Azure Resource Manager Virtual Machines
Virtual Machines are a very foundational and fundamental resource in Cloud Computing. Deploying virtual machines gives you more flexibility and control over your cloud infrastructure and services, however, it also means you have more responsibility to maintain and configure these resources. This course gives you an overview of why use virtual machines as well as how to create, configure, and monitor VMs in Azure Resource Manager.
Azure Resource Manager Virtual Machines: What You'll Learn
| Lesson | What you'll learn |
|---|---|
| Overview | Overview of the course and the Learning Objectives |
| What is a Virtual Machine? | Understand what are Azure Virtual Machines and what workloads are ideal for VMs |
| Creating and Connecting to Azure VMs | Learn to deploy Windows and Linux VMs as well as how to connect to these VMs |
| Scaling Azure Virtual Machines | Understand VM scaling, load-balancing, and Availability Sets in Azure Resource Manager |
| Configuration Management | Understand the basic concepts of Desired State Configuration and the options available to Azure VMs |
| Design and Implement VM Storage | Gain an understanding of the underlying Storage options available to VMs as well as Encryption |
| Configure Monitoring & Alerts for Azure VMs | Learn to monitor VMs in Azure Resource Manager as well as configure alerts. |
| Summary | Course summary and conclusion |
GitHub Code Repository
Before we discuss why virtual machines in the cloud are important we first need to briefly discuss the basics of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS in cloud computing.
IaaS, or Infrastructure as a Service, is the lowest tier offering in a cloud environment. This offering most resembles the traditional on-premises approach of purchasing hardware and other components in order to build the necessary infrastructure to run and support a business. One may recall having “server rooms” in an office building that housed everything from user home directories, file servers, and domain controllers to an intricate connection of networking components to allow seamless connections between users and resources. In Azure, one may continue to have full control and flexibility over their servers, just in a cloud environment by controlling all software and services that run on top of these virtual servers including the operating system itself.
PaaS, or Platform as a Service, is a middle-tier offering where you don’t focus on the virtual machine itself but rather on the actual platform offerings that allows you to build your own custom applications and software components. An example of this would be Azure App Services which is a platform that allows you to build and deploy Web applications in Azure as a service to customers. There is no need to worry specifically about the server virtualization, storage, and network plumbing happening underneath.
Finally we have SaaS, or Software as a Service, which is the upper-tier offering when customers would like to simply consume existing software applications in the cloud. A perfect example of this is Office 365, where users access their email which is hosted in the Azure cloud. In this scenario Azure completely handles everything including the infrastructure and platform. Once setup, users consume the service directly from Azure.
As you move from Software as a Service to Infrastructure as a Service you notice an increase in responsibility. However, at the same time, you also gain the ability to further customize your solutions having more options at the compute, storage, and networking layers.
Chris has over 15 years of experience working with top IT Enterprise businesses. Having worked at Google helping to launch Gmail, YouTube, Maps and more and most recently at Microsoft working directly with Microsoft Azure for both Commercial and Public Sectors, Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team in architecting complex solutions and advanced troubleshooting techniques. He holds several Microsoft Certifications including Azure Certifications.
In his spare time, Chris enjoys movies, gaming, outdoor activities, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.