DEV Community: Kehinde Oloye

Deploying Azure Web App using CLI

Kehinde Oloye — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 14:31:32 +0000

What is Azure App Service?
Azure App Service is a Microsoft Azure Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) service that allows developers to effortlessly design, distribute, and manage online and mobile applications. It includes automatic scaling, continuous deployment, and built-in support for popular programming languages.

Web applications are built using programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the frontend, and languages like Python, Ruby, Java, or PHP for the backend. They can offer a wide range of functionalities, such as online shopping, social media, email services, productivity tools, and more. These applications are designed to be accessible from various devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Let's get started please.

Ensure you have the Azure CLI installed on your system. You can download Azure CLI, select your system operating system from the left pan and follow with the link. You can confirm if Azure CLI is installed by using the command az version from your CLI

Log into the Azure CLI.

From the command line (CLI) use the command az login. It will prompt you to select the Azure account you wish to log into. Remember you must have an Azure account and a valid subscription.

Go to your default browser, then select your active account to login.

You will get this message, go back to your command line interface (CLI), press enter.

After logging into the Azure account, you can confirm your subscription name and your Azure user account details.

Create a new Resource group or login to an existing one in your subscription

It is always best practice to have a resource group for your work. You can use an existing one or create a new one. Let us create a new one via the CLI.

The syntax for the command to create a Resource group is

az group create --name --location

az group create --name kenRG --location westeurope

We have our kenRG resource group created successfully.

Let us create an App service plan

Now to create our app service. Use the command syntax

az appservice plan create --name --resource-group

az appservice plan create --name kenapp --resource-group kenRG

The app service plan called kenapp is created.

To create a web app

The command syntax is

az webapp create --name --resource-group --plan

az webapp create --name kenwebapp --resource-group kenRG --plan kenapp

Access your web app

To access your web app you need to enter the URL syntax to your browser

https://.azurewebsites.net

kenwebapp.azurewebsites.net

As you can see your web app is running and only awaiting your content.

SUMMARY:

We were able to successfully explore the following Azure Cloud journey and I am confident that you can navigate on your own through the above guide made easy in the areas below;

1). Create a Resource Group.

2). Create an Azure Apps Service Plan.

3). Create a Web App.

4). Launch the created Web App.

Thank you for reading my article till the end. I hope you learned something special today. If you enjoyed this article, then please share to your friends and if you have suggestions or thoughts to share with me then please write in the comment box.

How to Create a Support ticket in Azure portal

Kehinde Oloye — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 04:21:28 +0000

In addition to Azure's extensive documentation and community forums which provides valuable resources for troubleshooting, Microsoft Azure equally offers a wide range of support plans to meet the needs of different customers that requires direct assistance from Microsoft's support team.

Today, we shall be looking into how to contact Microsoft Azure support and highlight some common problems that can be resolved by reaching out to them.

Contacting Microsoft Azure Support
Azure Portal
Log In: Sign into your Azure account through the azure portal.

Navigate to Support: Once you're logged in, click on the "Help + support" option in the left-hand menu.

Create a Support Request: In the "Help + support" section, click on "New support request."

Select Issue Type: You'll be taken to a page where you can choose the type of issue you're facing. Select the appropriate issue type that matches your situation. This could be related to subscriptions, resources, billing, technical support, etc. Here I am seeking support on how I can replace my account payment card with a new one.

Provide Details: Fill in the necessary details about your issue, including a concise description of the problem, the subscription and resource group involved, the affected resource, and any relevant details that can help Azure support understand your situation better. Then click next.

Recommended Solution: Azure automatically generates a recommended solution for your request or problem.

If this recommended solution solves your problem you don't need to proceed to the next part but if it doesn't the click on 'Return to support request' to continue to create a support request, on the next prompt click 'Next' to go to additional details.

New support request:
Problem Details: You input the necessary detail of the problem you want to resolve accordingly, information needed are the problem start date, detailed description, subscription ID, problem ID and you can attach a file such as screenshot of an error message.

Please select Preferred contact method to specify how you would like to be contacted by Azure support regarding this ticket. You can choose between email or phone.

Select prefered language, then click next.

Click the create button

Confirmation: Azure will provide you with a confirmation that the support request has been created. You will also receive updates on the progress of your ticket through the Azure portal, email, or phone based on your selected contact method.

Remember, creating a support ticket through the Azure portal is specific to your Azure subscription and may vary based on updates or changes to the portal interface.

Azure Support Plans:
Depending on your subscription and support needs, you may have different support plans which are Basic, Developer, Standard and Professional direct. Review your support plan to get details and understand your entitlements. If you have a paid support plan, you can often get faster responses and more comprehensive assistance.

Phone Support:
If you need immediate assistance or prefer to speak with a support representative, you can find the phone numbers for your region in the Azure Portal under "Help + support."

Azure Community Forums:
Before contacting support, consider visiting the Azure Community Forums. Many common issues have already been discussed and resolved there.

How to Create a Resource Group & Virtual Machine Using the Azure CLI

Kehinde Oloye — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 07:40:01 +0000

What is Azure Command Line Interface?
Azure Command-Line Interface (Azure CLI) is a set of commands used to manage and interact with resources in Microsoft Azure. It provides a command-line interface to manage various Azure services, including Virtual Machines, Storage, Networking, and more. The Azure CLI allows you to automate tasks, create and manage resources, deploy applications, and perform various administrative operations within your Azure environment, all through the command line.

