DEV Community: Oladimeji Zainab

Provision of Storage for a new Company App

Oladimeji Zainab — Mon, 25 May 2026 09:40:23 +0000

Introduction

In today’s cloud-driven environments, securing data at rest and ensuring controlled access are critical components of any robust architecture. Microsoft Azure provides a comprehensive set of tools that enable organizations to build secure, scalable, and compliant storage solutions.

In this guide, we walk through the end-to-end process of provisioning a storage account and enhancing its security using managed identities, role-based access control (RBAC), and customer-managed encryption keys. Beyond basic configuration, this setup demonstrates how to enforce least-privilege access, integrate secure key management with Azure Key Vault, and apply advanced data protection features such as immutable storage and encryption scopes.

By the end of this walkthrough, you will have a secure and production-ready storage configuration that aligns with modern cloud security best practices.

In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.

For Resource group select Create new. Give your resource group a name and select OK to save your changes.

Provide a Storage account name. Ensure the name is unique and meets the naming requirements.

Move to the Encryption tab.

Check the box for Enable infrastructure encryption.

Notice the warning, This option cannot be changed after this storage account is created.

Select Review + Create

Wait for the resource to deploy.

Provide a managed identity for the web app to use.

Search for and select Managed identities.

Select Create

Select your resource group.

Give your managed identity a name.

Select Review and create, and then Create.

Assign the correct permissions to the managed identity. The identity only needs to read and list containers and blobs.

Search for and select your storage account.

Select the Access Control (IAM) blade.

Select Add role assignment (center of the page).

On the Job functions roles page, search for and select the Storage Blob Data Reader role.

On the Members page, select Managed identity.

Select Select members, in the Managed identity drop-down select User-assigned managed identity.

Select the managed identity you created in the previous step.

Click Select and then Review + assign the role.

Select Review + assign a second time to add the role assignment.

Your storage account can now be accessed by a managed identity with the Storage Data Blob Reader permissions.

Secure access to the storage account with a key vault and key

In the portal, search for and select Resource groups.

Select your resource group, and then the Access Control (IAM) blade.

Select your resource group, and then the Access Control (IAM) blade.

Select Add role assignment (center of the page).

On the Job functions roles page, search for and select the Key Vault Administrator role.

On the Members page, select User, group, or service principal.

Select Select members.

Search for and select your user account. Your user account is shown in the top right of the portal.

Click Select and then Review + assign.

Select Review + assign a second time to add the role assignment.

You are now ready to continue with the lab.

Create a key vault to store the access keys.

In the portal, search for and select Key vaults.

Select Create.

Select your resource group.

Provide the name for the key vault. The name must be unique.

Ensure on the Access configuration tab that Azure role-based access control (recommended) is selected.

Select Review + create.

Wait for the validation checks to complete and then select Create.

After the deployment, select Go to resource.

On the Overview blade ensure both Soft-delete and Purge protection are enabled.

Create a customer-managed key in the key vault.

In your key vault, in the Objects section, select the Keys blade.

Select Generate/Import and Name the key.

Take the defaults for the rest of the parameters, and Create the key.

Configure the storage account to use the customer managed key in the key vault.

In the portal, search for and select Resource groups.

Select your resource group, and then the Access Control (IAM) blade.

Select Add role assignment (center of the page)

On the Job functions roles page, search for and select the Key Vault Crypto Service Encryption User role.

On the Members page, select Managed identity.

Select Select members, in the Managed identity drop-down select User-assigned managed identity.

Select your managed identity.

Click Select and then Review + assign.

Select Review + assign a second time to add the role assignment.

Configure the storage account to use the customer managed key in your key vault.

Return to your the storage account.

In the Security + networking section, select the Encryption blade.

Select Customer-managed keys.

Select a key vault and key. Select your key vault and key.

Select to confirm your choices.

Ensure the Identity type is User-assigned.

Select an identity.

Select your managed identity then select Add.

Save your changes.

If you receive an error that your identity does not have the correct permissions, wait a minute and try again.

Configure an time-based retention policy and an encryption scope.

Navigate to your storage account.

In the Data storage section, select the Containers blade.

Create a container called hold. Take the defaults. Be sure to Create the container.

Upload a file to the container.

In the Settings section, select the Access policy blade.

In the Immutable blob storage section, select + Add policy.

For the Policy type, select time-based retention.

Set the Retention period to 5 days.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Try to delete the file in the container and Verify you are notified failed to delete blobs due to policy.

The developers require an encryption scope that enables infrastructure encryption.

Navigate back to your storage account.

In the Security + networking blade, select Encryption.

In the Encryption scopes tab, select Add.

Give your encryption scope a name.

The Encryption type is Microsoft-managed key.

Set Infrastructure encryption to Enable.

Create the encryption scope.

Return to your storage account and create a new container and in the advanced section select the Encryption scope you created and apply it to all blobs in the container.

Conclusion

This implementation goes beyond simply creating a storage account—it establishes a strong security foundation for managing sensitive data in the cloud. By leveraging managed identities, assigning precise RBAC roles like Storage Blob Data Reader, and integrating with Azure Key Vault for customer-managed keys, you ensure that access to your storage resources is both controlled and auditable.

