Introduction
Spinning up a Virtual Machine (VM) for the first time is a milestone moment for anyone diving into cloud computing and IT infrastructure. After navigating through documentation, tutorials, and a few trial-and-error moments, I finally deployed my first VM on Microsoft Azureโand I couldn't be more excited to share the experience! ๐คฉ
This article will walk you through how I successfully launched my first VM, the challenges I faced, and key takeaways that might help fellow beginners.
๐ Why I Wanted to Deploy a Virtual Machine
As someone diving deeper into cloud computing and DevOps, I knew that understanding VM deployment was fundamental. Virtual Machines provide isolated environments for running applications, testing configurations, and simulating real-world infrastructure setups.
I decided to use Azure as my cloud provider for this project because of its reliability and comprehensive documentation.
โ๏ธ Step-by-Step Process: How I Created My First VM
1๏ธโฃ Logging Into the Azure Portal
I logged into the Azure Portal and navigated to the Virtual Machines service.
2๏ธโฃ Creating a New Virtual Machine
Hereโs what I did:
- Clicked on Create a Virtual Machine
- Selected Windows Server 2022 as my operating system
- Chose a VM size (Standard B1s โ 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM)
- Configured networking (enabled RDP access for remote login)
- Set storage and resource group
3๏ธโฃ Deploying the VM ๐
After reviewing the settings, I clicked Review + Create and waited a few minutes while my VM spun up. Once the deployment was complete, I noted my public IP address.
4๏ธโฃ Connecting to the VM via RDP
I used the following steps to connect to my instance:
- Opened Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) on my local machine
- Entered the public IP address of my VM
- Logged in using the admin username and password set during VM creation
And just like thatโI was inside my first virtual machine on Azure! ๐
๐ฅ Challenges I Faced & How I Fixed Them
๐ก RDP Connection Issues โ Initially, I couldnโt connect via RDP. I realized I had to allow inbound RDP traffic (port 3389) in my Network Security Group settings.
๐ก Incorrect VM Size โ My first attempt used an underpowered VM, causing slow performance. I later resized it to a better configuration.
๐ก Storage Misconfiguration โ I forgot to allocate enough disk space at first. Using Azure Disk Expansion, I adjusted the size.
๐ Key Takeaways & Next Steps
โ
Understand Networking & Security โ Always configure firewall rules & security groups properly.
โ
Choose the Right VM Size โ Picking the right CPU/RAM/storage matters for performance.
โ
Leverage Azure Documentation โ Microsoft's detailed guides are lifesavers!
Next, Iโll be exploring automating VM deployments using Terraform on Azureโstay tuned! ๐
๐ Whatโs Your Experience?
Have you deployed a virtual machine before? What challenges did you face? Letโs discuss in the comments! ๐
Top comments (0)