Demonstration – Deploying Virtual Machine in Azure from scratch

In this demonstration, we will go step-by-step to create a virtual machine (VM) in Azure and then connect to it.

The two common connection methods are RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) for Windows VMs and SSH for Linux VMs.

Part 1: Create a Virtual Machine in Azure

Step 1: Sign In to the Azure Portal

1. Open your browser and go to the Azure Portal:

2. Log in with your Azure account credentials.

Step 2: Create a New Virtual Machine

1. In the Azure Portal, click on "Create a resource" at the top left corner.

2. In the search bar, type "Virtual Machine" and select Virtual Machine from the options.

3. Click "Create" to start the process of creating the VM.

Step 3: Configure Basic Settings for the Virtual Machine

1. Subscription: Select the subscription you want to use.

2. Resource Group: You can either create a new resource group (e.g., MyVMResourceGroup) or use an existing one.

3. Virtual Machine Name: Provide a name for your VM, e.g., MyFirstVM.

4. Region: Select the region where you want to deploy the VM (e.g., East US).

5. Image:

   • Choose an operating system (OS) image. For Windows, you might select Windows Server 2022 Datacenter.

   • For Linux, select Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

6. Size:

   • Choose the VM size.

   • For simplicity, you can select the Standard B1s size (1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM) for smaller workloads.

7. Authentication Type:

   • If you choose Windows, set a Username and Password.

   • For Linux, you’ll need to upload an SSH public key or use a password for authentication.

8. Inbound Port Rules:

   • Choose Allow selected ports and select RDP (for Windows) or SSH (for Linux).

   • This allows remote connections to your VM.

9. Click Next: Disks.

Step 4: Configure Disks

1. OS Disk:

   • Choose the disk type.

   • If you are unsure, choose Standard SSD for balanced performance and cost.

2. Data Disks: Leave this as default (no additional data disks).

Click Next: Networking.

Step 5: Configure Networking

1. Virtual Network (VNet): Either use the default virtual network or create a new one.

2. Subnet: Azure will automatically create a subnet for you.

3. Public IP: Select Create new to assign a public IP address to the VM.

4. Network Security Group (NSG): Select Basic and ensure that RDP (port 3389) is open (for Windows VMs) or SSH (port 22) is open (for Linux VMs).

Click Next: Management.

Step 6: Configure Management Settings

1. Enable Boot Diagnostics to view screenshots of the VM in case there are boot issues.

2. You can optionally enable Auto-shutdown to automatically stop the VM at a specified time to save costs.

Click Next: Advanced (leave as default) and then Next: Tags.

Step 7: Review and Create

1. Review all the configuration settings.

2. Click Create to deploy the VM. This will take a few minutes to complete.

Once the deployment is successful, you’ll see the “Deployment succeeded” message.

Part 2: Connect to the Virtual Machine

For Windows Virtual Machines (Using RDP)

1. Navigate to the VM Overview: In the Azure Portal, go to Virtual Machines and select the VM you just created.

2. Get the Public IP Address: On the Overview page of the VM, find the Public IP Address listed on the right side.

3. Connect via RDP:

   • Open the Remote Desktop Connection app on your computer (you can search for it in the Windows search bar).

   • In the Remote Desktop Connection window, type the Public IP address of your VM and click Connect.

   • A login prompt will appear asking for the username and password you created when setting up the VM.

   • Enter the credentials and click OK.

4. Access the VM: Once logged in, you will be connected to your Windows Server VM and can begin working with it remotely.

For Linux Virtual Machines (Using SSH)

1. Navigate to the VM Overview: In the Azure Portal, go to Virtual Machines and select the VM you just created.

2. Get the Public IP Address: On the Overview page of the VM, find the Public IP Address of the VM.

3. Use SSH to Connect:

   • Open a terminal on your computer (Linux/macOS) or an SSH client like PowerShell (Windows).

   • Use the following SSH command to connect to your Linux VM:

   1
   ssh username@<public_ip_address>
   

   • Replace username with the username you configured when creating the VM and <public_ip_address> with the actual public IP address of the VM.

   • If you are using an SSH key, ensure the private key is available on your local machine and use the command:

   xxxxxxxxxx
   1
   1
   ssh -i /path/to/your/private_key username@<public_ip_address>
   

4. Access the VM: Once logged in, you will be connected to your Linux VM and can start working on it.

Troubleshooting

1. Unable to Connect via RDP or SSH:

   • Double-check that the Network Security Group (NSG) allows the correct port (3389 for RDP, 22 for SSH).

   • Ensure the VM is running. If it is stopped, start it from the Azure Portal.

   • Ensure you are using the correct public IP address for the VM.

2. SSH Key Issues:

   • If using SSH, verify that the SSH private key is on your local machine and is associated with the correct public key during VM creation.

Summary

In this demonstration, you learned how to:

1. Create a Virtual Machine in the Azure Portal.

2. Configure the VM settings such as size, operating system, and networking.

3. Connect to the VM using RDP (for Windows) or SSH (for Linux).

By following these steps, you can easily create and access VMs for a wide variety of use cases in Azure.