Lab 08: Manage Azure Virtual Machines

For complete lab instructions, see the full guide on GitHub.

Objective: This lab explores Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) and Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS). You'll create and manage individual VMs, resize them, and then create a VMSS with autoscaling.

Key Concepts:

Availability Zones: Physically separate locations within an Azure region, providing high availability and fault tolerance. Deploying VMs across zones protects against single-point-of-failure within a region.
VM Size (SKU): Determines the compute resources (CPU, memory) allocated to a VM. Resizing a VM changes its SKU.
Managed Disks: Azure-managed storage for VMs. You can change the disk type (Standard HDD, Standard SSD, Premium SSD) and size.
Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS): A group of identical, load-balanced VMs that can automatically scale in or out based on demand or a schedule.
Autoscaling: Automatically adjusting the number of VM instances in a VMSS based on metrics like CPU utilization.
Orchestration Modes: Uniform (identical instances, suitable for stateless applications, the focus of this lab) and Flexible (allows more heterogeneity, suitable for a wider range of workloads, including stateful applications).

Job skills

Task 1: Deploy zone-resilient Azure virtual machines by using the Azure portal.
Task 2: Manage compute and storage scaling for virtual machines.
Task 3: Create and configure Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets.
Task 4: Scale Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets.
Task 5: Create a virtual machine using Azure PowerShell (optional 1).
Task 6: Create a virtual machine using the CLI (optional 2).

Task 1: Deploy Zone-Resilient VMs

Sign In: Log in to the Azure portal (https://portal.azure.com).
Create VMs: Search for and select "Virtual machines" and click "+ Create" -> "Azure virtual machine."
- Basics:
  - Virtual machine names: After selecting both Availability Zones (next step), select Edit Names and use az104-vm1 and az104-vm2.
  - Availability options: Availability zone
  - Availability zone: Check both Zone 1 and Zone 2. This creates two VMs, one in each zone.
  - Azure Spot instance: Unchecked
  - Size: Standard_D2s_v3
  - Password: (Provide a strong password)
  - Public inbound ports: None
- Disks:
  - OS disk type: Premium SSD
  - Delete with VM: Checked (default)
  - Enable Ultra Disk compatibility: Unchecked
- Networking: Accept the defaults, but set Load Balancing Options to None and Delete public IP and NIC when VM is deleted to Checked.
- Management: Patch orchestration options: Azure orchestrated
- Monitoring:Boot diagnostics: Disable
- Advanced: Accept the defaults.
- Review + create: Verify and click "Create."

Task 2: Manage VM Scaling

Resize VM (Vertical Scaling):
- Go to the az104-vm1 VM resource.
- Under "Settings," select "Size."
- Choose Standard_DS1_v2
- Click "Resize." Confirm the change if prompted.
Manage Data Disk:
- Under "Settings," select "Disks."
- Click "+ Create and attach a new disk."
  - Disk name: vm1-disk1
  - Storage type: Standard HDD
  - Size (GiB): 32
- Click "Save."
- After creation, click the "Detach" icon (far right) for vm1-disk1.
- Click Apply. This detaches the disk but keeps it in storage.
Change Disk Type:
- Search for and select "Disks."
- Select vm1-disk1.
- Under "Settings," select "Size + performance."
- Change the "Storage type" to Standard SSD.
- Click "Save."
Reattach Disk:
- Go back to the az104-vm1 VM.
- Select "Disks."
- Under "Data disks," click "Attach existing disks."
- Disk name: Select vm1-disk1.
- Verify the disk type is now Standard SSD.
- Click Apply.

Task 3: Create Virtual Machine Scale Set

Create VMSS: Search for and select "Virtual machine scale sets." and click "+ Create."
- Basics:
  - Virtual machine scale set name: vmss1
  - Region: (US) East US
  - Availability zone: Select Zone 1, Zone 2, and Zone 3.
  - Orchestration mode: Uniform
  - Scaling Options: Review and take the defaults. We will change this in the next task.
  - Size: Standard_D2s_v3
- Disks: Accept the defaults.

