Azure Virtual Machines (VMs)

Overview

• Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) provide Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
• Allow running Windows or Linux workloads in the cloud.
• Fully customizable compute, storage, and networking options.
• Useful for hosting apps, databases, or as development/test environments.

Key Features

• Supports multiple OS (Windows, Linux, custom images).
• Flexible sizes: General-purpose, Compute-optimized, Memory-optimized, GPU.
• Integrated with Azure Networking (VNet, Subnets, NSGs).
• Supports scaling via Virtual Machine Scale Sets.
• High availability using Availability Sets and Zones.
• Integration with Azure Monitor and Security Center.

Workflow

    +-----------------+
    |   User / DevOps |
    +-----------------+
            |
            v
    +-------------------------------+
    | Azure CLI / Portal / Powershell|
    +-------------------------------+
            |
            v
    +-----------------------+
    |    Resource Group     |
    +-----------------------+
      |        |        |
      |        |        +---> [ Virtual Network + Subnet ] --> [ Network Security Group ]
      |        |
      |        +------------> [ Storage: OS Disk / Data Disk ]
      |
      v
  +-----------------+
  | Virtual Machine | ----> [ Public/Private IP ]
  +-----------------+

Common Use Cases

• Hosting web applications.
• Running development/test environments.
• Migrating on-premises apps to the cloud.
• High-performance workloads with GPU/compute-intensive VMs.

Steps to Create a VM using Azure CLI

1. Login to Azure

az login

2. Create a Resource Group

az group create --name MyResourceGroup --location eastus

3. Create a Virtual Network & Subnet

az network vnet create \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
  --name MyVNet \
  --subnet-name MySubnet

4. Create a Public IP Address

az network public-ip create \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
  --name MyPublicIP

5. Create a Network Security Group (NSG) and Allow SSH/HTTP

az network nsg create \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
  --name MyNSG

# Allow SSH (Linux VM)
az network nsg rule create \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
  --nsg-name MyNSG \
  --name AllowSSH \
  --protocol tcp \
  --priority 1000 \
  --destination-port-ranges 22 \
  --access allow

# Allow RDP (Windows VM)
az network nsg rule create \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
  --nsg-name MyNSG \
  --name AllowRDP \
  --protocol tcp \
  --priority 1001 \
  --destination-port-ranges 3389 \
  --access allow

6. Create a Network Interface Card (NIC)

az network nic create \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
  --name MyNIC \
  --vnet-name MyVNet \
  --subnet MySubnet \
  --network-security-group MyNSG \
  --public-ip-address MyPublicIP

7. Create the VM

az vm create \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
  --name MyVM \
  --nics MyNIC \
  --image UbuntuLTS \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --generate-ssh-keys

8. Open Ports (if needed, e.g., HTTP/HTTPS)

az vm open-port --port 80 --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyVM
az vm open-port --port 443 --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyVM

9. Connect to VM

• Linux VM (SSH):

  ssh azureuser@

• Windows VM (RDP):

  • Use Remote Desktop Client → Enter <PublicIP>.

Notes

• Always place VMs inside a Resource Group.
• Use Managed Disks instead of unmanaged for reliability.
• Tag resources for better management (--tags env=dev project=test).
• Monitor with Azure Monitor and Log Analytics.