Creating a Azure Cloud Server: A Step-by-Step Tutorial (IaaS)

Summary

The video tutorial guides viewers through setting up an Azure account and creating a virtual machine for hosting a website. It covers selecting an IaaS server, choosing a Windows Server 2019 image, configuring network settings, and managing security. The instructor demonstrates creating a Resource Group, selecting a VM size, and setting up networking. After deploying the VM, the video shows installing IIS to host a simple HTML website, which is then accessed via a public IP address, completing the server setup.

Takeaways

• 🌐 **Azure Account Setup**: The session begins with the assumption that everyone has already created an Azure account from a previous session.
• 💻 **Server Creation**: The focus is on creating servers, starting with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and then looking at Platform as a Service (PaaS).
• 📑 **Service Overview**: Upon logging in, users are presented with a list of services, including popular and recently used services.
• 🔍 **Service Navigation**: Services can be browsed via a left-hand menu, and 'All services' provides an extensive list of what Azure offers.
• 🖥️ **Compute Service Interest**: The session is particularly interested in the compute service for creating servers.
• 🛠️ **Virtual Machine Scale Set**: Introduced as a feature that automatically creates additional servers to distribute workload when one server is overloaded.
• 🌐 **Virtual Machine Creation**: A step-by-step guide is provided for creating a virtual machine, including selecting a subscription and resource group.
• 📍 **Region Selection**: The importance of selecting a region for the server is discussed, with U.S. Central chosen as an example.
• 🔐 **Security and Availability**: The script covers options like infrastructure redundancy and security types, emphasizing the test environment setup.
• 🖼️ **Image Selection**: The process of choosing an image for the server, specifically selecting a Windows Server 2019 image, is detailed.
• 💽 **Server Size and Disk Type**: The selection of server size (B2ms) and disk type (Standard HDD) is explained, catering to the demonstration needs.
• 🔑 **Administrator Account Setup**: Instructions are given for setting up an administrator account with a complex password requirement.
• 🚪 **Port Configuration**: The configuration of ports, allowing RDP and HTTP for website hosting, is covered.
• 🔗 **Networking and Security**: The setup of networking, including virtual networks, subnets, and network security groups, is discussed.
• 🔒 **Key Management**: The decision to use platform-managed keys for encryption is highlighted.
• 📊 **Management and Monitoring**: The script touches on enabling basic management plans, monitoring, and alert configurations.
• 🏷️ **Tagging Importance**: The use of tags for organization, policy adherence, and billing analysis is emphasized.
• 🔄 **Review and Deployment**: A final review of configurations before deploying the server is advised.
• 🔌 **Post-Deployment Connection**: Instructions are provided for connecting to the deployed server using RDP.
• 🛠️ **Server Configuration**: Post-connection, the server is configured by installing roles and features, specifically Internet Information Services (IIS).
• 🌐 **Website Hosting**: The final steps include creating a test website, adding HTML content, and making it accessible via the server's public IP.

Q & A

What are the two types of cloud services discussed in the script?

The script discusses Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS).

What is the purpose of creating a virtual machine in the context of the script?

The purpose of creating a virtual machine is to host a server, which can be used to deploy and manage applications or websites.

What is a Resource Group in Azure as mentioned in the script?

A Resource Group in Azure is a logical container that groups together resources that have the same lifecycle, permissions, and policies, making it easier to manage and organize them.

Why is the U.S. Central region chosen for the virtual machine deployment in the script?

The U.S. Central region is chosen for the virtual machine deployment because the script's presenter does not have a U.S. Central region listed, so they opt for U.S. East 2 as an alternative.

What does VMSS stand for and what is its function as described in the script?

VMSS stands for Virtual Machine Scale Set. Its function is to automatically create additional servers and distribute workload when the demand on a single server increases.

What is the significance of the 'availability Zone' option in the context of server deployment?

The 'availability Zone' option ensures that there is a physical copy of the server in a different region, providing redundancy and backup in case the primary data center goes down.

Why is the 'standard' security type chosen for the virtual machine in the script?

The 'standard' security type is chosen for the virtual machine because it is the default option and sufficient for the test system being set up in the script.