In Microsoft Azure, this CLI tool enables users to interact with their Azure account via a CLI interface, this tool is called the Azure CLI. For Azure-specific syntax, you need to install the Azure CLI and log into your Azure account via the Azure CLI.

STEP 1: Installing the Azure CLI
Go to (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli.) Select your operating system accordingly and follow the steps, click on Install and update then select the link that match your system windows Bit 32/64.

Kindly note that installation is only required once. If you already have it installed, you can skip this process and continue to Step 2

Step 2: Log into your Azure account via the CLI
Open any CLI application of your choice. I am using a Windows system, and I will make use of the traditional CMD windows that came with Windows. On your Windows search bar type CDM.

To confirm if Azure CLI is installed. Type az version on your CMD here our Az version is "2.50.0",

Your default web browser will open requesting you to select Azure account to log into. Select account with an active subscription.

Once you click, you will receive a prompt to enter password, please do.

You will receive the confirmation below.

At this stage return to your CMD and tap enter

Step 3: Create your resource group.

Create a new resource group where your VM will be deployed with the following command.

az group create --name -- location and press enter.

For this example, we will have our ResourceGroup name - demoRG and Location - UKSouth

Resource group has been successfully created.

Step 4: Create a Linux VM in the demoRG resource group.

To create the VM via the CLI use the syntax-

az vm create --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyVM --image UbuntuLTS --admin-username azureuser --admin-password MyPassword123 --size Standard_DS2_v2

Note
-- resource-group: Here we add the Resource group we created earlier on {demoRG}

-- name: Provide a name for your VM. I will call mine demolinux1

-- image: Choose the operating system you want to use I will be using the UbuntuLTS.

--admin-username: This is the admin username for the VM- I will call mine azureuser

--admin-password: Set the password for the VM, you have to remember this to be able to log into the VM. Remember your password must meet the requirements for VM password as stipulated by Azure.

--size Standard_DS2_v2

demolinux1 successfully created. Verify on your Azure portal. virtual machine has been successfully created, please check your Azure portal to confirm this.

We need to log into the machine.
Please note that our VM username is azureuser and password, we can use the command: ssh username@ipaddress

Run the command
ssh azureuser@20.254.51.82

demolinux1 successfully created. Verify on your Azure portal.

INSTALL AZURE CLI ON AZURE LINUX VIRTUAL MACHINE [newly deployed].
Once the Azure Linux Virtual Machine has been connected successfully, Then, we can now install the Azure CLI on the Linux Virtual Machine [newly deployed] for more management activities.

1). Input the command:

curl -sL https://aka.ms/installAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash

A. Run the Azure CLI command to install.

Azure CLI successfully installed.

MANAGE AZURE LINUX VIRTUAL MACHINE (demolinux1) USING AZURE CLI.

Azure CLI has been installed successfully on the Azure Linux Virtual Machine, Then, we can now manage the VM via running certain Key commands on the VM.

To get list of usable commands, double click on you Virtual Machine from Azure portal, then at the top right conner click CLI/PS to pick list of commands should in case you are new to this environment.

1). STOP VM
Input the command: az vm stop --resource-group demoRG --name demolinux1 --subscription 748cf767-a92e-4581-a901-b786a393544a

2). START VM
Input the command:az vm start --resource-group demoRG --name demolinux1 --subscription 748cf767-a92e-4581-a901-b786a393544a

3). DEALLOCATE VM
Input the command: az vm deallocate --resource-group demoRG --name demolinux1 --subscription 748cf767-a92e-4581-a901-b786a393544a

Deallocated

demolinux1 Deallocation confirmation from Azure portal.

4). RESTART VM.
Input the command: az vm restart --resource-group demoRG --name demolinux1 --subscription 748cf767-a92e-4581-a901-b786a393544a

5). VM IP ADDRESS LIST
Input the command: az vm list-ip-addresses [--ids] [--name] [--resource-group] [--subscription]

How to Create a VMSS from Captured image on Azure

Kehinde Oloye — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 05:22:03 +0000

In the cloud tech space, scalability is essential. Whether you're a startup, gearing up for rapid growth or an established enterprise managing variable workloads, Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) can be a game-changer. This versatile Azure service allows you to effortlessly manage and scale multiple virtual machines (VMs) while ensuring high availability and ease of management.

Today we shall journey through creating a VMSS from a compute gallery in the Azure Portal, unlocking the potential for your applications to scale dynamically.

VMSS and Compute Gallery
VMSS is an Azure service that lets you deploy and manage a set of identical VMs. Combining these two technologies allows you to scale applications horizontally by deploying VMs based on custom images from your gallery.

Azure Compute Gallery is a powerful feature that allows you to create and manage custom virtual machine images. These images can include your desired operating system, applications, and configurations.