Additionally, the use of infrastructure encryption, immutable blob storage policies, and encryption scopes demonstrates how to meet higher compliance and data protection requirements. These practices are essential for organizations operating in regulated environments or handling critical business data.

Adopting these configurations not only improves security posture but also aligns your architecture with industry standards for cloud governance, making your solutions more resilient, scalable, and enterprise-ready.

Provision of shared file storage for the company offices

Oladimeji Zainab — Fri, 22 May 2026 05:43:28 +0000

Introduction

In today’s data-driven enterprise environment, the need for secure, scalable, and highly available file storage solutions is critical to supporting business operations across distributed teams. Microsoft Azure provides a robust platform for building such solutions through its managed storage services.

This guide walks through the end-to-end process of provisioning a premium file storage solution using Azure Storage Accounts, configuring file shares for organizational use, and implementing data protection through snapshots. It also demonstrates how to enhance security by restricting access to selected virtual networks, ensuring that corporate data remains protected while still being accessible to authorized resources.

In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.

For Resource group select Create new. Give your resource group a name and select OK to save your changes.

Provide a Storage account name. Ensure the name meets the naming requirements(It must be globally unique).

Set the Performance to Premium.

Set the Premium account type to File shares.

Set the Redundancy to Zone-redundant storage.

Select Review and then Create the storage account.

Wait for the resource to deploy.

Select Go to resource.

Create a file share for the corporate office.

In the storage account, in the Data storage section, select the File shares blade.

Select + File share and provide a Name.

Review the other options, but take the defaults.

Select Create

Add a directory to the file share for the finance department. For future testing, upload a file.

Select your file share and select + Add directory.

Name the new directory finance.

Select Browse and then select the finance directory.

Notice you can Add directory to further organize your file share.

Upload a file of your choosing.

Similar to blob storage, you need to protect against accidental deletion of files. You decide to use snapshots.

Select your file share.

In the Operations section, select the Snapshots blade.

Select + Add snapshot. The comment is optional. Select OK.

Select your snapshot and verify your file directory and uploaded file are included.

Practice using snapshots to restore a file.

Return to your file share.

Browse to your file directory.

Locate your uploaded file and in the Properties pane select Delete. Select Yes to confirm the deletion.

Select the Snapshots blade and then select your snapshot.

Navigate to the file you want to restore

Select the file and the select Restore.

Provide a Restored file name.

Verify your file directory has the restored file.

Configure restricting storage access to selected virtual networks.:This tasks in this section require a virtual network with subnet. In a production environment these resources would already be created.

Search for and select Virtual networks

Select Create. Select your resource group. and give the virtual network a name.

Take the defaults for other parameters, select Review + create, and then Create.

Wait for the resource to deploy.

Select Go to resource.

In the Settings section, select the Subnets blade.

Select the default subnet.

In the Service endpoints section choose Microsoft.Storage in the Services drop-down.

Do not make any other changes.

Be sure to Save your changes.

The storage account should only be accessed from the virtual network you just created. Learn more about using private storage endpoints..

Return to your files storage account.

In the Security + networking section, select the Networking blade.

Change the Public network access to Enabled from selected virtual networks and IP addresses.

In the Virtual networks section, select Add existing virtual network.

Select your virtual network and subnet, select Add.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Select the Storage browser and navigate to your file share.

Verify the message not authorized to perform this operation. You are not connecting from the virtual network.

Conclusion

By completing this deployment, a secure and enterprise-grade file storage infrastructure has been successfully established using Azure’s native capabilities. The implementation not only enables centralized file sharing for departments such as finance but also incorporates critical safeguards including snapshot-based recovery and network-level access controls.

This approach reflects best practices in cloud storage architecture—balancing performance, resilience, and security. As organizations continue to scale in the cloud, leveraging these capabilities within Azure ensures operational efficiency, data integrity, and controlled access across business units.

Creating A virtual Machine using Linux Operating System

Oladimeji Zainab — Tue, 19 May 2026 01:48:48 +0000

Introduction

Deploying a virtual machine in Microsoft Azure provides a flexible and scalable way to run applications, host services, and simulate real-world infrastructure without the need for physical hardware. This guide walks through the end-to-end process of provisioning a Linux-based virtual machine using the Azure portal from creating a resource group and selecting an operating system, to configuring access and connecting via SSH. By following these steps, you will gain hands-on experience in setting up a secure and functional cloud environment, as well as performing basic system administration tasks such as updating packages and installing a web server.

on the azure portal search and select virtual machine

select + create

Create a new resource group and assign it an appropriate name. For the purpose of this project, the resource group is named fragnantplantrg.

Specify a name for the virtual machine.

Select a region

Select an image (operating system) for the virtual machine. In this case, Ubuntu is chosen as the preferred Linux distribution for deployment.

For the authentication method, select Password as the administrative credential type.

Enter user name and password for the virtual machine

Select the inbound port for the virtual machine

Navigate to the Monitoring tab and disable boot diagnotics

Click on Review and create

Once the deployment is complete, navigate to the resource.