What is the role of the 'image' selection in creating a virtual machine in Azure?

The 'image' selection determines the operating system and pre-configured settings for the virtual machine, which in the script is a Windows Server 2019 Datacenter edition.

What does the 'B2ms' size refer to in the context of virtual machine sizes?

The 'B2ms' size refers to a specific type of virtual machine offering in Azure, which provides a balance of compute capabilities suitable for the script's demonstration.

What is the purpose of the 'administrator account' settings during the virtual machine creation process?

The 'administrator account' settings are used to define the username and password required for logging into the server, allowing the user to manage and access the virtual machine post-deployment.

Outlines

00:00

💻 Setting Up Azure Infrastructure

The paragraph introduces the process of setting up an Azure account and creating a server. It explains the difference between Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). The user is guided through the Azure portal to create a virtual machine, which is a type of compute service. The process involves selecting a subscription, creating a resource group for organizational and billing purposes, and choosing a virtual machine name and region. The paragraph also discusses the concept of virtual machine scale sets, which automatically distribute workload across multiple servers.

05:02

🌐 Choosing Server Configurations

This paragraph delves into the specifics of configuring a virtual machine on Azure. It covers the selection of the server's region, availability zone, and the decision on infrastructure redundancy. The paragraph explains the importance of choosing the right image for the server, opting for a Windows Server 2019 in this case. It also touches on the customization of the virtual machine, including VM generation, processor architecture, and server size. The paragraph further discusses the setup of administrator accounts, the selection of ports to be opened, and the choice of disk types and sizes.

10:15

🔐 Managing Security and Networking

The focus of this paragraph is on the security and networking aspects of setting up a virtual machine on Azure. It discusses key management for data encryption, the decision to let the platform manage the keys, and the configuration of networking. This includes the setup of a virtual network, subnet, and the assignment of a public IP address. The paragraph also covers the creation of a network security group to manage inbound and outbound traffic, and the consideration of additional security measures like load balancers and application gateways for DDOS protection.

15:15

📝 Assigning Tags and Reviewing Configurations

Here, the paragraph emphasizes the importance of using tags for organizational and billing purposes. It provides an example of how to assign tags such as agency, creator, purpose, and environment to a virtual machine. The paragraph also guides through the review process of the server configurations before the final creation. It ensures that all settings, including storage, redundancy, and server size, are correct and as intended before proceeding with the deployment.

20:16

🖥️ Accessing and Configuring the Server

The paragraph describes the process of accessing the newly created virtual machine using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). It provides instructions on connecting to the server using an IP address and the correct credentials. Once connected, the paragraph outlines the steps to install Internet Information Services (IIS), which is necessary for hosting a website. The process includes adding roles and features, configuring the web server, and setting up the website directory.

25:16

🌐 Deploying and Testing the Website

The final paragraph demonstrates the deployment of a basic website on the Azure server. It covers the creation of an HTML file, configuring the IIS to host the website, and testing the website's accessibility via the internet using the server's public IP address. The paragraph concludes with a successful website deployment and a prompt for viewers to subscribe for more content.

Keywords

💡Azure

Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing service that provides a variety of resources for building, testing, and managing applications through Microsoft-managed data centers. In the video, Azure is the platform being used to create virtual servers and services like infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS), showcasing its broad capabilities in cloud computing.

💡Virtual Machine (VM)

A virtual machine is a software-based simulation of a physical computer that runs an operating system and applications just like a physical computer. In the video, the instructor demonstrates how to create a virtual machine in Azure as part of the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) model, allowing users to deploy and manage computing power on the cloud.

💡Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS is a cloud computing service where businesses rent or lease servers for computing and storage in the cloud. The infrastructure is maintained by the cloud provider. In the video, the instructor explains how to set up a virtual machine using Azure's IaaS service, which is ideal for running custom servers in the cloud.

💡Resource Group

A resource group is a container in Azure that holds related resources for an Azure solution. It helps organize and manage resources like virtual machines, networks, and storage. The video highlights creating a resource group to manage different virtual machines together for billing and organizational purposes.

