DEV Community: Toluwani Oluwaloseyi

Understanding Key Concepts in Cloud Technology

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Sat, 11 May 2024 07:38:46 +0000

In today's digital age, cloud computing has become the backbone of modern IT infrastructure, revolutionizing the way businesses operate and deliver services. At the heart of this transformation lie several key concepts that form the foundation of cloud technology. Let's delve into each of these concepts and unravel their significance in the realm of virtualization, scalability, agility, high availability, fault tolerance, global reach, and the distinction between elasticity and scalability.

1. What is Virtualization?
Virtualization is the process of creating a virtual representation of physical resources such as servers, storage devices, or networks. This enables multiple virtual instances to run on a single physical infrastructure, maximizing resource utilization and flexibility.

2. Scalability
Scalability refers to the ability of a system to handle increasing workloads by adding resources or scaling horizontally across multiple servers. It ensures that the system can accommodate growth without compromising performance or availability.

3. Agility
Agility in cloud computing refers to the ability to rapidly adapt and respond to changing business needs and market demands. It involves leveraging cloud resources and technologies to quickly deploy, scale, and manage applications, enabling organizations to innovate and stay competitive.

4. High Availability
High availability is the measure of a system's ability to remain operational and accessible even in the face of hardware failures, software errors, or other disruptions. It involves implementing redundant components and failover mechanisms to minimize downtime and ensure continuous service availability.

5. Fault Tolerance
Fault tolerance is closely related to high availability but focuses on the system's ability to continue operating seamlessly despite individual component failures. It relies on redundancy, error detection, and automated recovery mechanisms to prevent service disruptions and maintain uninterrupted operation.

6. Global Reach
Global reach refers to the geographical distribution of cloud resources and services across multiple regions or data centers worldwide. It enables organizations to deliver applications and content closer to end-users, reducing latency and improving performance for a global audience.

7. Elasticity vs. Scalability
While elasticity and scalability are often used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings in the context of cloud computing. Scalability refers to the ability to handle varying workloads by adding or removing resources as needed, whereas elasticity emphasizes the dynamic nature of resource provisioning, automatically scaling resources up or down based on demand in real-time.

In conclusion, mastering these key concepts is essential for harnessing the full potential of cloud technology and driving innovation in the digital era. By understanding the principles of virtualization, scalability, agility, high availability, fault tolerance, global reach, and the nuances between elasticity and scalability, organizations can build resilient, flexible, and efficient cloud-based solutions to meet the demands of today's dynamic business landscape.

Thank you for reading. See you in my next post...

How to Create a SQL Database in Azure, Test the Database, configure the server and run a SQL query.

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Wed, 24 May 2023 13:09:02 +0000

Azure SQL Database is a fully managed platform as a service (PaaS) database engine that handles most of the database management functions such as upgrading, patching, backups, and monitoring without user involvement.

Step 1:
Sign in to the Azure portal. (portal.azure.com)

Step 2:
Search for SQL Database, click on create.

Step 3:

Subscription: Choose the subscription where you wish to create the resource.
Resource group: Choose the resource group where you wish to create the resource. If you wish to create a new group click on create a new option.
Database Name: Enter a preferred unique name.(i chose tolu SQLdatabase)
Server: Create a new unique name (I chose toluserver)
Location: EastUS
Authentication method: Use SQL authentication
Server admin login: azureuser
Password: Password12345
Backup storage redundancy: Geo redundant backup storage
Region: Select the location where you wish to create the account.

Step 4:
Click on "Next : Networking"
Connectivity method: public endpoint

Step 5:
Click on "Next : Security", and for Enable Azure Defender for SQL, choose Not now. Leave the remaining settings as default

Step 6:
Click on "Next : Additional settings"
Use existing data: Sample

Click on "Review + create"

Step 8:
Click on "create" to deploy the server and database. It can take approximately two to five minutes to create the server and deploy the sample database. The deployment pane shows the status, with updates for each resource that is created.

Step 9:
Click on "Go to resource". The toluSQLdatabase Overview pane shows the essentials of the newly deployed database

Step 10:
Click on "Set server firewall". The Firewall settings page appears.

