Getting Started with Azure Cloud: My First Project

It's been just a week since I obtained my Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification, and I'm eager to apply my newfound knowledge so I’ve decided to do a series of personal projects to reinforce my skills.

What better way to start than with a basic yet essential task: creating a virtual machine (VM) with a Windows operating system and running it on my trusty macOS device.

I’m sharing the steps I have taken below for documentation:

Creating a Virtual Machine

1. From the Azure portal where you are logged in with your credentials, search for and select Virtual Machines. Click Create and Select Virtual Machine.
2. Fill in the information needed to create your VM. On the Basics tab, you will have to fill-in the following:

• Subscription - the billing and management container that allows you to access and use Azure services.
• Resource Group - a container for organising and managing resources, including VMs in Azure services.
• VM Name - the VM name must be 1-64 characters long. It can include letters, numbers, and hyphens. It should not start or end with a hyphen or have consecutive hyphensRegion - where your VM will be located
• Image - refers to a template or snapshot of a virtual hard disk (VHD) that contains an operating system (OS).
• Size - specifies the virtual machine's configuration, including CPU count, memory, disk size, and network bandwidth.
• Set your Admin Account Credentials - create a username and password
• Inbound ports - It's important to check both of these ports.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol - is a standard protocol used for retrieving and transmitting web pages and resources between web servers and client devices. The default port for HTTP is 80.

Remote Desktop Protocol - a proprietary protocol used for remote access and control of computers or virtual machines, allowing users to interact with the remote system as if they were physically present. The default protocol for RDP is 3389.

• You can choose to change the settings in the Disks, Networking, and Management tabs, I left it at the default setting. 

3. Click on the Review + Create tab. After passing validation, click the Create button and wait for the VM deployment. You'll be notified in the Notifications tab once the deployment is finished.

Connecting to the VM on a macOS device

1. Download the Microsoft Remote Desktop, it’s an app for macOS to connect to Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, and remote PCs
2. On the deployment page in your Azure portal, click Go to resource.
3. On the VM Overview dashboard, copy the public IP address.
4. Open Microsoft Remote Desktop and click Add PC, input your IP address and Admin account credentials.

Once the credentials are verified, a new window should open with the remote desktop!