See my article to Create Azure Compute Gallery and capture image

Benefit of Azure Virtual Machine Scale Set
Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) offer several benefits for managing and deploying virtual machines in Microsoft Azure:

High Availability
Scalability
Automatic Updates
Custom Images
Managed Disks
Auto Scaling
Integrated Monitoring
Cost-Efficiency
Ease of Management
Rolling Upgrades
Template-Based Deployment
Integration with Azure DevOps
Global Deployment

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following prerequisites in place:

Azure Subscription: You need an active Azure subscription. If you don't have one, you can sign up for a free trial at Azure Portal.

Azure Resource Group: Create an Azure Resource Group to organize and manage your gallery resources.

Azure Compute Gallery: Make sure you have created a compute gallery and have captured the image of the VM you want to scale. Click here to learn how to create a compute gallery and capture a VM.

Creating a VM Scale Set
Login to the Azure Portal home page.
Go to " Azure Compute galleries" where the image is stored.

Click on Create VMSS

or Search for VMSS on the search bar above from your Azure portal homepage.

Click on the create button

Basics: Fill out the basic information, such as the subscription, resource group, and region. Give your VMSS a unique name.

Orchestration: The orchestration mode is defined when you create the scale set and cannot be changed or updated later. There are two types in Azure, the Uniform and flexible orchestration. Scale sets with Uniform orchestration is Optimized for large-scale stateless workloads with identical instances while Scale sets with Flexible orchestration is used to achieve high availability at scale with identical or multiple virtual machine types.

Select the 'Flexible orchestration'; With Flexible orchestration, Azure provides a unified experience across the Azure VM ecosystem. Flexible orchestration offers high availability guarantees (up to 1000 VMs) by spreading VMs across fault domains in a region or within an Availability Zone. This enables you to scale out your application while maintaining fault domain isolation that is essential to run quorum-based or stateful workloads.

Instance Details: Configure instance details, such as the VM image, VM architecture and instance size, select the 'gallery image' you created earlier.

This will automatically select the VM architecture and VM size that was used in the VM we captured in our compute gallery.

Administrator Account: This is where you setup the username and password of your VMSS, but because we selected the Specialized operating system state when we captured the VM image it is grayed out because we no longer need authentication when we want to scale out.

Scaling: Configure scaling options based on your application needs. Select 'Custom scaling' so that you can define scaling rules for automatic scaling. Here we define;

initial instance count to 3.

minimum number of instances to 1
maximum number of instances to 10
the VMSS to scale out in 5 minutes once the CPU threshold gets to 75% by 2 instances.
the VMSS to scale in, in 5 minutes once the CPU threshold gets to 25% by 1 instances.

Management: Specify monitoring, diagnostics, and auto-shutdown settings as per your requirements or leave it on default.

Tags: Ensure that your resources are tagged, you can add tags based on your preference.

Review + Create: Review your settings, and when everything looks good, click 'Create' to deploy your VM Scale Set. This will take a while, once deployment is completed, click on 'Go to resource' to access the newly created VMSS.

Go to Resource

This is the newly deployed Virtual Machine Scale Set, and you can see the initial instance defined during configuration are already running.

Monitor and Manage Your VMSS

Once your VMSS is deployed, you can use Azure Monitor and Azure Autoscaling to ensure your application scales efficiently and is highly available. Azure Monitor helps you gain insights into your VMSS's performance, while Autoscaling allows you to automate scaling based on metrics and schedules.

Summary

In this comprehensive guide, we've explored the process of creating a Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS) from a custom image in Azure Compute Gallery. By leveraging these Azure services, you can optimize the scalability and availability of your applications, ensuring they can handle varying workloads with ease.

VMSS and Compute Gallery are indispensable tools in your cloud infrastructure toolbox, empowering you to deploy, manage, and scale virtual machines efficiently. As you embark on your cloud journey, remember that flexibility and scalability are your allies, and Azure is your trusted partner in achieving your goals.

Embrace the power of Azure VMSS and Compute Gallery to unlock the true potential of your cloud applications. Scale up, scale out, and scale confidently with Microsoft Azure.

How to create a Compute Gallery and Capture VM Images.

Kehinde Oloye — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 16:11:36 +0000

Azure Compute Gallery is a service in Microsoft Azure that allows you to create, manage, and share custom virtual machine (VM) images with ease. This write-up will guide you through the process of creating an Azure Compute Gallery step by step.

PREREQUISITE
1). Get a PC with online access.
2). Microsoft Azure account - If you don't have an Azure paid subscription, create a Free Account before you begin.

Search for "Azure Compute Galleries" in the Azure portal and click on Create.

Fill in the required details:
Subscription: Select your Azure subscription.
Resource group: Choose the resource group you created earlier or create a new one.
Gallery name: Choose a unique name for your gallery.
Region: Choose the Azure region where you want to deploy the gallery.
Click the 'Next + Sharing method' button.

Sharing method: On the sharing method page, leave it on default which is the Role based access control (RBAC). Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in Azure is a security mechanism that regulates access to resources. It employs roles with specific permissions, which are assigned to users, groups, or applications through role assignments. RBAC functions across various levels like management groups, subscriptions, resource groups, and resources themselves. It prioritizes least privilege and can be managed through the Azure Portal, PowerShell, CLI, or templates. Regular audits are important for maintaining security and compliance.

Click the 'Next: Tag' button.

