Create a Virtual Machine

Create a virtual machine in Azure.

You must have already created a virtual network.

You may want to view the following web page to learn about Azure Managed Disks before creating a VM. Additionally, a video is available from Microsoft that shows how to create a virtual machine: Create a Linux Virtual Machine.

  1. Login in to your Microsoft Azure account.
  2. Using the search box, enter marketplace.
  3. Open the Marketplace by selecting the link from the search results.
  4. Search and select an OS that supports cloud-init and is supported by your workload manager.
  5. Click Create.
Enter the following to configure the basic settings for the virtual machine:
  1. For Project Details enter the following:
    1. For Subscription, choose the subscription to be billed for the use of the VM.
    2. For Resource group, choose the previously created resource group.
    3. For Virtual machine name, enter a name for the virtual machine.
      The name can be anything meaningful to your organization, e.g., bursting-vm.
    4. For Region, select the same geographical location as was selected for the previously created resource group.
    5. For Availability options, choose No infrastructure redundancy required.
    6. For Size, click the Change size link and select a machine size appropriate for your site's workload based on:
      • the number of cores
      • the amount of memory
      • storage
      • network performance
      Consider the nature of the applications that you plan to deploy on the instance, the number of users that you expect to use the applications, and also how you expect the load to scale in the future. Remember to also factor in the CPU and memory resources that are necessary for the operating system.
  2. For Administrator Account, enter a user account :
    This user will have sudo rights and will be able to connect to the VM to install the workload manager.
    • On Linux platforms:
      1. For Authentication type, enable SSH public key.
      2. For Username, enter a username of a user account that exists on your site's workload manager.
      3. For SSH public key, copy the SSH public key (i.e., id_rsa.pub) of the user account and paste it.
    • On Windows platforms:
      1. For Username, enter a username.
      2. For Password, enter a password.
  3. For Inbound Port Rules, enter the following:
    1. For Public inbound ports, enable Allow selected ports.
    2. For Select inbound ports:
      • For Linux platforms, enable SSH (22).
      • For Windows platforms, enable RDH (3389).
  4. Click Next : Disks >.
Enter the following to configure the storage settings for the virtual machine:
  1. For Disk Options, enter the following:
    1. For OS disk size, choose an appropriate disk size based on your site's needs.
    2. For OS disk type, choose one of the following options:
      • Premium SSD
      • Standard SSD
      • Standard HDD
      Choose SSD for I/O-intensive applications, where low latency and high throughput are critical. For testing, consider HDD to keep costs down, as you scale up and down quickly.
  2. Click Next : Networking > .
Enter the following to configure the networking settings for the virtual machine:
  1. For Network Interface, enter the following:
    1. For Virtual network, choose the virtual network previously created.
    2. For Subnet, choose the subnet you previously created.
  2. Click Review + create tab.
  3. Review your choices and click Create.
    It may take a few minutes for the VM to be deployed. You will use this virtual machine to create an OS image.
Once the virtual machine is deployed a message is displayed indicating success, click on Go to resource.