Step 11:
Check the box next to Allow Azure services and resources to access this server at the bottom of the page, leaving other settings as default and then "Save" to update firewall settings, then close the Firewall settings pane.

Step 12:

How to Test the database

Here, we'll configure the server and run a SQL query.

In Azure resources menu, select All resources. Search for and select the SQL database resource Type, and ensure that your new database was created. You might need to refresh the page.

Step 13:
Click on "toludatabase", i.e the SQL database you created. In the SQL database menu, select Query editor (preview). The Query editor (preview) pane appears.

Step 14:
Sign in as azureuser, with the password Password12345.

You will not be able to sign in because your IP address needs to be enabled in a firewall rule.

Step 15:
Click on "Overview" (your edits will be lost), and in the command bar, select Set server firewall. The Firewall settings page appears.

Step 16:
In the Client IP address section, your IP will be shown (verify that it is the same client IP address from the error you received in the previous step).

In the command bar select Add your client IPv4 address. This will add a Rule name that contains your IP address in both the Start IP and End IP fields and the Click on "Save"

Step 17:
Click on toludatabase (database you created) in the breadcrumb at the top of the page to return to your SQL database, and then select Query editor (preview) from the menu.

Step 18:
Sign in again as azureuser, with the password Password12345. This time you should succeed. It might take a couple of minutes for the new firewall rule to be deployed. If you still get an error, verify the client IP address in the error, and return to Firewall settings to add the correct client IP address.

Step 19:
After you sign in successfully, the query pane appears. Enter the following SQL query into the editor pane.

SELECT TOP 20 pc.Name as CategoryName, p.name as ProductName
FROM SalesLT.ProductCategory pc
JOIN SalesLT.Product p
ON pc.productcategoryid = p.productcategoryid;

Step 20:
Select Run, and then review the query results in the Results pane. The query should run successfully.

Congratulations! You've created a SQL database in Azure and successfully queried the data in that database.

Thank you for reading...

How to create an Azure Virtual Network

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Wed, 24 May 2023 11:40:19 +0000

Azure Virtual Network (VNet) is a representation of your own network in the cloud. It is a logical isolation of the Azure cloud dedicated to your subscription.

Steps to Create a virtual network:

When you create an Azure virtual network, you configure several basic settings. You can also configure advanced settings, such as multiple subnets, distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection, Bastion host, Azure firewall, service endpoints, and use of a NAT gateway.

Configure the following settings for a basic virtual network:

Subscription: This option only applies if you have multiple subscriptions to choose from.
Resource group: Like any other Azure resource, a virtual network needs to exist in a resource group. You can either select an existing resource group or create a new one.
Network name: The network name must be unique in your subscription, but it doesn't need to be globally unique. Make the name a descriptive one that's easy to remember and identified from other virtual networks.
Region: Select the region where you want the virtual network to exist.

Address space: When you set up a virtual network, you define the internal address space in Classless Interdomain Routing (CIDR) format. This address space needs to be unique within your subscription and any other networks that you connect to. Let's assume you choose an address space of 10.0.0.0/24 for your first virtual network. The addresses defined in this address space range from 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.254. You then create a second virtual network and choose an address space of 10.0.0.0/8. The addresses in this address space range from 10.0.0.1 to 10.255.255.254. Some of the addresses overlap and can't be used for the two virtual networks. But you can use 10.0.0.0/16, with addresses that range from 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.255.254, and 10.1.0.0/16, with addresses that range from 10.1.0.1 to 10.1.255.254. You can assign these address spaces to your virtual networks because there's no address overlap.

Subnet: Within each virtual network address range, you can create one or more subnets that partition the virtual network's address space. Routing between subnets then depends on the default traffic routes. You also can define custom routes. Alternatively, you can define one subnet that encompasses all the virtual networks' address ranges.

Service endpoints: Here, you enable service endpoints. Then you select from the list which Azure service endpoints you want to enable. Options include Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Service Bus, Azure Key Vault, and so on.

NAT gateway: A NAT gateway is a fully managed and highly resilient Network Address Translation (NAT) service. You can configure a subnet to use a static outbound IP address when accessing the internet.