💡Compute Service

Azure's Compute Service provides virtualized computing resources like virtual machines, containers, and app services. The video focuses on Azure's compute service when the instructor creates a virtual machine to serve as a server for various applications, illustrating how compute resources are essential for running cloud-based workloads.

💡Region

In Azure, a region refers to a set of data centers deployed within a specific geographical location that provides services. The instructor chooses a region (like 'US Central') to deploy the virtual machine, explaining that the region affects the location and latency of the service.

💡Virtual Network (VNet)

A virtual network in Azure allows communication between different resources like virtual machines and services securely. In the video, a VNet is created automatically when deploying the virtual machine to ensure the server has the necessary networking infrastructure to communicate with other services and the internet.

💡Network Security Group (NSG)

A Network Security Group (NSG) in Azure contains security rules that control the inbound and outbound traffic to network interfaces, virtual machines, and other Azure resources. In the video, an NSG is configured to define which traffic can reach the virtual machine, like allowing HTTP and RDP connections for web hosting and remote access.

💡Windows Server

Windows Server is a Microsoft operating system used for running server applications. In the video, the instructor selects a Windows Server 2019 image for the virtual machine to demonstrate the deployment of a common OS for cloud servers, which will later host a web application.

💡Internet Information Services (IIS)

IIS is a web server software created by Microsoft used to host and provide internet-based services. In the video, IIS is installed on the virtual machine to host a simple website, showing how the virtual machine can serve web content to users after the server setup.

Highlights

Introduction to creating Azure accounts and starting the process of creating servers.

First task is to create an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) server.

Explanation of the 'All Services' section in Azure and how to access the 'Compute' services.

Detailed overview of Virtual Machines (VM) and the difference between a simple VM and a Virtual Machine Scale Set.

Creating a virtual machine: Steps to select a free subscription, resource groups, and setting up a test environment.

Explanation of resource groups and their benefits for billing and organization.

Configuring virtual machine with a Windows Server image, choosing region and other setup steps.

Understanding different VM sizes, including B-series and D-series for different workloads.

Setting up administrator accounts, choosing port options (RDP, HTTP) and managing disk types.

Basic overview of encryption and key management options for server security.

Configuring network infrastructure, including public IP, subnets, and Network Security Groups (NSGs).

Details on enabling monitoring, backup, and alert systems to detect issues with virtual machines.

Introduction to tagging system for better organization and billing in Azure projects.

Final review of all configurations before creating the virtual machine.

Successful creation of the virtual machine and logging in via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

Setting up Internet Information Services (IIS) on the VM to host a simple website.

Basic steps to create an HTML file and deploy it using IIS to see a live website hosted on Azure.

