High availability

These high-availability options are mutually exclusive:

Availability zones protect from datacenter-level failures by providing physical and logical separation between VM instances. Zones have independent power sources, network, and cooling, and there are at least 3 zones in every region.
Availability sets offer redundancy for VMs in the same application tier, ensuring at least one VM is available in the case of a host update or problem. Each VM is assigned a fault domain (representing separate physical racks in the datacenter) and an update domain (representing groups of VMs and underlying physical hardware that can be rebooted at the same time for host updates). Availability sets have a maximum of 20 update domains and 3 fault domains.

VM scale sets (VMSS) support the ability to dynamically add and remove instances. By default, a VMSS supports up to 100 instances or up to 1000 instances if deployed with the property singlePlacementGroup set to false (called a large-scale set). A placement group is a concept similar to an availability set in that it assigns fault and upgrade domains. By default, a scale set consists of only a single placement group, but disabling this setting allows the scale set to be composed of multiple placement groups. If a custom image is used instead of one in the gallery, the limit is actually 300 instances.

Create availability set

az vm availability-set create -n $n -g $g 
    --platform-fault-domain-count 3 
    --platform-update-domain-count 10

Load balancers

Load balancers redistribute traffic from a frontend pool to a backend pool using rules. Health probes determine the health of the VMs in the backend pool: if they don't respond then new connections won't be sent. By default, Azure Load Balancer stores rules in a 5-tuple:

Source IP address
Source port
Destination IP address
Destination ports
IP Protocol number

Azure Load Balancers come in 2 pricing tiers:

Basic which is free
Standard which is charged based on the number of rules and the data that is processed.

Both boot and guest OS diagnostics can be enabled on or after VM creation.

Azure VMs have built-in extensions that enable configuration management. 2 most common extensions for configuration management:

Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) allows you to define the state of a VM using PowerShell Desired State Configuration language

A VM may have more than one Network Interface Card (NIC), but they must belong to the same region as the VM itself. All NICs on a VM must also be attached to the same VNet.

Tasks

Deploy VM from image

az vm create -g $g -n $n  
    --image $imageName # (1)

Specify a legacy unmanaged image

az vm create -g $g -n $n 
    --image $osDiskUri 
    --generate-ssh-keys

Windows Server Core

az vm create -n $vmName -g $rg -l $vmLocation 
    --image "MicrosoftWindowsServer:WindowsServer:2016-Datacenter-Server-Core:2016.127.20190603" 
    --admin-username aztestadmin
    --admin-password $password
    --nics socrates-nic

Display status of VMs

az vm list -g $g -o table

Invoke a command on a VM

# Enumerate available values for command-id
az vm run-command list

az vm run-command invoke -g $g -n $n
    --command-id RunPowerShellScript 
    --scripts @script.ps1 
    --parameters 'arg1=somefoo' 'arg2=somebar'

Resize VM

az vm list-vm-resize-options -g $g -n $n 
    --output table

az vm resize -g $g -n $n 
    --size Standard_DS3_v2

Create container registry

az acr create -g $g -n $n
    --sku Basic --admin-enabled true

Add NIC

az network nic create -g $g -n $n 
    --vnet-name $ExamRefVNET 
    --subnet $subnetName

az vm nic add -g $g --vm-name $vmName --nics $nicName --primary-nic

az vm redeploy -g $g -n $n

Create managed VM

az vm deallocate -g $g --name $vmName
az vm generalize -g $g --name $vmName
az image create -g $g --name $imageName --source $vmName

Create scale set

az vmss create -g $g -n $n 
    --image UbuntuLTS 
    --authentication-type password 
    --admin-username $userName 
    --admin-password $password

Create

$subnets = @()
$subnet1Name = "Subnet1"
$subnet2Name = "Subnet2"
$subnet1AddressPrefix = "10.0.0.0/24"
$subnet2AddressPrefix = "10.0.1.0/24"
$vnetAddressSpace = "10.0.0.0/16"
$vnetName = "ExamRefVNET"