BastionHost: You can select to enable or disable Azure Bastion in your virtual network. Azure Bastion service provides secure and seamless RDP/SSH connectivity to your virtual machines directly in the Azure portal over TLS.
DDoS Protection Standard: You can select to enable or disable Standard DDoS protection. The Standard DDoS protection is a premium service.
Firewall: You can enable or disable Azure Firewall. Azure Firewall service is managed cloud-based network security service that protects your Azure Virtual Network resources.

After you've configured these settings, select Review + Create and then select Create when validation is passed.

Define additional settings

After you create a virtual network, you can then define further settings. These settings include:

Network security group: Network security groups have security rules that enable you to filter the type of network traffic that can flow in and out of virtual network subnets and network interfaces. You create the network security group separately. Then you associate it with each subnet in the virtual network.
Route table: Azure automatically creates a route table for each subnet within an Azure virtual network and adds system default routes to the table. You can add custom route tables to modify traffic between subnets and virtual networks.
Subnet Delegation: You can designate the subnet to be used by a dedicate service.

You can also amend the service endpoints and NAT gateway configuration.

Configure virtual networks

After you've created a virtual network, you can change any further settings on the Virtual network pane in the Azure portal. Alternatively, you can use PowerShell commands or commands in Cloud Shell to make changes.

You can then review and change settings in further subpanes. These settings include:

Address spaces: You can add more address spaces to the initial definition.
Connected devices: View a list of all connected host in the virtual network.
Subnets: You can add more subnets.
DDos protection: You can enable or disable the Standard DDos protection plan.
Firewall: Configure firewall settings with Azure Firewall service for the virtual network.
Security: Provides security recommendation you can apply to your virtual network.
Network Manager: View connectivity and security admin configuration the virtual network is associated to.
DNS servers: Configure the internal or external DNS servers that the resources in the virtual network use.
Peerings: Link virtual networks in peering arrangements.
Service endpoints: Enable service endpoints and apply them to multiple subnets.
Private endpoints: View a list of private endpoints enabled in a subnet.

You can also monitor and view metrics to troubleshoot your virtual networks.

Virtual networks are powerful and highly configurable mechanisms for connecting entities in Azure. You can connect Azure resources to one another or to resources you have on-premises. You can isolate, filter, and route your network traffic. Azure allows you to increase security where you feel you need it.

Thank you for reading...

Ensuring High Availability for Your Application Hosted in Azure: Key Strategies

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Tue, 16 May 2023 20:56:12 +0000

Introduction:
In today's digital landscape, high availability is crucial for businesses to deliver uninterrupted services and maintain customer satisfaction. Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform, offers a range of robust tools and features to ensure the availability and resilience of applications. In this article, we will explore various strategies to achieve high availability for applications hosted in Azure.

Use Azure Availability Zones:
Azure Availability Zones provide physically separate data centers within a region, ensuring redundancy and fault tolerance. Distributing application components across multiple zones helps mitigate single-point failures and enables seamless failover in the event of an outage.

Implement Load Balancing:
Azure Load Balancer and Application Gateway enable you to distribute incoming traffic across multiple instances of your application, improving performance and availability. Load balancing ensures that requests are evenly distributed and allows for scaling up or down based on demand.

Leverage Azure Traffic Manager:
Azure Traffic Manager offers intelligent DNS-based routing, enabling you to distribute user traffic across different Azure regions or globally. By directing users to the nearest and healthiest endpoint, Traffic Manager enhances both availability and performance.

Implement Auto Scaling:
Azure Auto Scaling allows your application to dynamically adjust its resource allocation based on demand. By automatically scaling up or down the number of instances based on predefined rules or metrics, you can ensure optimal performance during peak times while minimizing costs during periods of lower demand.

Deploy Azure App Service Environments:
Azure App Service Environments provide a dedicated and isolated platform for hosting your application. By deploying your application in an App Service Environment, you gain greater control over scalability, security, and availability, especially for mission-critical applications.

Utilize Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets:
Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) allow you to deploy and manage a set of identical VMs as a single unit. VMSS automatically scales the number of VM instances based on demand, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance. Combined with Azure Load Balancer, VMSS provides a scalable and resilient infrastructure for your application.

Implement Azure SQL Database Failover Groups:
For database-centric applications, Azure SQL Database Failover Groups enable seamless replication and automatic failover between primary and secondary databases across different Azure regions. This ensures continuity of service in case of a regional outage or database failure.