Select the IP address and configure the idle timeout setting to 30 minutes.

Click on apply

Navigate back to your Virtual machine and click on the connect button

Click on check access

Copy and paste the SSH command into a terminal in the windows power shell

After entering the SSH Command, Type yes to continue on the windows power shell

Enter password. Please note that linux doesnt show password, so you need to be sure of what you are typing.

Virtual machine is now live

To run the Virtual Machine as an administrator(root user), use the Sudo SU command

Try updating the virtual machine to the latest version "apt Update" please note that "apt" is the package manager for linux

Try and install nginx using the command "apt install nginx"

Conclusion

By successfully completing this deployment, I have established a fully functional Linux virtual machine within Azure and connected to it securely using SSH. Beyond provisioning, I also performed essential post-deployment configurations, including updating the system and installing Nginx, demonstrating how cloud resources can be immediately utilized for real-world applications. This process not only reinforces core cloud computing concepts but also builds a solid foundation for more advanced tasks such as automation, scaling, and hosting production-grade applications in Azure.

End-to-End Deployment of Virtual Machine Infrastructure in Microsoft Azure

Oladimeji Zainab — Mon, 18 May 2026 02:17:26 +0000

Introduction

In today’s cloud-driven environment, the ability to efficiently provision and manage infrastructure is a critical skill for IT professionals and cloud engineers. Platforms like Microsoft Azure provide a robust and scalable ecosystem for deploying resources with speed, flexibility, and cost control.

This project demonstrates a practical, end-to-end approach to deploying a virtual machine within Azure, starting from the creation of a resource group to configuring connectivity and access via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Beyond the technical setup, it also highlights key considerations around cost optimization, including the use of spot pricing and resource management strategies to prevent unnecessary charges.

The objective is to provide a clear, structured guide that not only walks through the deployment process but also reinforces best practices for managing cloud resources effectively in a real-world scenario.

Go to azure portal, search and select resource group
Select + create

Provide a name for the resource group; for this project, the resource group is named fragnantplant.

Select a region

Select review + create

Go to azure portal, search and select virtual machine

click + create

On the Basics tab, select the previously created resource group (fragnantplant).

Navigate to the Instance details and give the Virtual machine a name

select an availability options, kindly note for this project no infrastructure redundancy required because the azure account is currently on free trial

On the image tab select a compactible operating system, in this project windows 10 will be used as the azure account is currently on free trial

The Spot discount option represents a key cost optimization strategy. For interruptible workloads, such as batch processing tasks, leveraging Spot pricing can significantly reduce monthly costs, as illustrated by the noticeable difference in pricing compared to standard deployment options.

input user name and password

In order to enable connection and networking select the a compatible inbound port

Click on the licensing box

For best practice navigate to the monitoring tab and disable boot diagnostics

select review and create

Go to resource

click on the IP Address and set the idle time to 30 minutes

_ click on apply

For cost optimization purposes, it is important to note that stopping a virtual machine does not automatically halt all associated charges. To fully eliminate costs for unused resources, the public IP address must be disassociated from the virtual machine. This step is demonstrated for instructional purposes; however, in this project, the IP address was not disassociated.
To do this, on your azure portal search for and select IP

Select the virtual machine IP

Then you click on disassociate

Back to the scope of this project

Navigate back to your virtual machine and click on connect

click on check access

Download Remote Desktop Protocol(RDP)

Click on Connect

Insert Password

The virtual machine has been successfully deployed and is now operational.

Conclusion

The successful deployment of a virtual machine in Microsoft Azure goes beyond simply creating resources—it requires a thoughtful approach to configuration, accessibility, and cost management. This project illustrates how foundational components such as resource groups, virtual machines, networking, and monitoring settings come together to form a functional and efficient cloud environment.

Equally important is the emphasis on financial accountability in the cloud. Understanding how billing works—particularly around compute resources and public IP addresses—enables better decision-making and prevents avoidable costs. Simple actions, such as deallocating resources or disassociating IP addresses when not in use, can have a significant impact on overall expenditure.

As organizations continue to adopt cloud technologies, mastering these deployment and optimization techniques becomes essential. This hands-on implementation serves as a solid foundation for building more advanced, scalable, and cost-efficient cloud solutions in Azure.

Provision of private storage for internal company documents

Oladimeji Zainab — Thu, 14 May 2026 07:05:14 +0000

Introduction

In today’s digital landscape, securing sensitive corporate data is a critical responsibility for every organization. Businesses require storage solutions that not only protect confidential documents from unauthorized access but also ensure high availability and disaster recovery in the event of regional outages. Microsoft provides powerful cloud storage capabilities through Azure Storage Account, enabling organizations to build scalable, secure, and resilient storage infrastructures.

In this guide, I will walk through the step-by-step process of provisioning private storage for internal company documents using Azure Storage Accounts. The tutorial covers configuring geo-redundant storage (GRS) for high availability, creating secure private containers, generating Shared Access Signatures (SAS) for controlled external collaboration, implementing lifecycle management policies to optimize storage costs, and configuring object replication for backup and business continuity. By the end of this project, you will have a secure and enterprise-ready storage solution tailored for corporate document management.