Transcripts

all right so everyone I had created

their Azure account in our last session

uh so what we are going to do over here

today is to go ahead and create a few

servers the first server that we would

create is gonna be an infrastructure as

a service

um and then we're gonna look at a

platform as a service so

um as you once you log in you'll be able

to see a screen that is similar to this

it's going to list all the services

popular Services uh or anything that you

might have

um are used in past or click through the

website and it would show you that your

recent searches or or things along those

lines so over here on the left hand side

top when you click on uh the icon it's

going to give you the list of services

uh a brief Services a popular services

so now when we click on all services

you'll be able to see see a list a very

big list of all the services that

Microsoft Azure provides

as you can see there are hundreds and

hundreds of services that they provide

but the one that we are interested in is

the compute service because we want to

create a a server so that's a compute

service but there are several different

categories that you can choose to and

then you can play around with that a bit

later

so over here what we are going to do is

create a virtual machine but as you can

see there are other kind of compute

services like app services like

container instances or virtual machine

machine scale set so what does the

virtual machine skill set means is if

there is a too much workload on a one

server it will create another server and

distribute the workload between the two

servers and it does that automatically

but for the demonstration of this class

we are going to do the virtual machine

only so we will click on virtual machine

and then it will you'll be able to see

this kind of a screen so what do we want

to do is create a virtual machine so we

could click on this and create Azure

virtual machine

uh once you click on it it should

redirect you to creating a virtual

machine so over here what you are saying

is what subscription would you like to

use we're going to use the free uh

subscription that Microsoft had provided

us so I'm going to keep it at keep it as

Azure subscription one and then a

resource Group a resource Group is uh it

helps you to organize different

resources

um together so let's say if you had a

virtual machine just for an app server

and then you would have another virtual

machine for a database server you can

group them together because they are

going to be

um working together and used for the

same or similar uh use cases the

resource groups also helps you to

understand the billing side of things uh

let's say the resource you have 10

different clients and for each client

you have individual Resource Group

um that way it will allow you to see

what resources uh are consuming like

let's say a client ABC uses a thousand

dollar in resources per month but there

is this other client that uses hundred

dollars so you can charge your clients

accordingly

um also there are other benefits of

resource groups such as from your

organizational standpoint of things like

okay you have a production environment

you have a test environment and such and

so forth so over here we're going to

create a new Resource Group let's click

on Create and give it a name of test

iaas

um so that's test infrastructure as a

service we'll click on OK and uh that's

fine so now over here the next thing you

will see this is a virtual machine name

which region do we want to host this

um server uh and then the the region

there are several different regions as

you can see they have their data centers

across the world so let's go with the

first uh virtual machine uh let's try to

put your first name followed by server

um and that's going to be your first uh

virtual Cloud Server that you'll deploy

for the region we're gonna select a U.S

Central uh the reason we are selecting

the U.S Central is uh

we don't have a U.S Central over here so

let's go ahead and we'll create a Us

East 2.