Implement Disaster Recovery Strategies:
Azure Site Recovery offers disaster recovery solutions by replicating your applications and data to a secondary Azure region. In the event of a primary region failure, you can failover to the secondary region, minimizing downtime and data loss.

Monitor and Respond to Health and Performance:
Azure Monitor provides comprehensive monitoring capabilities, allowing you to track the health and performance of your application. By setting up alerts and leveraging Application Insights, you can proactively identify issues and take corrective actions to maintain high availability.

Test and Validate Your High Availability Setup:
Regularly perform tests and drills to validate the effectiveness of your high availability setup. Simulating failure scenarios and measuring the response time for failover and recovery will help identify any potential gaps and allow you to fine-tune your configuration.

Conclusion:
High availability is a critical requirement for modern applications, and Azure offers a range of tools and features to ensure uninterrupted service delivery. By leveraging Azure Availability Zones, load balancing, auto scaling, and other strategies mentioned above, you can create a highly available infrastructure for your applications hosted in Azure. Embracing these best practices will not only enhance the reliability of your services but also contribute to a seamless user experience and improved customer satisfaction.

Thanks for reading...

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

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Thu, 11 May 2023 11:27:28 +0000

An Azure Compute Gallery (formerly known as Shared Image Gallery) simplifies sharing resources, like images and application packages, across your organization. The Azure Compute Gallery lets you share custom VM images and application packages with others in your organization, within or across regions, within a tenant.(microsoft.com)

An Azure VM image is a pre-configured virtual machine (VM) that is used as a template to create new VM instances. An Azure VM image contains the operating system, applications, and other configurations that are necessary to run the VM.

The Azure VM image is created by capturing the virtual hard disk (VHD) of a configured VM, and it can be used to create multiple VM instances with the same configuration. This is particularly useful for deploying and scaling applications, as it allows you to quickly and easily provision new VM instances with the same settings and configurations as the original VM image.

Step 1:
This is a very interesting walkthrough because you have to create a Windows VM with RDP and Data Disk first before you can capture the image to be used in the compute gallery. If you don't know how to create one, kindly visit my article (https://dev.to/toluwani_oluwaloseyi/how-to-deploy-a-windows-vm-rdp-into-it-and-add-a-data-disc-to-the-windows-vm-on-a-macbook-4163) to learn how to.

Step 2:
Go to the VM that you already created and make sure its running.

Step 3:
Open azure portal on a new tab, search for azure compute galleries and click on "create"

Step 4:

Subscription: Choose the subscription where you wish to create the resource.
Resource group: Choose the resource group where you wish to create the resource. If you wish to create a new group click on create a new option.
Name: Enter a preferred unique name.
Region: Select the location where you wish to create the account.

Click on "review+create"

Step 5:
After validation is passed, Click on "create"

Step 6:
Go back to the VM you created, click on "overview",then click on "capture"

Step 7:

Subscription: Choose the subscription where you wish to create the resource.
Resource group: Choose the resource group where you wish to create the resource. If you wish to create a new group click on create a new option.
Region: Select the location where you wish to create the account.
Target azure compute gallery: choose the gallery you just created from the dropdowns (I chose tolugallery)
Target VM Image: Create new random name
Version number: 0.0.1
Default replica count: 2 (this means you have your image backups in different places/regions)
Target regions: Add 2 more regions

Click on review+create"

Step 8:
Once validation is passed, click on "create"

Step 9:
After deployment is completed, go back to the compute gallery to see if the image has been captured and is in the gallery.
(Please note that the deployment of the CaptureVM will be a little delayed because it has to stop and make the virtual machine generalized so that it does not conform to one particular standard and then make it flexible so admin and user password can be added)

Thank you for reading...

How to create a virtual machine scales set with load balancer

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Wed, 10 May 2023 16:32:35 +0000

Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets let you create and manage a group of load balanced VMs. The number of VM instances can automatically increase or decrease in response to demand or a defined schedule.

Azure Load Balancer is a high-performance, ultra low-latency Layer 4 load-balancing service (inbound and outbound) for all UDP and TCP protocols. It is built to handle millions of requests per second while ensuring your solution is highly available.