Create a storage account for the internal private company documents.

In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.

Select the Resource group created in the previous lab.

Set the Storage account name to privatestrg001. Add an identifier to the name to ensure the name is unique.

Select Review, and then Create the storage account.

Wait for the storage account to deploy, and then select Go to resource.

This storage requires high availability if there’s a regional outage. Read access in the secondary region is not required. Configure the appropriate level of redundancy.

In the storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Ensure Geo-redundant storage (GRS) is selected.

Be sure to save and click refresh to ensure that it is saved

Review the primary and secondary location information.

Create a storage container, upload a file, and restrict access to the file.

In the storage account, in the Data storage section, select the Containers blade.

Select + Container.

Ensure the Name of the container is private.

Ensure the Public access level is Private (no anonymous access).

As you have time, review the Advanced settings, but take the defaults.

Select Create.

For testing, upload a file to the private container. The type of file doesn’t matter. A small image or text file is a good choice. Test to ensure the file isn’t publically accessible.

Select the container.

Select Upload.

Browse to files and select a file.

Upload the file.

Select the uploaded file.

On the Overview tab, copy the URL.

Paste the URL into a new browser tab.

Verify the file doesn’t display and you receive an error.

An external partner requires read and write access to the file for at least the next 24 hours. Configure and test a shared access signature (SAS).

Select your uploaded blob file and move to the Generate SAS tab.

In the Permissions drop-down, ensure the partner has only Read permissions.

Verify the Start and expiry date/time is for the next 24 hours.

Select Generate SAS token and URL.

Copy the Blob SAS URL to a new browser tab.

Verify you can access the file. If you have uploaded an image file it will display in the browser.

To save on costs, after 30 days, move blobs from the hot tier to the cool tier.

Return to the storage account.

In the Overview section, notice the Default access tier is set to Hot.

In the Data management section, select the Lifecycle management blade.

Select Add rule.

Set the Rule name to movetocool.

Set the Rule scope to Apply rule to all blobs in the storage account.

Select Next.

Ensure Last modified is selected.

Set More than (days ago) to 30.

In the Then drop-down select Move to cool storage.

As you have time, review other lifecycle options in the drop-down.

Add the rule.

The public website files need to be backed up to another storage account.

In your storage account, create a new container called backup. Use the default values.

Navigate to your fragnantstrg storage account.

In the Data management section, select the Object replication blade.

Select Create replication rules.

Set the Destination storage account to the private storage account.

Set the Source container to public and the Destination container to backup.

Create the replication rule.

Optionally, as you have time, upload a file to the public container. Return to the private storage account and refresh the backup container. Within a few minutes your public website file will appear in the backup folder.

Conclusion

Provisioning secure and highly available storage is an essential part of modern cloud infrastructure management. In this project, we successfully configured a private Azure Storage Account with geo-redundant storage to ensure resilience during regional outages, secured sensitive corporate files through private container access, and implemented Shared Access Signatures (SAS) to enable temporary and controlled external collaboration.

Additionally, we optimized long-term storage costs by configuring lifecycle management policies to automatically transition blobs from the hot tier to the cool tier after 30 days. Finally, we enhanced data protection and business continuity by setting up object replication between storage accounts for automated backup of public website content.

This hands-on implementation demonstrates how Microsoft cloud storage solutions can help organizations maintain security, scalability, availability, and operational efficiency while managing critical internal documents in the cloud.

Provision of storage for the public website.

Oladimeji Zainab — Wed, 13 May 2026 21:36:46 +0000

Introduction

In today’s cloud-driven environment, organizations require storage solutions that are secure, scalable, and highly available to ensure uninterrupted access to business-critical data. Public websites, in particular, rely heavily on reliable storage infrastructure for hosting images, documents, and other digital assets that must remain accessible even during regional outages.

In this project, I provisioned and configured an Azure Storage Account designed to support a public website with high availability and disaster recovery capabilities. The implementation included configuring Read-access Geo-redundant Storage (RA-GRS), enabling anonymous blob access, creating public blob containers, configuring blob soft delete for data recovery, and enabling blob versioning for document tracking and restoration.

This hands-on exercise demonstrates practical experience with Microsoft Azure Storage services, cloud infrastructure configuration, data protection strategies, and business continuity best practices.

Create a storage account to support the public website.

In the portal, search for and select

Select + Create.

For resource group select new. Give your resource group a name and select OK.

Set the Storage account name to plantstrg. Make sure the storage account name is unique by adding an identifier.
Take the defaults for other settings.

Select Review and then Create.

Wait for the storage account to deploy, and then select Go to resource.

This storage requires high availability if there’s a regional outage. Additionally, enable read access to the secondary region

In the storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Ensure Read-access Geo-redundant storage is selected.

Review the primary and secondary location information

Information on the public website should be accessible without requiring customers to login.

In the storage account, in the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure the Allow blob anonymous access setting is Enabled.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Create a blob storage container with anonymous read access

In your storage account, in the Data storage section, select the Containers blade.

