MSDN Documentation

Azure Virtual Machine (VM) Guide

Welcome to the comprehensive guide for deploying and managing Azure Virtual Machines. This document provides essential information for developers, administrators, and IT professionals looking to leverage the power and flexibility of Microsoft Azure for their compute needs.

What is an Azure VM?

An Azure Virtual Machine (VM) is an on-demand, scalable computing resource that Azure offers. You can think of an Azure VM as your own personal computer in the cloud. It's a flexible, powerful, and economical option for publishing applications and hosting workloads. Azure VMs offer the control of a physical datacenter combined with the scalability of cloud computing.

Key Concepts

• Resource Manager: The deployment and management service for Azure.
• VM Size: Determines the CPU, memory, and storage capacity of your VM.
• VM Image: A template that contains software, such as an operating system and applications.
• Virtual Network (VNet): Allows Azure resources to securely communicate with each other, the internet, and on-premises networks.
• Storage: Options include unmanaged disks and managed disks (Standard HDD, Standard SSD, Premium SSD, Ultra Disk).
• Availability Options: Features like Availability Sets and Availability Zones ensure high availability for your applications.

Getting Started with Azure VMs

Follow these steps to create your first Azure VM:

1. Sign in to the Azure portal: Navigate to https://portal.azure.com/ and log in with your Azure account.
2. Create a resource: Click on "Create a resource" and search for "Virtual machine".
3. Configure VM settings:
• Basics: Select your subscription, resource group, VM name, region, OS image, size, and administrator credentials.
• Disks: Choose your disk type and configuration.
• Networking: Configure your virtual network, subnet, public IP address, and network security group.
• Management: Set up boot diagnostics, OS guest diagnostics, and other management options.
• Advanced & Tags: Configure extensions, custom data, and apply tags for organization.
4. Review and create: Once configured, review your settings and click "Create".

Common VM Operations

Starting, Stopping, and Restarting

You can manage the lifecycle of your VM directly from the Azure portal. Select your VM, and you'll find options to Start, Stop, or Restart the machine.

Connecting to your VM

For Windows VMs: Use Remote Desktop Connection (RDP). You'll need the public IP address of your VM and the administrator credentials you set during creation.

# Example of connecting via RDP (Windows)
mstsc /v:YOUR_VM_PUBLIC_IP_ADDRESS
        

For Linux VMs: Use SSH. You can connect using your public IP address and SSH credentials (username/password or SSH key).

# Example of connecting via SSH (Linux)
ssh your_username@YOUR_VM_PUBLIC_IP_ADDRESS
        

Scaling Your VM

Azure VMs can be scaled up (increasing CPU/memory) or scaled out (adding more VM instances). This can be done manually through the portal or automatically using Virtual Machine Scale Sets.

Choosing the Right VM Size

Azure offers a wide range of VM sizes optimized for different workloads. Here's a simplified overview:

Security Best Practices

• Network Security Groups (NSGs): Configure NSGs to filter network traffic to and from Azure resources in an Azure virtual network.
• Azure Security Center: Utilize Azure Security Center for unified security management and advanced threat protection across your hybrid cloud workloads.
• Regular Updates: Keep your VM's operating system and applications patched and updated.
• Strong Credentials: Use strong, unique passwords or SSH keys for administrator access.

Next Steps

Explore the following resources to deepen your understanding:

• Quickstart: Create a Windows VM in the Azure portal
• Quickstart: Create a Linux VM using the Azure CLI
• Azure VM Sizes