Step 1:
Visit portal.azure.com, login or sign up if you don't have an account, you can get a free account at azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/

Step 2:
Search for virtual machine scale sets aand click on "create"

Step 3:

Subscription: Choose the subscription where you wish to create the resource.
Resource group: Choose the resource group where you wish to create the resource. If you wish to create a new group click on create a new option.
Virtual machine scale set name: Enter a preferred unique name.
Region: Select the location where you wish to create the account.
Image: Choose windows because we're creating a scale set windows VM.
Username: azureuser
Password: Password12345

Click on "review+create"

Step 4:
Go to "networking" to configure load balancer. Leave the virtual network as default that azure has chosen for us.
We're using a load balancer because if you're creating a scale set, that means you're having an additional VM to support what you already have to be able to distribute traffic to the VM.

Step 5:
Go to "health" and Enable application health monitoring, then click on "review and create"

Step 6:
Click on "create", then "go to resource"

Step 7:
Click on "instances" to know if your scale sets running

Step 8:
Click on scaling to either choose manual scaling(to mainatain a fixed instance count) or custom autoscale(if you want everything to be done automatically using certain number of conditions to choose a time range)

Thank you for reading...

How to create a Function App with a Webhook, add HTTP triggered function(a hello message with your name) and test it.

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Wed, 10 May 2023 09:47:14 +0000

A function app lets you group functions as a logical unit for easier management, deployment, scaling, and sharing of resources.

A webhook allows an external service to start a particular runbook in Azure Automation through a single HTTP request. The webhook sends the information about the event to the specified URL, which can then trigger a specific action in the receiving application. For example, a webhook might be used to send a notification to a chat application when a user subscribes to a particular channel.

The HTTP trigger lets you invoke a function with an HTTP request. You can use an HTTP trigger to build serverless APIs and respond to webhooks.

Step 1:

Visit portal.azure.com, login or sign up if you don't have an account, you can get a free account at azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/

Step 2:
Search for function app and click on create

Step 3:

Subscription: Choose the subscription where you wish to create the resource.
Resource group: Choose the resource group where you wish to create the resource. If you wish to create a new group click on create a new option.
Function App name: Enter a preferred unique name.
Do you want to deploy code or container image?: Code
Runtime stack: .NET
Region: Select the location where you wish to create the account. Leave the rest on default and click on "Review+Create"

Step 4:
Create

Step 5:
Your function app has been successfully deployed! Click on "Go to Resource"

Step 6:
To create an HTTP trigger function, click on "Functions" and then click on "create"

Step 7:
Select "HTTP trigger", give it a new funcion name and click on "create"

Step 8:
Your HTTP trigger function hs been successfully created!

Step 9:
When something is triggered, that's when the code runs so to test the trigger function that was created, click on "get function Url" and copy to clipboard.

Step 10:
Paste the copied Url in a new tab, before pressing enter, add &name=Tolu and press enter.

Thank you for reading...

HOW TO CREATE AN AZURE IoT HUB AND CONFIGURE THE HUB TO AUTHENTICATE A CONNECTION TO AN IoT DEVICE USING RASPBERRY PI SIMULATOR

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Tue, 09 May 2023 19:15:11 +0000

The Azure Internet of Things (IoT) is a collection of Microsoft-managed cloud services, edge components, and SDKs that let you connect, monitor, and control your IoT assets at scale. An IoT solution is made up of IoT devices that communicate with cloud services.

Azure IoT Hub is a managed service hosted in the cloud that acts as a central message hub for communication between an IoT application and its attached devices. You can connect millions of devices and their backend solutions reliably and securely. Almost any device can be connected to an IoT hub.

Raspberry Pi Simulator can serve as the 'Internet Gateway' for IoT devices. When powered by a Cloud network, it acts as a web server for uploading and transiting sensor data on IoT platforms.

Step 1:

Visit portal.azure.com, login or sign up if you don't have an account, you can get a free account at azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/

Step 2:

Search for IoT Hub and click on create

Step 3:

1.Subscription: Choose the subscription where you wish to create the resource.
2.Resource group: Choose the resource group where you wish to create the resource. If you wish to create a new group click on create a new option.
3.IoT Hub name: Enter a preferred unique name.
4.Region: Select the location where you wish to create the account.
Click on "Review and Create"

Step 4:

Click on "create"

Step 5:

Your IoT Hub has been created, so click on "Go to Resource"

Step 6:

To connect an IoT Device, Click on "Devices", then "add device"

Step 7:

Choose a device ID name(I used my name). Every other thing should be left on default, then click on save.
Your IoT Device has been created.