Select + Container.

Ensure the Name of the container is Public

Select Create.

Customers should be able to view the images without being authenticated. Configure anonymous read access for the public container blobs.

Select your public container.

On the Overview blade, select Change access level.

Ensure the Public access level is Blob (anonymous read access for blobs only).

Select OK.

Practice uploading files and testing access.

Ensure you are viewing your container.

Select Upload.

Browse to files and select a file. Browse to a file of your choice

Select Upload.

Close the upload window, Refresh the page and ensure your file was uploaded.

Determine the URL for your uploaded file. Open a browser and test the URL.

Select your uploaded file.

On the Overview tab, copy the URL.

Paste the URL into a new browser tab

-If you have uploaded an image file it will display in the browser. Other file types should be downloaded.

It’s important that the website documents can be restored if they’re deleted. Configure blob soft delete for 21 days.

Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.

On the Properties page, locate the Blob service section.

Select the Blob soft delete setting.

Ensure the Enable soft delete for blobs is checked.

Change the Keep deleted blobs for (in days) setting to 21.

Notice you can also Enable soft delete for containers.

Don’t forget to Save your changes.

If something gets deleted, you need to practice using soft delete to restore the files

Navigate to your container where you uploaded a file.

Select the file you uploaded and then select Delete.

Select OK to confirm deleting the file.

On the container Overview page, toggle the slider Show deleted blobs. This toggle is to the right of the search box.

Select your deleted file, and use the ellipses on the far right, to Undelete the file.

Refresh the container and confirm the file has been restored.

It’s important to keep track of the different website product document versions.

Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.

In the Properties section, locate the Blob service section.

Select the Versioning setting.

Ensure the Enable versioning for blobs checkbox is checked.

Notice your options to keep all versions or delete versions after.

Don’t forget to Save your changes.

Conclusion

This project demonstrates how Azure Storage Accounts can be configured to provide a resilient, scalable, and secure storage solution for public-facing web applications. By implementing high availability through RA-GRS redundancy, enabling controlled public access to blobs, configuring soft delete for recovery, and activating blob versioning, I established a storage environment capable of supporting reliable website operations while minimizing the risk of data loss.

Beyond simply provisioning storage resources, this exercise highlights the importance of designing cloud infrastructure with availability, recovery, and long-term maintainability in mind. These are critical considerations for modern organizations seeking to build dependable cloud-native solutions using Microsoft Azure.

Provision of storage for IT department testing and training

Oladimeji Zainab — Tue, 12 May 2026 13:26:59 +0000

Introduction

In modern IT environments, the ability to efficiently manage, test, and secure data infrastructure is essential for supporting innovation, technical training, and operational excellence. Cloud storage solutions have become a critical component in enabling organizations to build flexible and scalable environments for development, testing, and learning activities without impacting production systems.

This project focuses on the provision and configuration of a secure and cost-effective storage solution using Microsoft Azure. The implementation process involves creating a dedicated resource group and deploying a storage account tailored to support IT department testing and training requirements. In addition to deployment, the project emphasizes essential configuration practices such as redundancy management, secure transfer enforcement, TLS 1.2 compliance, network accessibility, and access control optimization.

By following these step-by-step procedures, organizations can establish a reliable cloud storage environment that balances performance, security, accessibility, and cost efficiency while providing a practical foundation for hands-on IT training and system testing activities.

Create and deploy a resource group to hold all your project resources.

In the Azure portal, search for and select

Select + Create.

Give your resource group a name. In this case the resource group is named Fragnantplant

Select a region. Use this region throughout the project.

Select Review and create to validate the resource group.

Select Create to deploy the resource group.

Create and deploy a storage account to support testing and training.

In the Azure portal, search for and select

Select + Create.

On the Basics tab, select your Resource group.

Provide a Storage account name. The storage account name must be unique in Azure.

Set the Performance to Standard.

Select Review, and then Create.

Wait for the storage account to deploy and then Go to resource.

Configure simple settings in the storage account.

The data in this storage account doesn’t require high availability or durability. A lowest cost storage solution is desired.
In your storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Select Locally-redundant storage (LRS) in the Redundancy drop-down.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Refresh the page and notice the content only exists in the primary location.

The storage account should only accept requests from secure connections.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure Secure transfer required is Enabled.

Developers would like the storage account to use at least TLS version 1.2.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure the Minimal TLS version is set to Version 1.2.

Until the storage is needed again, disable requests to the storage account.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure Allow storage account key access is Disabled.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Ensure the storage account allows public access from all networks

In the Security + networking section, select the Networking blade.

Ensure Public network access is set to Enabled from all networks.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Conclusion

The successful deployment and configuration of a storage account for IT department testing and training demonstrates the importance of combining scalability, security, and cost optimization in cloud infrastructure management. Through the creation of a resource group and the implementation of key storage configurations, this project establishes a secure and efficient environment suitable for development, experimentation, and technical learning.

By configuring features such as Locally Redundant Storage (LRS), secure transfer requirements, TLS version 1.2, controlled access settings, and public networking permissions, the project highlights best practices in Azure storage administration while maintaining operational simplicity and affordability.