You can create a Tag, or you can assign tags based on your preference. Click the Review + create button to review your settings. Make sure everything is configured correctly.

Finally, click the Create button to create the gallery once validation is passed.

Once your deployment is completed, you have successfully created an Azure Compute Gallery. Click on the 'Go to resource' button to access your newly deployed compute gallery.

Step 2: Capturing an Azure Virtual Machine Image to Compute Gallery

Prepare the Virtual Machine
Before capturing the VM image, ensure that your VM is in a suitable state:

Stop the VM: It's recommended to stop the VM to ensure a consistent state during the capture process. You can stop it from the Azure Portal.

Deallocate the VM: If you are capturing an image from a VM that is not in a deallocated state, you can deallocate it from the Azure Portal to avoid additional charges. Azure deallocates VM automatically during this process if you don't do it manually.

Step 3: Capture the VM Image
Go to the VM image you want to replicate and click on capture.

In the Azure Portal, navigate to the Virtual machines section.

Provide the required information:
Resource group:
Share image to Azure compute gallery: Select Yes, share it to a gallery as a VM image version.
Image target gallery: Select the Azure Compute Gallery where you want to store this image. I selected DemoACG which I created earlier in the resource group-kenACGRG.

Operating system state: choose one out of the two options Generalized and Specialized, In the context of Azure Virtual Machine (VM) image capture, "Generalized" and "Specialized" refer to two different states of the VM:

Generalized: When a VM is in a "Generalized" state, it has been prepared to be a reusable image. In this state, any specific configuration and unique information, such as the computer name, have been removed or generalized. This process typically involves running the "Sysprep" tool on a Windows VM or executing similar steps on a Linux VM. After this, the VM is often shut down. Generalized VMs are suitable for creating custom images that can be used to deploy multiple VM instances with the same base configuration.

Specialized: A VM in a "Specialized" state is one that hasn't undergone the generalization process. It's in a specific, unique configuration with potentially personalized settings and data. Specialized VMs are typically used for ongoing production purposes and are not intended to be used as a template for creating new VM instances.

When capturing an image of an Azure VM, it's essential to generalize the VM first if you want to create a reusable image. Specialized VMs, on the other hand, are kept as-is for ongoing operations. Understanding and appropriately managing the state of your VMs is crucial for efficient image management in Azure. Here we picked Specialized since we are having an ongoing operation and want to have the ease of not authenticating when we scale.

Target VM image definition: Click on 'Create New'.

VM Image definition name: Choose a unique name for your captured image. Leave other fields as default and click 'Ok'.

Image version: Provide a version number and an optional description for this image version. Versioning in VM image capture is the practice of maintaining multiple snapshots or versions of a virtual machine image in Azure. Instead of overwriting the original image, each change or update creates a new version. This allows for flexible deployment, enabling you to choose specific image versions when creating VM instances. It's essential for managing changes and ensuring the ability to revert to known, stable configurations when needed.

Replication: This refers to the process of duplicating the VM's virtual hard disk (VHD) to create a copy of the VM's entire state, including the operating system, installed software, and data. Here we are replicating just one image of our VM and our storage option is Zone Redundant. Configure the target region(s) where this image version will be available.

Click Tag to add Tag then click 'Review + create' to review your settings. Ensure that everything is configured correctly.

Verify your settings and click create.

Wait till the VM image is fully deployed

Now fully deployed, go to resource.

Windows virtual machine Image now successfully created in your compute gallery

Finally, I would like us to verify if the VM image created in our compute gallery will be made available when creating a virtual machine scale set VMSS.

Click on kenVMimg (DemoACG/kenVMimg)

Click Create VMSS

On the basic tab, scroll down to image under instance details, you will discover that the Imgage we created earlier is amongst other images.

Conclusion
You've successfully captured an image from an Azure virtual machine and stored it in an Azure Compute Gallery. This process allows you to maintain a library of custom VM images, making it easier to provision standardized virtual machines for your Azure deployments. Remember to update your gallery with new versions as your VM images evolve over time.

Mount a Data Disk to your VM

Kehinde Oloye — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 12:20:35 +0000

WHY MOUNT A DISK ON AZURE WINDOWS VIRTUAL MACHINE?

Mounting a disk on an Azure Windows virtual machine serves several purposes:

Increased Storage
Separation of Data
Performance Improvement
Data Redundancy
Backup and Restore
Scaling and Load Balancing
Application Specific Needs
Compliance and Governance

Overall, mounting a disk on an Azure Windows virtual machine provides flexibility to manage storage, scalability, performance and customization options for managing your data and applications effectively according to your specific needs, whether it's for personal projects, business applications, or other use cases.

A more detailed practical approach on how to mount a disk on an Azure Windows 11 Virtual machine is well explained below as we cover these key vital steps.

PREREQUISITE

1). Get a PC with online access.

2). Microsoft Azure account - If you don't have an Azure paid subscription, create a Free Account before you begin.

3). Spin up a virtual machine. you can follow my write up on how to create a virtual machine to do this, if you have no idea.

Now when you create a virtual machine on the Azure portal, it comes with the OS disk as shown below. It is necessary to add a data disk to the VM to have space to work with.

To check the disk attached to the VM, go to the disk tab in the VM and you will observe that only the OS disk is attached by default here is 127GiB.