New-AzResourceGroup -Name $resourceGroupName -Location $location

Create a virtual network

$subnets = @()
$subnets += New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name $subnet1Name -AddressPrefix $subnet1AddressPrefix
$subnets += New-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name $subnet2Name -AddressPrefix $subnet2AddressPrefix
$vnet = New-AzVirtualNetwork -Name $vnetName -Location $location -AddressPrefix $vnetAddressSpace -Subnet $subnets
$pip = New-AzPublicIpAddress -Name $ipName -ResourceGroupName $g -Location $location -AllocationMethod Dynamic -DomainNameLabel $dnsName
$nsgRules = @()
$nsgRules += New-AzNetworkSecurityRuleConfig -Name "RDP" -Description "RemoteDesktop" -Protocol Tcp -SourcePortRange "*" -DestinationPortRange "3389" -SourceAddressPrefix "*" -DestinationAddressPrefix "*" -Access Allow -Priority 110 -Direction Inbound
$nsg = New-AzNetworkSecurityGroup -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Name "ExamREfNSG" -SecurityRules $nsgRules -Location $location
$nic = New-AzNetworkInterface -Name $nicNAme -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Location $location -SubnetId $vnet.Subnets[0].Id -PublicIpAddressId $pip.Id -NetworkSecurityGroupId $nsg.Id
Add-AzVMNetworkInterface -VM $vm -NetworkInterface $nic
$vm = New-AzVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize $vmSize
Set-AzVMOperatingSystem -Windows -ComputerName $vmName -Credential $cred -ProvisionVMAgent -VM $vm
Set-AzVMSourceImage -PublisherName $pubName -Offer $offerName -Skus $skuName -Version "latest" -VM $vm
Set-AzVMOSDisk -CreateOption fromImage -VM $vm
New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Location $location -VM $vm

az group create --name $g --location $location
vmName="myUbuntuVM"
imageName="UbuntuLTS"
az vm create --resource-group $g --name $vmName --image $imageName --generate-ssh-keys

Create a virtual network

vnetName="ExamRefVNET"
vnetAddressPrefix="10.0.0.0/16"
az network vnet create --resource-group $g -n ExamRefVNET --address-prefixes $vnetAddressPrefix -l $location
dnsRecord="examrefdns123123"
ipName="ExamRefIP"
az network public-ip create -n $ipName -g $g --allocation-method Dynamic --dns-name $dnsRecord -l $location
nsgName="webnsg"
az network nsg create -n $nsgName -g $g -l $location

Create a NSG rules to allow inbound SSH and HTTP

az network nsg rule create -n SSH --nsg-name ... --priority 100 -g ... --access Allow --description "SSH Access" --direction Inbound --protocol Tcp --destination-address-prefix "*" --destination-port-range 22 --source-address-prefix "*" --source-port-range "*"
az network nsg rule create -n HTTP --nsg-name ... --priority 101 -g ... --access Allow --description "Web Access" --direction Inbound --protocol Tcp --destination-address-prefix "*" --destination-port-range 80 --source-address-prefix "*" --source-port-range "*

# Create a network interface
nicname="WebVMNic1"
az network nic create -n $nicname -g $g --subnet $Subnet1Name --network-security-group $nsgName --vnet-name $vnetName --public-ip-address $ipName -l $location

# Retrieve a list of marketplace images
az vm image list --all

# Retrieve form factors available in each region
az vm list-sizes --location ...

# Create the VM
imageName="Canonical:UbuntuServer:16.04-LTS:latest"
vmSize="Standard_DS1_V2"
user=demouser
vmName="WebVM"
az vm create -n $vmName -g $g -l $location --size $vmSize --nics $nicname --image $imageName --generate-ssh-keys

VHD

Add a new disk to a VM

PowerShellAzure CLI

$dataDiskName = "MyDataDisk"
$location="WestUS"
$diskConfig = New-AzDiskConfig -SkuName Premium_LRS -Location $location -CreateOption Empty -DiskSizeGB 128
$dataDisk1 = New-AzDisk -DiskName $dataDiskName -Disk $diskConfig -ResourceGroupNAme ExamRefRG
$vm = Get-AzVM -Name ExamRefVM -ResourceGroupName ExamRefRG
$vm = Add-AzVMDataDisk -VM $vm -Name $dataDiskName -CreateOption Attach -ManagedDiskId $dataDisk1.Id -Lun 1

Update-AzVM -VM $vm -ResourceGroupName ExamRefRG

az vm disk attach -g ExamRefRG --vm-name ExamRefVM --name myDataDisk --new --size-gb 128 --sku Premium_LRS

