DEV Community: Oladimeji Zainab

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.

Understanding Key Cloud and Infrastructure Concepts

Oladimeji Zainab — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 17:23:54 +0000

As technology continues to evolve, concepts like virtualization, scalability, agility, and high availability have become fundamental to modern IT infrastructure and cloud computing. Understanding these concepts helps individuals and organizations design systems that are efficient, reliable, and capable of supporting business growth. Let’s break them down in simple terms.

What is Virtualization?

Virtualization is the process of creating a virtual version of physical resources such as servers, storage devices, or operating systems. Instead of using one physical machine for a single task, virtualization allows multiple virtual machines to run on one physical system.

This improves resource utilization, reduces hardware costs, and increases flexibility. For example, a company can run different applications on separate virtual servers while using only one physical server.

Scalability

Scalability refers to the ability of a system to handle increasing workloads by adding more resources. A scalable system can grow as demand increases without affecting performance.

For instance, an online store experiencing increased traffic during a sale can scale its servers to handle more users efficiently.

Agility

Agility describes how quickly an organization can adapt to changes and deploy new solutions. In IT and cloud environments, agility allows businesses to develop, test, and launch applications faster.

Agility helps organizations stay competitive by responding quickly to customer needs and market changes.

High Availability

High availability means designing systems to remain operational with minimal downtime. This is achieved by using backup systems, redundant servers, and failover mechanisms.

The goal is to ensure that services remain accessible even when hardware or software failures occur.

Fault Tolerance

Fault tolerance goes a step further than high availability. It ensures that a system continues to operate without interruption even when components fail. Fault-tolerant systems automatically switch to backup components without affecting users.

This is especially critical in industries where downtime can result in significant losses or safety risks.

Global Reach

Global reach refers to the ability of systems or services to operate and deliver content to users across multiple geographic locations. Cloud infrastructure enables businesses to deploy services in different regions, reducing latency and improving user experience worldwide.

This allows organizations to serve customers globally while maintaining performance and reliability.

Difference Between Elasticity and Scalability

Although often used interchangeably, elasticity and scalability are slightly different.

Scalability focuses on the ability of a system to grow by adding resources to handle increased demand. It usually involves long-term capacity planning.

Elasticity, on the other hand, refers to the ability of a system to automatically adjust resources up or down based on real-time demand. Elastic systems allocate resources when needed and release them when demand decreases, improving cost efficiency.

Conclusion

These concepts form the foundation of modern cloud computing and IT infrastructure. Virtualization enables efficient resource use, scalability and elasticity support growth and flexibility, agility enhances innovation, while high availability and fault tolerance ensure reliability. Together, they empower organizations to build systems that are resilient, efficient, and capable of meeting evolving technological demands.