Overall, this implementation provides a strong foundation for supporting IT training and testing activities in a controlled cloud environment. It also reinforces the value of cloud technologies in enhancing organizational readiness, improving technical skills, and enabling modern infrastructure management practices in today’s digital landscape.

Launching Your First EC2 Instance on AWS: A Step-by-Step Guide for Cloud Engineers

Oladimeji Zainab — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 13:08:34 +0000

Modern applications demand infrastructure that is scalable, reliable, and quick to deploy. Instead of spending days provisioning physical servers, cloud platforms now allow engineers to launch fully functional virtual machines in just a few minutes. One of the most widely used services for this purpose is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, a core compute service offered by Amazon Web Services.

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) enables developers and cloud engineers to spin up virtual servers, configure networking and security, and deploy applications on-demand with complete control over their computing environment. Whether you're hosting a web application, running backend services, or experimenting with cloud infrastructure, EC2 provides the flexibility to scale resources as your needs grow.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the step-by-step process of launching an EC2 instance using the AWS Management Console. From selecting an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) to configuring key pairs and security groups, this tutorial will help you understand the essential steps required to deploy your first virtual server in the AWS cloud.

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a running EC2 instance and a clearer understanding of how compute resources are provisioned in AWS.

On the AWS Management Console home page, use the search bar at the top of the interface to search for EC2.

From the EC2 dashboard, click the Instances section and select Launch Instance to begin creating a new virtual server.

Provide a name for your EC2 instance to help easily identify it within your AWS environment.

Click on Additional Tags and add relevant tags as needed to help organize and manage your resources.

Navigate to the Amazon Machine Image (AMI) section, which is equivalent to “Image” in Azure, and select the operating system you want to use. For this project, we will be using Ubuntu.

create a key pair to ensure secure access and authentication for your EC2 instance.

Keep all other settings at their default values.

Click Launch Instance to start deploying your EC2 server.

Connect to your EC2 instance to start managing and configuring your server.

On the Connect interface, scroll down and click the Connect button to establish a session with your EC2 instance.

Take note of the server name for reference and easier identification of your EC2 instance.

It’s important not to leave your EC2 instance running when it’s no longer needed, as this may incur unnecessary charges. While you can terminate instances using the AWS CloudShell or CLI, covering that process is beyond the scope of this guide.

Alternatively, you can click the Services icon next to the AWS logo and select EC2 to return to the main EC2 dashboard.

On the main EC2 dashboard, navigate to and select Instances.

Select the running instance by clicking on its Instance ID, which will take you to the Instance Summary page where you can verify the instance’s running status.

Click on Instance State and select Terminate to delete the EC2 instance.

Confirm the termination to permanently delete the EC2 instance.

The instance is in the process of shutting down.

The EC2 instance has now been successfully terminated.

Conclusion

Launching an EC2 instance is an essential skill for developers and cloud engineers, offering hands-on experience with scalable and secure cloud infrastructure. In this guide, we walked through the entire process of launching, connecting to, and terminating an EC2 instance on AWS, including selecting an Amazon Machine Image, configuring key pairs and security, and organizing resources with names and tags. By mastering these steps, you gain the ability to deploy, manage, and scale cloud resources efficiently while avoiding unnecessary costs, laying a strong foundation for more advanced AWS projects and real-world cloud deployments.

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating & Connecting to an Azure Virtual Machine

Oladimeji Zainab — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:02:49 +0000

Introduction

Virtual machines remain one of the most fundamental building blocks of cloud infrastructure. Whether you’re deploying applications, testing environments, hosting internal systems, or building scalable production workloads, virtual machines provide the flexibility and control needed to operate efficiently in the cloud.

In this guide, I’ll walk through a step-by-step process for creating and connecting to a Virtual Machine (VM) in Microsoft Azure. Beyond simply provisioning the resource, this post focuses on understanding the core components involved, including resource groups, networking configuration, authentication methods, and secure access.

As cloud environments continue to power modern businesses, knowing how to properly deploy and securely connect to a VM is a foundational skill for anyone pursuing Cloud Engineering, DevOps, or Infrastructure roles.

Log in to Azure Portal and Search for "Virtual Machines

Select Virtual Machine from the Search Results

Click on "Create"

Select the appropriate Subscription.

Click "Create Resource Group" → Enter a name for it.

Configure Virtual Machine Details

Enter VM Name (VMZEE)

Select A Region

Select Availability Zone in the Availability Option.

Select Zone 1 in availablity zone drop down(You can select more than one zone depending on the level of latency that is desired for your project)

spot discount(This is optional and you can use it if the project you are working on can tolerate on and off. Its most times used by the finOps engineers to reduce cost majorly for batch jobs. But for this project spot discount , I wont be using spot discount because I want my computer to be highly available

Enter Operating System (Image option): Select windows 11

VM Size: Keep the default option.

Set Up Administrator Account by entering the username and password

Configure Inbound Port Rules

Select SSH (for Linux) or RDP (for Windows).
Click the checkbox to accept the license agreement.