Step 8:

To Connect your IoT device to a Raspberry Pi Simulator, open a new tab and search for Raspberry Pi Azure IoT Online Simulator. After opening it, you'll notice that there's no blinking on the red stuff and that's because it is switched off but after we work with, it'll be switched on and begin to blink.

Step 9:

Go back to Azure Portal, Click on the IoT Device that was added.
1.Go to 'primary connection string'.
2.Click on it to show then copy to clipbord

Step 10:

Go back to the Raspberry Pi Simulator, look at line number 15 - remove the place holder Your IoT hub device connection string without touching the apostrophes

Step 11:

Paste in between the apostrophes, what was copied from the 'primary connection string in step 9.

Step 12:

Click on run, you'll also notice that the red button is now switched on and blinking and the Raspberry Pi is now sending messages to the IoT device and Hub.

Please note: To be sure that the device has been connected, go back to the azure portal and click on the IoT hub you created, then click on "overview", you'll be able to monitor the IoT hub usage and the number of messages coming in.

Thanks for reading...

HOW TO DEPLOY A WINDOWS VM, RDP INTO IT AND ADD A DATA DISK TO THE WINDOWS VM ON A MACBOOK

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Fri, 05 May 2023 20:13:06 +0000

Azure Virtual Machines are image service instances that provide on-demand and scalable computing resources with usage-based pricing.

More broadly, a virtual machine behaves like a server: It's a computer within a computer that provides the user the same experience they would have on the host operating system itself. In general, virtual machines are sandboxed from the rest of the system, meaning that the software inside a virtual machine can’t escape or tamper with the underlying server itself.

Each virtual machine provides its own virtual hardware including CPUs, memory, hard drives, network interfaces, and other devices. (Source: microsoft.com)

RDP(Remote Desktop) enables you to access the desktop of a role running in Azure. You can use a Remote Desktop connection to troubleshoot and diagnose problems with your application while it is running.

A data disk is a managed disk that's attached to a virtual machine to store application data, or other data you need to keep.

Step 1:

Visit portal.azure.com, login or sign up if you don't have an account, you can get a free account at azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/

Step 2:

Click on Virtual Machines to create or search from the search bar.

Step 3:

Subscription: Choose the subscription where you wish to create the resource.
Resource group: Choose the resource group where you wish to create the resource. If you wish to create a new group click on create a new option.
Virtual Machine name: Enter a preferred unique name.
Region: Select the location where you wish to create the account.
Image: Choose windows because we're creating a windows VM.
Username: azureuser
Password: Password12345
Select inbound ports: HTTP(80), RDP(3389) Click on Review and Create

Step 4:
After validation is passed, click on Create

Step 5:
Your virtual machine has been created so Click on Go to Resource

Step 6:

Click on the IP address to increase the time out to 30 minutes.
Click on Connect.

Step 7:

Choose RDP
Click on download RDP file
I chose to save on my desktop for easy access

Step 8:
Click on the downloaded file and open it. Type in the username and password used in Step 3 and click on continue.

Step 9:
Your windows virtual machine has been created!

Step 10:
On the virtual machine search bar, search for Powershell and click on it to install a webserver on it.

Step 11:
Once your Windows Powershell comes up, type in the command - Install-WindowsFeature Web-Server and click enter.(please note that the command is case sensitive).
As simple as ABC, Your webserver hs been successfully installed!

Step 12:
Go back to where you stopped on your azure portal and click on overview to copy the public IP address of your VM that was created.

Step 13:
Paste the public IP address of the VM in a new tab to test if your web server is up and running.

Step 14:
To add a disk, click on "disks"

Click on "create and attach a new disk"
Choose a data disk name
Change to 10gb Click on save

Step 15:
Go back to the VM you created, Search and Click on create and format hard disk partitions

Step 16:
Once it comes up, to initialize the disk, click on ok and then scroll down to disk 2 since that was what we selected. Right click on it, then click on "new simple volume"

Step 17:
Keep going with the defaults till you get to "format partiton". Change the volume label to the name of your data disk - i chose "toludatadisk" earlier. Click on next and then finish.