To create a Data Disk, click on "Create and attach a new disk."
Input the specification you want for the disk and click on save.

The next step is to add the specified disk to the virtual machine and enable it for use.

Remote desktop (RDP) into the machine and check the disk-enabled in the virtual machine. You will observe that the 128GiB disk created in the Azure portal is not present in the virtual machine.

To RDP, click on connect from the overview page, then Native RDP into your VM.

Download RDP file.

Now go to your download folder, right click on the file and connect.

Connect.

Enter username and password that you used when creating your VM.

Click yes.

Click next follow through like you do to your new windows till you get to your VM desktop page.

You are in.

Now Check you VM disk space. You will discover that the 128GiB you mounted isn't there yet.

Now we take up the following steps to mount it:

In the search tab of your Virtual machine desktop page search "Create and format hard disk partition" then click.

Navigate to the new mounted disk, to initialize the disk before the logical disk manager can access it. “Disk 2”.

Select the new disk 2 as unallocated/unhealthy and needs to be treated/formatted before it can be usage/accessed.

Select Disk 2, Right click and select New simple volume.

Welcome to the new simple volume wizard. Select Next.

Specify the volume size and Next.

Assign Drive letter or path. Select F or any letter you desire and Next.

Format partition. Select NTFS for a file system type and Next.

Click finish.

Newly mounted DISK [Disk 2on drive F] have been formatted successfully and it's healthy for usage.

As confirmation checks. Navigate to the launched Azure Windows 11 Virtual Machine and check for the Disk.

The F drive for the data disk is now ready to be used on the virtual machine.

SUMMARY
We have been able to do the following.
1). RDP into the Virtual Machine.
2). Add a Data Disk.
3). Initialize the Disk and make it useable.

Thank you for reading my article till the end. I hope you learned something special today. If you enjoyed this article then please share to your friends and if you have suggestions or thoughts to share with me then please write in the comment box.

Steps to monitor Azure Virtual Machine on Mobile

Kehinde Oloye — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 04:38:32 +0000

It's exciting to share with you that Azure has a Mobile App Service that can bring you up to speed any time anywhere.

Azure Mobile App Service is used to rapidly build engaging cross-platform and native apps for iOS, Android, Windows, or Mac; store app data in the cloud or on-premises; authenticate customers; send push notifications; or add your custom back-end logic in C# or Node.

To get the Azure mobile app you can download from IoS or the Google Play Store. Alternatively, you can scan and download from the Azure resource interface.

The focus of this blog is to give a guideline on the usage of this Mobile

On the resource page on Azure, look out for "open in mobile" and click.

Scan the QR Code, download and install the app.

Log into the mobile app with your azure details. You will be able to see your VM and monitor it.

Go to Subscription to check if it is still active.

Click on subscription to view your Cost Management

Click on Cost management for more detail.

Under recent resource, click on an existing virtual machine you spined up earlier.

Scroll down to view more information like power state, provisioning state, resource health, Azure subscription, resource group, VM location, computer name, operating system, VM size, public IP address etc. You can also start and stop your VM.

Go to Metric and you can monitor the CPU usage, network and disk.

How to Create Azure Linux VM and SSH into it.

Kehinde Oloye — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 04:47:16 +0000

I'm glad to lead you through how you can create a Linux virtual machines (VMs) on Azure and also SSH into it using Windows PowerShell.

A virtual machine is a digital emulation of a physical computer. it comes complete with a desired operating system, stores data, run programs and can connect to networks. Basically, it can do what any physical computer can do.

Azure VM can be created through the Azure portal. The Azure portal is a browser-based user interface to create Azure resources.

This quickstart shows you how to use the Azure portal to deploy a Linux virtual machine (VM) running Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS. To see your VM in action, you have to SSH to the VM. Keeping this short and simple, follow through the following steps.

Goto Azure portal (https://portal.azure.com/#home) then enter virtual machines in the search from the home page.

Under Services, select Virtual machines.

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 pick an existing one if any.

Under Instance details, enter the name of your Virtual machine and choose your desired region.

Choose Availability option, Security type and Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS - Gen2 for your Image. Leave the other defaults (VM Architecture and Run with Azure Spot discount). The default size and pricing are only shown as an example. Size availability and pricing are dependent on your region and subscription.

Under the "Administrative account" part, there are two types of Authentication type or methods to access the VM which are SSH public key and Password. This learning part will focus on how to access a VM with SSH public key. The second part will focus on using "a password as a means of access into the VM.

Scroll down to Username and create a unique username for the VM that you could always remember. Ensure that the SSH Public key source is "Generate new key". Give a unique key pair name you could always remember. For this learning, the VM username is "azureuser" and the key pair name is "kenlinuxVM1_key"

At this stage of learning, we should have every other thing to default. Click on "Review and Create"

After clicking on "Review + Create", you will wait for a few seconds till you see the caption "Validation passed" on the page. this shows that the configuration all along is valid and you can go ahead and create.

Continue by clicking on the tag button. It is important to always tag accordingly for resource identification purpose, then click review and create

Upon clicking on "create", the deployment of the virtual machine will start. while the deployment is ongoing, a "generate new key pair" box would pop up. Click on "download private key and create resource"

After clicking the download from the first pop-up, the VM deployment is still ongoing. you will notice another pop-up by the top right. This pop-up is to notify you that the private key with which to access your VM is being downloaded in the download folder of your computer.