Disable Boot Diagnostics

Click Next → Navigate to Monitoring Tab → Disable Boot Diagnostics.

Click Next → Navigate to Tags Tab → Input Tags

Review & Deploy the Virtual Machine

Click "Review + Create"
Ensure validation passes.

Click "Create" to deploy.

Deployment takes 3-5 minutes.

If the status is "Running", your VM is ready!

Connect to the Virtual Machine

Click "Connect" in the Azure VM blade.

Download & Open RDP File (Windows VM Only)

Click "Native RDP" → Download RDP file.

Open the RDP file on your computer.

Enter Admin Credentials

Enter the Username & Password created earlier.

Click "Connect" to access the VM.

You are now connected! You can start using your Azure Virtual Machine

Conclusion

Setting up and connecting to a Virtual Machine in Microsoft Azure, a cloud platform by Microsoft, is a fundamental step in building practical cloud computing skills. Deploying virtual infrastructure in the cloud enables developers, data professionals, and cloud engineers to run applications, create development environments, and manage scalable workloads with ease.

Gaining hands-on experience with Azure Virtual Machines provides a strong foundation for exploring more advanced cloud services such as networking, storage, monitoring, and automation.

Happy building in the cloud! ☁️🚀

Create a storage account and configure high availability.

Oladimeji Zainab — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:08:17 +0000

Create a storage account for the internal private company documents.

In the portal, search for and select Storage accounts.

Select + Create.

Select the Resource group created in the previous lab.

Set the Storage account name to private. Add an identifier to the name to ensure the name is unique.

Select Review, and then Create the storage account.

Wait for the storage account to deploy, and then select Go to resource.

This storage requires high availability if there’s a regional outage. Read access in the secondary region is not required. Configure the appropriate level of redundancy.

In the storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Ensure Geo-redundant storage (GRS) is selected.

Review the primary and secondary location information.

Save your changes.

Create a storage container, upload a file, and restrict access to the file.

1.Create a private storage container for the corporate data.

In the storage account, in the Data storage section, select the Containers blade.

Select + Container.

Ensure the Name of the container is private.

Ensure the Public access level is Private (no anonymous access).

As you have time, review the Advanced settings, but take the defaults.

Select Create.

For testing, upload a file to the private container. he type of file doesn’t matter. A small image or text file is a good choice. Test to ensure the file isn’t publically accessible.

Select the container.

Select Upload.

Browse to files and select a file.

Upload the file.

Select the uploaded file.

On the Overview tab, copy the URL.

Paste the URL into a new browser tab.

Verify the file doesn’t display and you receive an error.

An external partner requires read and write access to the file for at least the next 24 hours. Configure and test a shared access signature (SAS).

Select your uploaded blob file and move to the Generate SAS tab.

In the Permissions drop-down, ensure the partner has only Read permissions.

Verify the Start and expiry date/time is for the next 24 hours.

Select Generate SAS token and URL.

Copy the Blob SAS URL to a new browser tab.

Verify you can access the file. If you have uploaded an image file it will display in the browser. Other file types will be downloaded.

Configure storage access tiers and content replication.

To save on costs, after 30 days, move blobs from the hot tier to the cool tier.

Return to the storage account.

In the Overview section, notice the Default access tier is set to Hot.

In the Data management section, select the Lifecycle management blade.

Select Add rule.

Set the Rule name to movetocool.

Set the Rule scope to Apply rule to all blobs in the storage account.

Select Next.

Ensure Last modified is selected.

Set More than (days ago) to 30.

In the Then drop-down select Move to cool storage.

Add the rule.

The public website files need to be backed up to another storage account.[Learn more about object replication.

In your storage account, create a new container called backup

In the Data management section, select the Object replication blade.

Select Create replication rules.

Set the Destination storage account to the private storage account.

Set the Source container to public and the Destination container to backup.

Create the replication rule.

In conclusion This project successfully demonstrated the end-to-end configuration and management of a secure, resilient, and cost-optimized Azure Storage solution for enterprise use. A storage account was provisioned and configured with Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) to ensure high availability and business continuity in the event of a regional outage. This setup guarantees data durability while maintaining operational reliability.

A private storage container was created to securely host internal corporate documents, with public access explicitly restricted to prevent unauthorized exposure. Access control was further enhanced through the implementation of a Shared Access Signature (SAS), enabling time-bound and permission-specific access for an external partner without compromising overall security.

Cost optimization strategies were implemented using lifecycle management policies, automatically transitioning blobs from the hot tier to the cool tier after 30 days. Additionally, object replication was configured to back up public website files to a secondary storage account, strengthening data protection and disaster recovery capabilities.

Creating a storage account with high availability.

Oladimeji Zainab — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:49:27 +0000

### Create a storage account to support the public website.

In the portal, search for and select

Select + Create.

For resource group select new. Give your resource group a name and select OK.

Set the Storage account name to publicwebsite. Make sure the storage account name is unique by adding an identifier.

Take the defaults for other settings.

Select Review and then Create.

Wait for the storage account to deploy, and then select Go to resource.

