Azure Documentation

Create a Virtual Machine

This guide will walk you through the steps to create a new Virtual Machine (VM) in Azure. You can create VMs using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, or ARM templates.

Using the Azure Portal

The Azure portal provides a user-friendly graphical interface for creating and managing Azure resources.

Steps:

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal: Navigate to https://portal.azure.com/ and sign in with your Azure account.
  2. Navigate to Virtual Machines: In the portal's search bar, type "Virtual machines" and select "Virtual machines" from the results.
  3. Create a Virtual Machine: Click the + Create button and select Virtual machine.
  4. Basics Tab:
    • Subscription: Select your Azure subscription.
    • Resource group: Choose an existing resource group or click Create new to create a new one. A resource group is a logical container for your Azure resources.
    • Virtual machine name: Enter a unique name for your VM.
    • Region: Select the Azure region where you want to deploy your VM.
    • Availability options: Choose your desired availability options (e.g., Availability zone, Availability set).
    • Security type: Select the desired security type (Standard, Trusted launch, Confidential).
    • Image: Choose an operating system image (e.g., Windows Server, Ubuntu Server).
    • Size: Select a VM size that meets your performance and cost requirements.
    • Administrator account: Configure username and password or SSH public key authentication.
    • Inbound port rules: Select the ports you want to allow inbound traffic to (e.g., RDP (3389) for Windows, SSH (22) for Linux).
  5. Disks Tab: Configure the OS disk and data disks for your VM. You can choose between different disk types (e.g., Premium SSD, Standard SSD, Standard HDD).
  6. Networking Tab: Configure the virtual network, subnet, public IP address, and network security group for your VM.
  7. Management Tab: Configure monitoring, identity, auto-shutdown, and other management settings.
  8. Advanced Tab: Configure extensions, custom data, and other advanced settings.
  9. Tags Tab: Apply tags to your VM for organization and billing purposes.
  10. Review + create: Review all your settings. If everything is correct, click Create.
Note: The deployment process can take a few minutes to complete. You will receive a notification once the VM is successfully deployed.

Example using Azure CLI

You can also create a VM using the Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI). Ensure you have the Azure CLI installed and logged in to your Azure account.


az vm create \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
  --name MyVM \
  --image UbuntuLTS \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --generate-ssh-keys
            
Tip: For more advanced configurations, refer to the Azure CLI documentation for az vm create.

Next Steps

Create VM in Azure Portal