Upon clicking on the blue download box, you wait for some seconds until you receive a notification that your deployment is complete. Then click on "go to resource"

When you get to this page, it means your virtual machine is ready and you need to connect to it.

At this point, you have connected with your Linux Virtual Machine and it is already running. Now you need to "SSH" into the Virtual Machine and at this point.

Click on Select under the Native SSH box in order to SSH remotely from your local PC.

Note: ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pem azureuser@13.69.102.132

Now here is a twist. People don't know how to use that .pem file downloaded as generally private and public key are contained in id_rsa and id_rsa.pub files. Also when you will open that .pem file that contains --BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-- AND --END RSA PRIVATE KEY--

The most important thing is that you don't need to copy rsa key between --BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-- AND --END RSA PRIVATE KEY--. You just need to pass path of that .pem file in the last command listed above. Ignore other commands.

You can use powershell or Git Bash cli to SSH Linux VM but make sure to download git BASH cli then only SSH command will be supported in powershell. You you can use any other tool/cli if you want. I prefer powershell and git bash.

HERE WE GO. :)

In your window search bar, type Powershell then click.

Now open the window power shell on your window system and perform az login for you to get into the CLI environment on Azure.

This will pop up on your default browser:

Now click on your active account, then the access is granted on you CLI from PowerShell.

You will have:

Go back to PowerShell, you will discover this:

The next step is to go to the download folder on your system and check out the downloaded private key that ends in ".pem" Right click on the file and click copy as path.

Paste the copied private key path into the box in green, after pasting the copied key part in the private key path box, Check the red box and confirm that the command path has been adjusted accordingly. Copy the command path and run it on your Azure power shell.

Click on "enter" and answer yes to continue.

You have successfully SSH into the Linux Virtual Machine.

NOW: HOW TO SSH INTO LINUX VIRTUAL MACHINE BY PASSWORD.

We are now going to learn how to ssh into a Linux VM using a password.

To be able to do this, repeat the whole process of creating a Linux VM from Step 1 to Step 6.
Then select password and enter your credentials username and password that you can remember.

Leave other tab in default, click on the tag button to tag the resource accordingly.

4.Review and Create.

Go to Resource

Click Connect

At this point, The password you created when you created your username will be imputed into the private key path box.

Confirm that the command has been adjusted as a result of the changes implemented on the private key path.

Open Powershell and perform az login accordingly. Run the copied command line part on the CLI environment in your power shell, select the active account from your default browser then go back to check the status on your PowerShell.

Copy the command: ssh -i 100%admin123 azureuser2@4.234.103.241 and Type "yes" accordingly.

Enter Password

Welcome, you are in already.

Thanks for reading my article till the end. I hope you learned something special today. If you enjoyed this article, then please share to your friends and if you have suggestions or thoughts to share with me then please write in the comment box.

How to resize your VM OS on Azure

Kehinde Oloye — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 08:43:28 +0000

I will be showing you how you can increase or reduce your Virtual Machine (VM) OS size (RAM) on Azure in just few simple ways.

To reduce your VM OS size on Azure, you are to first create a VM, please review my article [https://dev.to/samuel_olo75614/steps-to-creating-azure-virtual-machines-18am] on how to create a VM.

Open the Azure portal, navigate to your VM in which you want to expand the disk by double clicking on it.

Open the page for the virtual machine, in the left menu under Settings, select size. Please don't forget to take note of the initial OS you mounted on your VM (Standard B2s (2 vcpus, 4 GiB memory), now we are upgrading to Standard D2as v4 (2 vcpus, 8 GiB memory).

Pick a new size from the list of available sizes and then select Resize, then click overview (2) to confirm the change made.

You now have your VM OS upgraded to Standard D2as v4 (2 vcpus, 8 GiB memory)

Please note that you can equally do a downgrade of your OS size by following same process.

Thanks for reading my article till the end. I hope you learned something special today. If you enjoyed this article then please share to your friends and if you have suggestions or thoughts to share with me then please write in the comment box.

How to resize your VM disk on Azure

Kehinde Oloye — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 15:05:22 +0000

Today, I shall like to show you how to resize your Virtual Machine (VM) disk sizes on Azure in just few simple ways. It's worthy of note to let you know that VM disk can only be increase, reducing the size of your VM is not applicable.

To resize your VM disk capacity on Azure, you are to first create a VM, please review my article (https://dev.to/samuel_olo75614/steps-to-creating-azure-virtual-machines-18am) on how to create a VM.

Navigate to your VM by double clicking your VM from your home page.

Note: VM disk cannot be resized while running, it has to be stopped or deallocate before carrying out this task.

In the left menu under Settings, select Disks.

Under Disk name, select the disk you want to expand, also take note of the initial disk size.

In the left menu under Settings, select Size + performance.

In Size + performance, select the disk size you want. I am upgrading from 127Gib to 512Gib.

Click on save then overview to check the current upgrade made.

Upgrade confirmed.

This equally applies to when you want to decrease your VM size.