This storage requires high availability if there’s a regional outage. Additionally, enable read access to the secondary region

In the storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Ensure Read-access Geo-redundant storage is selected.

Review the primary and secondary location information.

Information on the public website should be accessible without requiring customers to login

In the storage account, in the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure the Allow blob anonymous access setting is Enabled.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Create a blob storage container with anonymous read access

The public website has various images and documents. Create a blob storage container for the content.

Select + Container.

Ensure the Name of the container is public.

Select Create.

Customers should be able to view the images without being authenticated. Configure anonymous read access for the public container blobs.

On the Overview blade, select Change access level.

Ensure the Public access level is Blob (anonymous read access for blobs only).

Select OK.

uploading files and testing access.

For testing, upload a file to the public container. The type of file doesn’t matter. A small image or text file is a good choice
Ensure you are viewing your container.
Select Upload.
Browse to files and select a file. Browse to a file of your choice.

Select Upload.

Close the upload window, Refresh the page and ensure your file was uploaded.

Determine the URL for your uploaded file. Open a browser and test the URL

Select your uploaded file

On the Overview tab, copy the URL.

Paste the URL into a new browser tab.

If you have uploaded an image file it will display in the browser. Other file types should be downloaded.

Configure soft delete

It’s important that the website documents can be restored if they’re deleted. Configure blob soft delete for 21 days.
Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.

On the Properties page, locate the Blob service section.

Select the Blob soft delete setting.

Ensure the Enable soft delete for blobs is checked.

Change the Keep deleted blobs for (in days) setting to 21.

Notice you can also Enable soft delete for containers.

Don’t forget to Save your changes.

If something gets deleted, you need to practice using soft delete to restore the files.

Navigate to your container where you uploaded a file.
Select the file you uploaded and then select Delete

On the container Overview page, toggle the slider Show deleted blobs. This toggle is to the right of the search box.

Select your deleted file, and use the ellipses on the far right, to Undelete the file

Refresh the container and confirm the file has been restored.

Configure blob versioning

It’s important to keep track of the different website product document versions.
Go to the Overview blade of the storage account.
In the Properties section, locate the Blob service section.

Select the Versioning setting.

Ensure the Enable versioning for blobs checkbox is checked.

Don’t forget to Save your changes.

This project demonstrates the practical implementation of building a resilient and publicly accessible storage solution using Microsoft Azure. By successfully creating a highly available storage account, enabling anonymous public access, and configuring blob storage for hosting website content, the exercise highlights essential cloud engineering best practices for scalability, accessibility, and reliability.
Implementing features such as soft delete and blob versioning further strengthens data protection and operational continuity by ensuring that accidental deletions or unintended file changes can be quickly recovered. These configurations are critical in real-world production environments where maintaining data integrity and service availability directly impacts user experience and business continuity.
Overall, this project reinforces the importance of designing cloud storage solutions with both availability and recoverability in mind. It also provides a solid foundation for deploying static website content securely and efficiently, while leveraging Azure’s built-in redundancy and data management capabilities. Sharing this step-by-step implementation on DEV Community contributes to knowledge sharing within the tech ecosystem and showcases practical cloud engineering expertise beyond theoretical concepts.

Provision of storage for the IT department testing and training

Oladimeji Zainab — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 13:55:09 +0000

What is Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is a microsoft object that allows you to store unstructured data in data storage such as queues, files , table and Containers. In this article I am going to show you how to create a storage account for an IT department called Testing and training. The steps are as follows:

Create a resource group and a storage account.

In Azure portal, search for and select resource group.

Select + Create.

Give your Resource Group a Name. For example Storagerg003

Select a region.

Select Review and create to validate the resource group.

Select Create to deploy the resource group.

Create and deploy a storage account to support testing and training

In the Azure portal, search for and select Storagerg003

Select + Create.

On the Basics tab, select your Resource group.

Provide a Storage account name. The storage account name must be unique in Azure.

Set the Performance to Standard.

Select Review, and then Create.

Wait for the storage account to deploy and then Go to resource.

The data in this storage account doesn’t require high availability or durability. A lowest cost storage solution is desired.

In your storage account, in the Data management section, select the Redundancy blade.

Select Locally-redundant storage (LRS) in the Redundancy drop-down.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Refresh the page and notice the content only exists in the primary location.

The storage account should only accept requests from secure connections.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure Secure transfer required is Enabled.

Developers would like the storage account to use at least TLS version 1.2.

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure the Minimal TLS version is set to Version 1.2.

Until the storage is needed again, disable requests to the storage account

In the Settings section, select the Configuration blade.

Ensure Allow storage account key access is Disabled.

Be sure to Save your changes.

Ensure the storage account allows public access from all networks

In the Security + networking section, select the Networking blade.

Ensure Public network access is set to Enabled from all networks.

Be sure to Save your changes.

In Conclusion

Setting up cloud storage is more than just provisioning infrastructure. It involves balancing cost, performance, security, and accessibility. By intentionally configuring redundancy, encryption, authentication, and networking policies, cloud engineers can build scalable and secure environments from the ground up.