Congratulations!!! All the requirements of your Virtual Machine has been fulfilled and its ready to be used...

Thank you for reading...

"Unleashing Innovation: The Intersection of Product Development and Cloud Computing"

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 11:21:22 +0000

As the business landscape evolves at an unprecedented pace, organizations are constantly seeking ways to drive innovation and stay ahead of the competition. Product development, the process of bringing new products or services to market, has become a critical aspect of staying relevant in today's fast-paced digital world. At the same time, cloud computing has emerged as a transformative technology that offers unprecedented opportunities for organizations to accelerate their product development efforts and unleash innovation like never before.

Cloud computing, the delivery of computing services over the internet, has gained widespread adoption due to its scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. It provides access to a vast array of computing resources, including computing power, storage, and data analytics, that can be leveraged to streamline product development processes and enable organizations to bring innovative products to market faster.

One of the key advantages of cloud computing in product development is the ability to scale resources up or down on-demand. This allows organizations to dynamically allocate computing resources based on their product development needs, whether it's during the prototyping phase, testing phase, or production phase. This agility enables organizations to accelerate their product development timelines and respond quickly to changing market demands, giving them a competitive edge.

Moreover, cloud computing facilitates collaboration and enables global product development teams to work seamlessly across geographies. Cloud-based tools and platforms provide real-time access to product development data, allowing teams to collaborate on design, development, and testing activities in a highly efficient manner. This promotes cross-functional collaboration, breaks down silos, and fosters a culture of innovation where diverse perspectives can be harnessed to drive product excellence.

Cloud computing also offers robust data management and analytics capabilities, which are critical for informed decision-making in product development. Cloud-based data lakes and analytics tools enable organizations to capture, store, and analyze vast amounts of product-related data, including customer feedback, market trends, and performance metrics. This data-driven approach empowers product development teams to make data-informed decisions, identify product gaps, and uncover new opportunities for innovation.

Another significant benefit of cloud computing in product development is cost-effectiveness. Traditional product development processes often require substantial upfront investments in hardware, software, and infrastructure. Cloud computing, on the other hand, offers a pay-as-you-go model, where organizations only pay for the resources they use. This eliminates the need for costly upfront investments and provides organizations with the flexibility to optimize costs based on their product development needs, making innovation accessible to organizations of all sizes.

However, it's important to note that leveraging cloud computing in product development also comes with challenges that need to be addressed. These challenges include data security and privacy concerns, vendor lock-in risks, and regulatory compliance requirements. Organizations need to carefully evaluate cloud providers, implement robust security measures, and ensure compliance with relevant regulations to mitigate these risks effectively.

In conclusion, the intersection of product development and cloud computing presents a compelling opportunity for organizations to accelerate their innovation efforts and bring innovative products to market faster. Cloud computing provides scalable resources, fosters collaboration, enables data-driven decision-making, and offers cost-effective solutions for product development. By harnessing the power of cloud computing, organizations can unlock new levels of innovation and gain a competitive advantage in today's dynamic business landscape. Embracing cloud computing in product development can be a game-changer for organizations that aspire to stay at the forefront of innovation in their industry.

How to Upload a Letter in ChatGPT to Azure Storage Account and Share the URL

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 13:23:18 +0000

Azure Storage Account is a storage account that is a resource that acts as a container that groups all the data services from Azure storage (Azure blobs, Azure files, Azure Queues, and Azure Tables). This helps us manage all of them as a group. The policies we specify while creating the storage account or making changes after the creation applies to all the services inside the account. Deleting a storage account deletes all the storage services deployed and the data stored inside it.
The storage account provides a unique namespace for your Azure Storage data that's accessible from anywhere in the world over HTTP or HTTPS. Data in your storage account is durable and highly available, secure, and massively scalable.