Modify host cache setting

PowerShellAzure CLI

$vm = Get-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $g -Name $vmName
Set-AzVMDataDisk -VM $vm -Lun 0 -Caching ReadOnly
Update-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $g -VM $vm

az vm disk attach --vm-name $vmName --resource-group $g --size-gb 128 --disk $diskName --caching ReadWrite -new
az vm unmanaged-disk attach

Diagnostics

Enable on deployment

Enable after deployment

Set-AzVmDiagnosticsExtension

Enable diagnostics using a storage account specified in a XML configuration file

Set-AzVMDiagnosticsExtension -ResourceGroupName "ResourceGroup01" -VMName "VirtualMachine02" -DiagnosticsConfigurationPath "diagnostics_publicconfig.xml"

Providing storage account name absent in config, or overriding it if present

Set-AzVMDiagnosticsExtension -ResourceGroupName "ResourceGroup1" -VMName "VirtualMachine2" -DiagnosticsConfigurationPath diagnostics_publicconfig.xml -StorageAccountName "MyStorageAccount"

Explicitly providing storage account name and key

Set-AzVMDiagnosticsExtension -ResourceGroupName "ResourceGroup01" -VMName "VirtualMachine02" -DiagnosticsConfigurationPath "diagnostics_publicconfig.xml" -StorageAccountName "MyStorageAccount" -StorageAccountKey $storage_key

ARM templates

Deploy a named ARM template

PowerShellAzure CLI

New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -Mode Complete -Name simpleVMDeployment -ResourceGroupName ExamRefRG

az group deployment create --name simpleVMDeployment --mode Complete --resource-group ExamRefRG

Export a resource group to an ARM template

PowerShellAzure CLI

Save-AzResourceGroupDeploymentTemplate -ResourceGroupName ExamRefRG -DeploymentName simpleVMDeployment

az group deployment export --name simpleVMDeployment --resource-group ExamRefRG

Create from existing resource group

Export-AzResourceGroup -ResourceGroupName ExamRefRG

Pass a template file during deployment

New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -Name MyDeployment -ResourceGroupName ExamRefRG -TemplateFile C:\MyTemplates\AppTemplate.json

az group export --name ExamRefRG

az group deployment create --name MyDeployment --resource-group ExamRefRG --template-file AppTemplate.json --parameters @dev-env.json

View all available sizes in a location

Move a resource to another resource group or subscription (PowerShell)

$resourceID = Get-AzResource -ResourceGroupName ExamRefRG | Format-Table -Property ResourceId

Move-AzResource -DestinationResourceGroupName ExamRefDestRG -ResourceId $resourceID
Move-AzResource -DestinationSubscriptionId $subscriptionID -DestinationResourceGroupName ExamRefDestRG -ResourceId $resourceID

Move a resource to another resource group or subscription (Azure CLI)

az resource list -g ExamRefRG
az resource move --destination-group ExamRefDestRG --ids $resourceID
az resource move --destination-group ExamrefDestRG --destination-subscription-id $subscriptionID --ids $resourceID

DSC

Package

Package a DSC script into a zip file

Publish-AzVMDscConfiguration -ConfigurationPath .\ContosoWeb.ps1 -OutputArchivePath .\ContosoWeb.zip

Apply

Publish a packaged DSC script to a storage account

$g = "ExamRefRG"
$location =- "WestUS"
$vmName = "ExamRefVM"
$storageName = "dscstorageer1"
$configurationName = "Main"
$archiveBlob = "ContosoWeb.ps1.zip"
$configurationPath = ".\ContosoWeb.ps1"

Publish-AzVMDscConfiguration -ConfigurationPath $configurationPath -ResourceGroupName $g -StorageAccountName $storageName
Set-AzVmDscExtension -Version 2.76 -ResourceGroupName $g -VMName $vmName -ArchiveStorageAccountNAme $storageName -ArchiveBlobName $archiveBNlob -AutoUpdate:$false -ConfigurationName $configurationName

High availability

Load balancers

Tasks

Create

VHD

Diagnostics

Enable on deployment

Enable after deployment

ARM templates

View all available sizes in a location

DSC

Package

Apply

Dedicated host