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Ikuesan Adeola
Ikuesan Adeola

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Creating a Linux Virtual Machine in Azure Portal, Implementing Virtual Machine Scale Set

To get started, user is required to create an account by visiting portal.azure.com, fill in the required details and information or create a free then the user receives a confirmation message via email, the confirmation mail redirect the user to portal.azure.com homepage.

Azure virtual machine is a pre-built computer that runs in the cloud that allows users to create and manage computing resources, it can be used just like a physical desktop, laptop or server machine. It provides a number of benefits such as flexibility, portability, scalability and load distribution.

Azure virtual machine scale set (VMSS) is a feature in azure that allows users to manage and create groups of virtual machines (VMs) and offers the following benefits: Easy deployment and management, Elastic scaling, Centralized management and Higher availability and security. They are available on all Azure Windows or Linux VM sizes.

The process of creating a virtual machine using Azure resources on the Azure portal involves the following steps which would be broke piece by piece:

  • Sign in to the azure portal
  • Initiate the create wizard.
  • Assign the scaling configurations.
  • Validate the assigned configurations.
  • Initiate the VM.
  • Run a test

SIGN IN TO AZURE PORTAL
STEP 1

You sign up to create a free account if you don't have an Azure subscription, once your Azure subscription is created. Sign-in to the Azure portal using your mail and password to get started.

After you're successfully authenticated, the Azure portal's home page displays. The page provide links to core services, recently accessed and favorite resources, built-in management tools, and online documentation. It also serves as a convenient entry point into your Azure environment.

If the functionality you're looking for isn't present on the home page, you can locate it by using either the portal menu or the global search textbox. They Both help to navigate through the portal.

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INITIATE THE CREATE WIZARD
STEP 2
In the search bar, type "Virtual Machine Scale set" or select "Virtual Machine Scale Set" from the list of services.

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STEP 3:
Click on "create" in the virtual machine scale set page.

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STEP 4:
On the Virtual Machine Scale Set page, select the subscription, create new resource group or select from the list, select and input the scale set details such as Virtual Machine Scale Set name, Region and Availability Zone.

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Assign the scaling configurations
STEP 5:
Still on the Virtual Machine Scale Set page, select the orchestration mode either flexible mode or uniform mode and the security type. Uniform mode will be selected for this Virtual machine.
Furthermore, under scaling mode. Select the Autoscaling mode.

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STEP 6:
Under Autoscaling mode, click on "configure" to input the preferred configurations

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STEP 7:
On scaling configuration page, edit the default conditions by clicking on "edit" icon

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STEP 8:
Edit the conditions such as Scale out parameters, scale in parameters and the query duration. After editing the conditions, save the changes.

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STEP 9:
When saving is done. It returns to the scaling configuration page where you can see the configurations made and under scaling-in policy, select the suitable policy then save the configurations.

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STEP 10:
After saving the configuration. It returns to "create a Virtual machine scale set" then select the instance details consisting of Image, Virtual machine architecture and size. Continue by determining the authentication type, username, SSH public key source, SSH public key type and key pair name.

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STEP 11:
Click on "Networking" tab. Under the networking tab, go to "Load balancing. Under load balancing options, select "Azure load balancer"

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STEP 12:
Under the Inbound port rule, in the public inbound port. select "Allow selected ports". Select HTTP (80) and SSH (22) then enable the Public IP Address

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STEP 13:
Under "select a load balancer". Go to "create a load balancer" then give the load balancer a name. select "public" as the outbound connection for the virtual machine. Leave other default settings as they are being selected then click on "create". It creates the load balancer.

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Validate the assigned configurations
STEP 14:
Click on "Review + Create", after validation is complete. Click on "create" then "Download private key and create resource" pops up for download, the Virtual Machine Scale Set will be deployed. Click on "Go to resources".

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Initiate the VM
STEP 15:
Open "command prompt", run as administrator.
Input
ssh -i "C:\user\USER\Download\Adeola-vmss_key.pem azureuser@172.167.45.138 -p 50000

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Followed by
sudo apt-get update -y
and;
sudo apt-get -y install nginx
To see the VM in action, install the NGINX web server. From your SSH session, update your package sources and then install the latest NGINX package.

Run a test
STEP 16:
Use a web browser of your choice to view the default NGINX welcome page. Type the public IP address of the VM as the web address. The public IP address (172.167.45.138, my public IP Address) can be found on the VM overview page or as part of the SSH connection string you used earlier.

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