, select Create (arrow 1) and then Azure virtual machine (arrow 2), then Create a virtual machine page opens.

3. Under Instance Details: Enter the desired name for the Virtual machine name eg PreshVM (arrow 4 below), the desired Regions by proximity (arrow 5), Availability Option (arrow 6), Security Type (arrow 7), desired image of the windows (arrow 8), architecture of the virtual machine (arrow 9). All these basic configuration are based on requests, if in doubt others can be left as defaults.

4. Under Administrator Account: Provide a customized username, such as PreshVM and a password. The password must be at least 12 characters long and meet the defined complexity requirements. Confirm password by typing the same password as typed in the first password bar.

5.Under Inbound Port Rules: As shown ain the above diagram, Choose Allow selected ports to scrutinize the port way to the VM and then select RDP (3389) and HTTP (80) from the drop-down. These are set protocols and port rules for incoming traffics.

6. Licensing:Check the box to confirm Windows Eligibility License.

Kindly note that every of the steps in 1 to 6 are the basic configuration of the VM. All other option can be at default setting.

Click on NEXT to peruse through all other configuration options under DISK, NETWORKING, MANAGEMENT, MONITORING,ADVANCED, TAG for possible change of options. if none, the default setting is not a bad configuration too.

7. Review And Create: Select this option button at the bottom of the page or the last submenu after TAG. It will peruse, review through all the selections and option you have made, displace the financial implications as its runs to validate stuffs. The system will request for your consent to CREATE the VM as below

8. Create:On selecting the CREATE button, the system starts the deployment of the Virtual Machine. It will take a couple to minutes before this can be actualize. As this stage, other associated resources are created with the VM that would be created and the list will be displayed

On completing this task, it displays the image below, then you can be sure that your deployment is complete.

AFTER DEPLOYMENT, SELECT *GO TO RESOURCE * this will allow you check the configuration of the Virtual Machine or any resource that you just created.

CONNECTING TO VIRTUAL MACHINE
Create a remote desktop connection to the virtual machine. These directions tell you how to connect to your VM from a Windows computer.

On the overview page for your virtual machine, select the Connect

Click on DOWNLOAD RDP FILE
SELECT "KEEP" ON THE DOWNLOADED PAGE Open the downloaded RDP file and click Connect when prompted.

In the Windows Security window, select More choices and then Use a different account. Type the username as localhost\username, enter the password you created for the virtual machine, and then click OK.

You may receive a certificate warning during the sign-in process. Click Yes or Continue to create the connection.

CORE ARCHITECTURAL COMPONENTS OF AZURE By OMONIYI, S. A. PRECIOUS

Omoniyi — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 09:04:32 +0000

INTRODUCTION
The core architectural components of Azure may be broken down into two main groupings as below;

The Physical Infrastructure
The Management Infrastructure.

1. THE PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
The physical infrastructure for Azure starts with datacenters. Conceptually, the datacenters are the same as large corporate datacenters. They’re facilities with resources arranged in racks, with dedicated power, cooling, and networking infrastructure.
As a global cloud provider, Azure has datacenters around the world. However, these individual datacenters aren’t directly accessible. Datacenters are grouped into Azure Regions or Azure Availability Zones that are designed to help you achieve resiliency and reliability for your business-critical workloads.

REGIONS: A region is a geographical area on the planet that contains at least one, but potentially multiple datacenters that are nearby and networked together with a low-latency network. Azure intelligently assigns and controls the resources within each region to ensure workloads are appropriately balanced. When a resource is deployed in Azure, you'll often need to choose the region where you want your resource deployed.

AVAILABILITY ZONES: Availability zones are physically separate datacenters within an Azure region. Each availability zone is made up of one or more datacenters equipped with independent power, cooling, and networking. An availability zone is set up to be an isolation boundary. If one zone goes down, the other continues working. Availability zones are connected through high-speed, private fiber-optic networks.

2. THE MANAGEMENT INFRASTRUCTURE
The management infrastructure explains how the Azure Infrastructures are being managed, This includes Azure resources and resource groups, subscriptions, and accounts. Understanding the hierarchical organization will help in projects and products planning with within Azure.

RESOURCES: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.

RESOURCE GRUOPS:Resource groups are simply groupings of resources. When you create a resource, you’re required to place it into a resource group. While a resource group can contain many resources, a single resource can only be in one resource group at a time. Some resources may be moved between resource groups, but when you move a resource to a new group, it will no longer be associated with the former group. Additionally, resource groups can't be nested, meaning you can’t put resource group B inside of resource group A.

Resource groups provide a convenient way to group resources together. When you apply an action to a resource group, that action will apply to all the resources within the resource group. If you delete a resource group, all the resources will be deleted. If you grant or deny access to a resource group, you’ve granted or denied access to all the resources within the resource group.

AZURE SUBSCRIPTIONS:In Azure, subscriptions are a unit of management, billing, and scale. Similar to how resource groups are a way to logically organize resources, subscriptions allow you to logically organize your resource groups and facilitate billing. U
sing Azure requires an Azure subscription. A subscription provides you with authenticated and authorized access to Azure products and services. It also allows you to provision resources. An Azure subscription links to an Azure account, which is an identity in Microsoft Entra ID or in a directory that Microsoft Entra ID trusts.

AZURE RESOURCE MANAGER:Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
The deployment and management service for Azure
Key Points
● Provides a uniﬁed way to manage Azure resources ● Allows users to create, update, and delete resources as a group ● Uses templates to automate deployment