and then what what is the availability

Zone option do we want to do no

infrastructure redundancy required we're

going to select that because this is our

test system but if you had a a scenario

where uh you want to have a physical

copy of the server because in our

previous class one of the person

mentioned that what if one of the the

data centers that we have hosted over

server goes down uh this is the option

that allows you to make sure that you

um you have it replicated you have your

server completely backed up into a

different region uh we're gonna say no

infrastructure redundancy required at

this moment but if you wanted to choose

otherwise you can see security type

standard you can have several different

security type you're going to leave it

at standard at this moment and then for

image we're going to select a different

image because we want to create a

Windows server

now over here you will be able to see

that we have several different types of

server you can click on select all

images and it will give you the list of

all the images

um

and we're going to wait for a second for

it to load up okay there you go so it

gives you all the different operating

system that are available uh and that

could that are pre-configured so let's

say we want to create a Windows server

and then

um

if you want to say okay what plans do we

have and it depends on on the other

stuff so you can click around and play

with it and to see what what's actually

out there so we go back to create server

we click on

this and we would select a Windows

Server 2019 uh data center we can select

2022 version but let's say go with the

2019 version at this moment so we will

click on this

and then it will do all the

configurations that is required but

let's say if you want to do a custom

configuration then we can click on

configure VM and we can uh uh VM

generation and then we can select which

generation do we want to use

um VM architecture which what kind of

processing processor do we want to use

do we want to use 64 or arm processor at

this point with Windows we have on the

64 version available

um now as we are scrolling down we get

um

we get other options like what is the

size of the server that you want to

select so over here uh as you can see

they are showing us few sizes but we

would click on select all sizes

and from there you would be able to see

several different type of uh server

sizes you have a dedicated you have

um adseries F-series E-Series but there

are those series means different things

and they could be used for several

different use cases but for the

demonstration of our

uh of uh our class we're gonna select

b2ms

um if you wanted to have a dedicated

server you can select any D series

server but we're gonna stick with b2ms

right now we'll if you uh if needed we

can go into the details of what are the

different types of servers and uh which

do we need

so

um as we can go along there are other

information uh fields that that is

needed so over here you can see

administrator account so we're gonna

make sure if you uh have some other

whatever

username you give and password you give

will need that to log into the server so

over here I'm gonna select as end-to-end

admin

and then I'm gonna give it a password

okay so it needs uh there are some

requirements over here it needs a 12

character long password and stuff like

that so I'm gonna say and

and two and

two three four

dollar

and two and bang two three four dollar

okay

and two

and one two three four dollars

so

um make sure you remember your username

and password

and then as we go uh down what ports do

we want to allow we would say RDP and

HTTP Port as we're going to be hosting

our website there and then uh we would

go on to the disks

what's the disk size and what the this

type do we want to

have so over here as you can see uh

there are several different options for

uh disks OS Disk type you're going to

say uh standard

HDD hard drive you don't need a faster

disk at this moment so we're going to

say standard HDD but there is an option

for premium sdd that are much faster for

read and write operation standard s SSD

is again a little bit faster than a

regular hard drive but we're going to

stick with the standard hard drive at

this moment it's a magnetic disc so it

takes a little bit uh to read and write

to perform a read and write operation

so as we go along on Key Management so

all your data uh uh all your data is

encrypted and if someone stores the

server physical server they won't be

able to access

any of the data that's on there because

it is everything is encrypted so with

key management

how do we want to manage the key we're

going to say platform manage so

Microsoft takes care of that rather than

we trying to manage it

so that's everything let's go to the

networking side because when you have a

server you need the networking

infrastructure over here it provides you

all pre-filled infrastructure virtual

Network it's going to create a virtual

Network it's going to create a subnet

and it's going to assign a public IP to

the virtual machine that we are creating

and then Network Security Group uh what

kind of uh Security Group configurations

do we want we're going to keep it basic

we're going to allow public inbound and

outboard traffic

and we select which ports do we allow as

we did it on our first screen we would

choose if there is a load balancer or

application Gateway added those are

added for traffic monitoring or traffic

dividing or

we can use application gateway to

protect any attack

against our server like DDOS attack so

if we go next into the management

we would see several different thing

enable basic plan for free yes uh like

Windows Defender we want a basic free

plan if you wanted to have uh other

configurations that we wanted to add

like login through Azure ad we don't

have that at this moment so we are not

going to do that unable system assigned

managed identities

um like if uh your services your

different Azure services are talking

together then we can do that enable

backing up site recovery in an event if

a virtual machine fails in an Eastern

region we want to we might if we have

enabled backing up or did a site

recovery then we can recover that side

in a western region with a minimum to no

loss of data

so those are the configurations that we

we can see over here we will click on

next monitoring

over here we're gonna

have the default one enabled with manage

storage account uh so if there are any

diagnosis like a server fail if there

are any errors in the server then it

will generate a log file and we would be

able to access that we can create alerts

like if a virtual machine is down for

let's say 10 15 minutes it sends out an

email and a text message those are the

configurations that we can do with

alerts enabling alerts and then

configuring those alerts

but at this moment it's out of our scope

we go into the advanced if there are any

scripts that you want to run during uh

the initial boot of uh of the of the

server or if there are any other regular

tasks that you want to perform so this

section would be used for that for again

for our

purposes we're gonna keep going to the

tags

this is very very important one

um

so tags allows you again like we did

with the resource Group it allows us to

um do mapping and do certain things so

some of the tags that we like in our

company is what and what uh first of all

which agency is this for so we would say

agency is end to end or you can put your