Networking: Click "Create virtual network" (below the Virtual network textbox).
- - Name: vmss-vnet
    - Address range: 10.82.0.0/20 (delete the existing default range)
    - Subnet name: subnet0
    - Subnet range: 10.82.0.0/24
    - Click "OK."
- Click the "Edit network interface" icon (pencil) to the right of the NIC entry.
  - NIC network security group: Advanced
  - Configure network security group: Click "Create new."
    - Name: vmss1-nsg
    - Click "Add an inbound rule."
      - Source: Any
      - Source port ranges: *
      - Destination: Any
      - Service: HTTP
      - Action: Allow
      - Priority: 1010
      - Name: allow-http
    - Click "Add."
    - Click "OK."

Public IP address: Enabled
Click "OK."

Load Balancing:
- Load balancing options: Azure load balancer
- Select a load balancer: Click Create new
  - Enter the Load Balancer Name: vmss-lb
  - Take the defaults, and select Create.

Management: Disable Boot Diagnostics.
Health: Review the defaults (no changes).
Advanced: Review the defaults (no changes).
Review + create: Verify and click "Create."

Wait for Deployment: This will take about 5 minutes.

Task 4: Scale VMSS (Autoscaling)

Configure Autoscaling:
- Go to the vmss1 resource.
- Under Settings, choose Availability + Scale, and then Scaling.
- Select Custom autoscale.
- Scale mode: Scale based on a metric

Click "+ Add a rule."
- Scale Out Rule (Increase Instances):
  - Metric source: Current resource (vmss1)
  - Metric namespace: Virtual Machine Host
  - Metric name: Percentage CPU
  - Operator: Greater than
  - Metric threshold to trigger scale action: 70
  - Duration (minutes): 10
  - Time grain statistic: Average
  - Operation: Increase percent by
  - Cool down (minutes): 5
  - Percentage: 50
  - Select Add.

Scale In Rule (Decrease Instances):
- Select Add a rule
- Metric Source: Current Resource
- Metric namespace: Virtual Machine Host
- Metric name: Percentage CPU
- Operator: Less than
- Threshold: 30
- Operation: Decrease percent by
- Percentage: 50
- Select Add.
- Instance Limits:
  - Minimum: 2
  - Maximum: 10
  - Default: 2
Click "Save."

Monitor Instances:

- On the vmss1 page, select "Instances." This is where you'd monitor the number of running VM instances as the scale set scales in and out.

Task 5: Create VM with PowerShell (Optional)

Launch Cloud Shell (PowerShell): Click the Cloud Shell icon in the portal (or go to https://shell.azure.com). Choose PowerShell.

Create VM:

PowerShell

 New-AzVm `
 -ResourceGroupName 'az104-rg8' `
 -Name 'myPSVM' `
 -Location 'East US' `
 -Image 'Win2019Datacenter' `
 -Zone '1' `
 -Size 'Standard_D2s_v3' `
 -Credential (Get-Credential)

Enter a username and password when prompted.

Verify and Deallocate:

PowerShell

 Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName 'az104-rg8' -Status
 Stop-AzVM -ResourceGroupName 'az104-rg8' -Name 'myPSVM' -Force
 Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName 'az104-rg8' -Status

Task 6: Create VM with Azure CLI (Optional)

Launch Cloud Shell (Bash): Click the Cloud Shell icon, and choose Bash.

Create VM:

Bash

 az vm create --name myCLIVM --resource-group az104-rg8 --image Ubuntu2204 --admin-username localadmin --generate-ssh-keys

Verify and Deallocate:

Bash

 az vm show --name myCLIVM --resource-group az104-rg8 --show-details
 az vm deallocate --resource-group az104-rg8 --name myCLIVM
 az vm show --name myCLIVM --resource-group az104-rg8 --show-details

For complete lab instructions, see the full guide on GitHub.

Lab 08: Manage Azure Virtual Machines

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