Thanks for reading my article till end. I hope you learned something special today. If you enjoyed this article, then please share to your friends and if you have suggestions or thoughts to share with me then please write in the comment box.

Cost Management for Microsoft Azure

Kehinde Oloye — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 13:08:24 +0000

Cost management has been one of the most crucial aspects in cloud computing over the years, many times we try to ignore this end, but in the long run, we may need to pay stipe price if we do not give a close attention to this.

Today, I would like to briefly run you through how you can manage cost on azure.

Before I proceed, I shall like to share with you factors that affect cost management in Azure.

Factors that can affect costs in Azure are:

Resource type
Consumption
Maintenance
Geography
Subscription type
Azure Marketplace

Resource Type
When you provision an Azure resource, Azure creates metered instances for that resource. The meters track the resources' usage and generate a usage record that is used to calculate your bill. With a storage account, you specify a type such as blob, a performance tier, an access tier, redundancy settings, and a region. With a virtual machine (VM), you may have to consider licensing for the operating system or other software, the processor and number of cores for the VM, the attached storage, and the network interface.

Consumption
Pay-as-you-go has been a consistent theme throughout, and that’s the cloud payment model where you pay for the resources that you use during a billing cycle. If you use more compute this cycle, you pay more. If you use less in the current cycle, you pay less.

Maintenance
The flexibility of the cloud makes it possible to rapidly adjust resources based on demand. Using resource groups can help keep all of your resources organized. In order to control costs, it’s important to maintain your cloud environment.

Geography
When you provision most resources in Azure, you need to define a region where the resource deploys. Azure infrastructure is distributed globally, which enables you to deploy your services centrally or closest to your customers, or something in between. With this global deployment comes global pricing differences. The cost of power, labor, taxes, and fees vary depending on the location. Due to these variations, Azure resources can differ in costs to deploy depending on the region. For example, it’s less expensive to move information within Europe than to move information from Europe to Asia or South America.

Network Traffic
Billing zones are a factor in determining the cost of some Azure services.
Bandwidth refers to data moving in and out of Azure datacenters. Some inbound data transfers (data going into Azure datacenters) are free. For outbound data transfers (data leaving Azure datacenters), data transfer pricing is based on zones. A zone is a geographical grouping of Azure regions for billing purposes.

Subscription type
Some Azure subscription types also include usage allowances, which affect costs.
For example, an Azure free trial subscription provides access to a number of Azure products that are free for 12 months. It also includes credit to spend within your first 30 days of sign-up. You'll get access to more than 25 products that are always free (based on resource and region availability).

Azure Marketplace
Azure Marketplace lets you purchase Azure-based solutions and services from third-party vendors. This could be a server with software preinstalled and configured, or managed network firewall appliances, or connectors to third-party backup services. When you purchase products through Azure Marketplace, you may pay for not only the Azure services that you’re using, but also the services or expertise of the third-party vendor. Billing structures are set by the vendor.

Now, let me quickly show you how to use your pricing calculator so as for you to know your cost estimate for resources provisioned on your Azure account.

Pricing calculator
The pricing calculator is designed to give you an estimated cost for provisioning resources in Azure. You can get an estimate for individual resources provisioned including compute, storage, and associated network costs, build out a solution, or use an example scenario to see an estimate of the Azure spend. The pricing calculator’s focus is on the cost of provisioned resources in Azure.

Go to the Pricing calculator.
Notice the following tabs:

Products This is where you choose the Azure services that you want to include in your estimate. You'll likely spend most of your time here.
Example scenarios Here you'll find several reference architectures, or common cloud-based solutions that you can use as a starting point.
Saved estimates Here you'll find your previously saved estimates.
FAQs Here you'll discover answers to frequently asked questions about the Pricing calculator.

Estimate your solution
Here you add each Azure service that you need to the calculator. Then you configure each service to fit your needs.

Scroll to the bottom of the page. Each service is listed with its default configuration.

Configure services to match your requirements

Under Virtual Machines, set these values:

Leave the remaining settings at their current values.

Under Azure SQL Database, set these values:

Under Application Gateway, set these values:

Review, share, and save your estimate
At the bottom of the page, you see the total estimated cost of running the solution. You can change the currency type if you want.
At this point, you have a few options:

Select Export to save your estimate as an Excel document.
Select Save or Save as to save your estimate to the Saved Estimates tab for later.
Select Share to generate a URL so you can share the estimate with your team.

You now have a cost estimate that you can share with your team. You can make adjustments as you discover any changes to your requirements.
Experiment with some of the options you worked with here or create a purchase plan for a workload you want to run on Azure.

Compared with this

Steps to create Azure windows VM and RDP into it.

Kehinde Oloye — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 06:12:38 +0000

What is a virtual machine?

A virtual machine (VMs) can be described as a solution that provides a virtual instance of a physical computer that runs on an isolated partition of a host computer, i.e., each virtual machine functions separately from other virtual machines despite running on the same host. These virtual machine servers allow multiple users to access the application resources at once, without affecting each other.

Benefits of Azure Virtual Machines

Cost savings
Easy provisioning
Increased productivity
Efficient DevOps
Environment-friendly IT operations
Full isolation means more security.
Portability means that VMs can run old applications better.
Better resource allocation means better ability to run resource-intensive applications.