own name

um

and then created by

created by I would say Andy Patel and

then

um okay uh what's your purpose

purpose of this it's a test system

or we can say Tech Academy

and then we would select the environment

of the server EnV we would say test

system and that's it so you can add your

tags you can create certain policies

that says you need to have certain tags

in in your in this you can technically

skip this but it will allow you to do

much better analysis on your billing

side of things so

here is agency created by purpose and

environment we'll click on next and it

will give us an entire thing to review

hey this is uh this is how much it's

going to cost these are the

configurations that you have selected if

there are any changes that we would uh

like to make then we can do it right now

before we click on the create button

here but before we do that it's just

taking a few seconds to go ahead and

make sure everything is configured so

over here as you can see everything

is the test passed so we can click on

create let's make sure we scroll down

through this and see all the

configurations that we did are correct

we did the hard drive local redundant

storage no

relevancy required we selected our uh we

change the size to b2ms initially it was

B1

so that's everything over here now we're

gonna click on Create and it will take

few minutes to go ahead and create the

server

so once we have created the server we're

going to try to log into the system and

configure that for our uh

you know for our need we're going to

install and IIs internet

um Services uh enter IIs internet

Information Services I believe that's

what it's called

um and then we would

we would host our first website

so I'm gonna pause this video for a

second and we'll continue once uh a

complete deployment is done

okay so

um as you can see our resource is

created and we can go to our Resource

Group and it's going to list out all the

resources that we have here is the ND

server that we created now what we are

going to do over here is let's go back

to our our ears

let's go to the resource Group and

in the resource Group you see several

different things that are created

and that is that is exactly what other

things you would need so you have the

virtual machine that's what initially we

plan to create we got a public IP

address to which we would be able to

reach and reach our website then you

have a network security group on which

you put the rules who can or which codes

could be connected and from where it

could be connected and then we have a

network interface

so the network interface allows us to

allows the server to communicate to the

network and then we have a disk that's a

disk you need to have

storage and then we have the virtual

Network so virtual network is connected

to the network interface is connected to

the virtual machine so now what we're

going to do is we are going to do a

connection to the server I hope you

remember your

uh username and password and we're gonna

use that to connect to the server so I

want you to go to

RDP on your Surface Book and you can

click on that

and then you would put an IPA address

over here and then you will click on

connect

so as you click on connect it's going to

try to make a connection request to our

server and it's going to ask for a

username and password so we're going to

click on more choices and use a

different account and then we would what

we would do over here is put

put the

server name

slash the username so we're going to say

ND server followed by N2 and admin

and then we're gonna enter the password

and then click on OK

and it's going to make ask you that you

want to verify this and we're going to

say yes and it it's going to connect you

to the server

all right so

here is what you'll see

okay

this is not exactly

okay

so we are getting connected to the

server at this point

um and we're gonna do certain

configurations that allows us to host

the website this might take a few

seconds to get connected up as it is the

first time we are connect getting

connected to the server

so there we go that's our server

and uh it doesn't do anything at this

point it's just

a piece of uh uh it is

it is a computer hosted in Azure

infrastructure

so we're gonna

install and information

uh service

internet information service IIs

and that IIs is gonna

allow us to use

our website

on the server so let's go ahead and say

add role and feature you'll see the

server manager and we're going to say

add role and feature

okay

the server is collecting the inventory

of data the visual art will available

after the data collection as well so

it's starting up so it's taking a few

seconds

to to load up the server and do

everything on the background

so I believe it should be done by now

okay there we go so we should uh click

on that click on next

uh click on next

and then you're gonna say this is the

server click on next and what do we want

to enable over here uh as you can see uh

we we have an entire list of things that

we can enable but we are interested in

web server IIs

and then we're going to say add a

feature and click on next

and it does all the auto configuration

we are not gonna change anything on this

and we're gonna say Okay click on next

click on next

um here are the basic configuration we

are not going to make any changes to

this but let's go ahead and keep

clicking on next

and then install

so it's going to take few seconds to go

ahead and go through the installation

process of uh web IIs a web server

and then once we are done with the

um installation of that we would be able

to host our first website

okay so uh we have gone through the

installation process of uh IIs web

server and then we're gonna click on

close and we should be able to see our

IIs server

so

what we're going to do is go into the

files

and from there we'll go into this PC

Drive

and then you will see an inet Pub

and we would go into WWE root

in WWE root we are going to create a new

folder

test website

and we're gonna add

we're going to add a new file

text document at this point we're going

to say index.html

uh let's double click on it and then I'm

going to write a little bit of an HTML

code some of you might have seen this uh

nothing nothing too usual

nothing unusual about HTML over here

that's what I meant to say

so we got the body tag HTML tag and then

we're gonna say H1

slash H1 and then I'm gonna have

Tech

Academy

uh week two

so

that's what we have I'm gonna click on

file save as and that as the previous

file was saved as a text I'm going to

save this as HTML

and it's saved you see two files over

here now we're gonna open up the IIs

and that should give us an internet

information service

over here we're gonna

create

and

default site so

let's

remove

and then we're going to say add a

website

uh what's the site name we're gonna say

test

uh test website let's say test website

we're gonna choose the path at where the

site is saved so we're going to say C

drive inet Pub root and test website

click on OK

and that's it we're gonna click on OK

and now

on the right side over here you see

browse option that will take you to the

website but we want to see if we can

connect to the website from

um internet so I'm gonna copy this IP

address open up a new tab and then paste

it over here and I should be able to see

our website cool so that is so good now

that's your first deployment of a web

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