ChatGPT(Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer)is the latest breakthrough in AI research.It is tweaked to perform a variety of tasks — from responding to inquiries to producing text pieces and even reciting poetry — ChatGPT has quickly become one of the most powerful tools available for natural-language processing.
ChatGPT stands out from other AI chatbots due to its exceptional skill in comprehending and responding to human language. This is attributed to its extensive training on a dataset of human language, granting the bot an uncanny ability for replicating how humans converse with one another. Thus, ChatGPT not only understands but also responds articulately and naturally when asked questions or prompted.

Create a Storage Account:
Steps To Create Azure Storage Account:

Step 1:

Visit portal.azure.com, login or sign up if you don't have an account, you can get a free account at azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/

Step 2:

Click on Storage Accounts or select Storage accounts from the left portal menu.

Step 3:

Click on "Create"

Step 4:

Subscription: Choose the subscription where you wish to create the resource.
Resource group: Choose the resource group where you wish to create the resource. If you wish to create a new group click on create a new option.
Storage account name: Enter a globally unique storage account.
Region: Select the location where you wish to create the account.
Performance: Choose from standard or premium based on your requirements.
Click Review

Step 5:

Click on Create

Step 6:
Storage account is created

Click on 'Go to resource' to view

Step 7:

Click on Containers

Step 8:

Click on "+ Containers"

Step 9:

Name: Choose the name of the kind of document you want to share. We will use "mylovletter" for this demo.
Public access level: Change to Blob which allows you to share the document with anyone.
"Click on Create"

Step 10:

Go to https://chat.openai.com/chat
In the chat session, write what you want ChatGPT to do for you. - For this demo, we will use 'Write a love letter to my mother'. Note that you can write whatever you want.
Press "Enter" to view result

Step 11:

Click on the document you created to access it

Step 12:

Copy the result of your entry in chatGPT to Google docs or Microsoft Word and save data as PDF.
Save document in any file. Eg download, desktop or document file in your computer.
Go back to your Azure portal
Click on Upload
Drag and drop file or browse for file
Choose any name for your container
Upload

Step 13:

Click on Upload and the 'Upload blob' on the right pops out
Either drag and drop file or browse for file
Upload

Step 14:

Click on your file and the right side of the screen pops out
Click and copy the link to share the URL

As simple as ABC!!!
You have successfully uploaded a letter to your Azure Storage Account and shared the linked.

Thank you for reading...

How to Create Tags in Microsoft Azure

Toluwani Oluwaloseyi — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 22:12:44 +0000

Tags are defined by using name/value pairs, which you can attach to any resource or resource group. Tags provide metadata for your Azure resources and logically organizes resources into a taxonomy. Tags can then be used to select resources or Resource Groups and are useful when you need to organize resources for billing or management. Each tag consists of a name and a value pair. For example, you can apply the name “Environment” and the value “Production” to all the resources in production.

Each resource or resource group can have a maximum of 15 tags associated with it and each tag can have a character limit on their name and value.

To create a tag, follow the below mentioned steps:

STEP 1:
login to your Microsoft Azure Portal Dashboard(portal.azure.com)

Step 2:

Click on the search bar. Search for "Policy" and click on it

Step 3:

Click on "Assignments"

Step 4:

Click on "Assign Policy"

Step 5:

Click on "Policy definition"

Step 6:

Search for 'Tag'
Click on "Require a tag and its value on resources"
Add

Step 7:
Click on "Parameters" to add your Tag Name and Tag Value

Step 8:

Tag Name: Name of Environment
Tag Value: Name of Production/Company
Click on "Review + Create"

Step 9:

Click on "Create"

Step 10:
Create a Storage Account and add Tag

Click Home to create a Storage Account

Step 11:

Click on "Create"

Step 12:

Subscription: Choose your subscription
Resource Group: Create a resource group or choose an already existing one if you already have one
Storage Account Name: Choose a unique name across all existing accounts in Azure
Region: Choose your region
Click on ' Tag' to add tag

Step 13:

Use the same name you chose Name and Value in step 8
Click on "Review"

Step 14:

Click on "Create"

Step 15:
A policy with an added a tag on the resource has been successfully created.
The tag in the resource is "tolubriannapurple" as shown in the attached pic.

Step 16:
To delete the policy assignment
Click on "Home"
Follow step 2
Click on "Require a tag and its value on resources"

Step 17:

Click on "Delete Assignment"