How to create Azure virtual machines

To create a virtual machine in Azure, you need to:

Sign into the Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com.
Search for virtual machines in the search bar and select Virtual machine under Services.

Select Create and then Azure virtual machine.

Fill in the required information for the virtual machine, such as name, region, image, size, authentication, disks, networking, management, and tags.
Create a new Resource Group for the Virtual Machine.

A Resource group in Azure is a logical container that holds related Azure resources, such as virtual machines, storage accounts, and networking components. It helps in organizing, managing, and monitoring resources collectively within a project or application.

Assign a preferred name to the Resource Group and click ok.

Assign a preferred name to the Virtual machine.

Select a preferred Region for the Virtual Machine.

An Azure region is a geographic area containing multiple data centers across one or more availability zones that host Microsoft Azure cloud services, enabling efficient and reliable global access to computing resources and data storage.

Microsoft Azure has over 60 regions worldwide.

Under availability option, you may deploy the Virtual machine in an Availability Zone or leave it on default (No infrastructure redundancy required).

An Azure availability zone is a physically separate data center within an Azure region, providing fault tolerance by ensuring applications remain available and resilient to failures within a region.

Under images, click the images draw-down box then select the Windows 11 Pro, version 22H2 x64 Gen2

Create the Administrator Account; with the username and password.

Configure the inbound Port rules. Click on Allow select port under Public inbound ports.

In Azure, checking "Allow inbound port" under public inbound ports means that incoming network traffic to the specified port on a virtual machine (VM) or resource will be permitted. This setting allows external connections to reach the resource through the specified port, potentially exposing it to the internet. It's crucial to configure this carefully to ensure security by only allowing necessary and safe connections.

Inbound port must be specified. Select the drop-down on the inbound ports box. Check the RDP(3389) and HTTP(80)

Implications of checking RDP and HTTP while spinning up a Virtual Machine.

Checking the ** RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) port (3389)** and the ** HTTP port (80)** on the inbound settings of an Azure virtual machine has the following implications:

RDP (Port 3389): Enabling RDP allows remote access to the virtual machine. This is useful for administrators to manage and configure the virtual machine. However, it also presents a security risk if not properly secured. Unauthorized users could attempt to gain access to the virtual machine if security measures are not in place, potentially leading to data breaches or malicious activities.

HTTP (Port 80): Enabling port 80 allows incoming web traffic, commonly used for serving websites or web applications. It's crucial to ensure the hosted application is properly secured against common web vulnerabilities like cross-site scripting (XSS) or SQL injection, as well as data breaches or unauthorized access.

When enabling these ports, implement the following security practices:

Strong Credentials: Use strong or complex passwords.
Network Security Groups (NSGs): Configure NSGs to restrict access to only necessary IP addresses or ranges.
Firewalls: Set up firewalls on the virtual machine itself to allow only authorized IPs.
Regular Updates: Keep the virtual machine's operating system and applications updated with security patches.
HTTPS (for HTTP): If hosting a website, consider using HTTPS (port 443) to encrypt traffic and ensure data privacy.
Monitor Logs: Regularly monitor logs for any unusual activity.

It is very important to always prioritize security when exposing services to the internet, and consider using Azure services like Azure Bastion or VPNs for secure remote access.

Check the Licensing box.

Scroll up to the top, then click on "Monitoring" and disable boot diagnostics.

Incorporating monitoring during virtual machine creation establishes a proactive approach to maintenance, security, and performance, contributing to a more reliable and optimized IT environment.

Disabling boot diagnostics, a feature that captures screenshots and logs during a virtual machine's boot process, might be necessary in specific situations:

Security: Boot diagnostics can potentially capture sensitive information during the boot process, posing security risks if not managed properly.

Privacy: Sensitive data could be inadvertently captured in screenshots or logs, violating privacy regulations and policies.

Resource Usage: Enabling boot diagnostics consumes storage space and processing resources, impacting performance and incurring unnecessary costs.

Debugging: In some scenarios, boot diagnostics might not be needed for troubleshooting or debugging, making it redundant.

Customization: Boot diagnostics may interfere with custom boot processes or scripts that need to run without external interference.

Temporary Scenarios: For temporary instances or testing environments, boot diagnostics might not provide significant value.

To organize your environment, add Tag.

Click on Review and Create

After Validation passed, click on Create to deploy the Virtual machine.

Wait till deployment is completed, after deployment, click on Go to resource.

Click on the "Connect" function.

In the context of Azure or virtual machines, the "Connect" function usually refers to connecting to a virtual machine (VM) for remote management and administration.

This can be achieved using technologies like Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) for Windows VMs or SSH (Secure Shell) for Linux VMs.

The purpose of the "Connect" function is to provide users with a way to access and manage their virtual machines remotely.

This is particularly useful when you need to perform tasks on a VM without being physically present at the machine.

By utilizing the "Connect" feature, you can effectively manage and maintain your virtual machines in a convenient and secure manner.

Download Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to connect the virtual machine (VM) for remote management and administration.

Check your download folder on your computer's local PC

Click the RDP file, click connect and input the Administrator's Account details then ok

Click yes

Finally Launch your Virtual machine.