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Virtual Machines

Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) provide on-demand, scalable computing resources in the cloud. VMs give you full control over the operating system — ideal for legacy applications, custom software, and workloads that require specific OS configurations.

VM Components

Component	Description
VM Size	vCPU, RAM, and optional GPU/local storage (e.g., `Standard_D2s_v5`)
OS Disk	Boot volume (Windows or Linux)
Data Disks	Additional persistent storage
NIC	Network interface connecting to VNet subnet
NSG	Network Security Group (firewall rules)
Availability Set/Zone	High availability placement

Create a Linux VM

  # Create VM with SSH key
az vm create \
  --resource-group rg-webapp-dev \
  --name vm-web-01 \
  --image Ubuntu2204 \
  --size Standard_B2s \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --generate-ssh-keys \
  --public-ip-sku Standard \
  --vnet-name vnet-webapp \
  --subnet subnet-web \
  --nsg-rule SSH \
  --tags environment=dev project=webapp

# Get public IP
az vm show --name vm-web-01 --resource-group rg-webapp-dev \
  --show-details --query publicIps -o tsv

# Connect via SSH
ssh azureuser@<public-ip>

Windows VM

  az vm create \
  --resource-group rg-webapp-dev \
  --name vm-windows-01 \
  --image Win2022Datacenter \
  --size Standard_D2s_v5 \
  --admin-username azureadmin \
  --admin-password 'ComplexP@ssw0rd!' \
  --public-ip-sku Standard

VM Size Families

Series	Profile	Use Case	Example
B-series	Burstable	Dev/test, low CPU average	Standard_B2s (2 vCPU, 4 GB)
D-series	General purpose	Web servers, apps	Standard_D2s_v5
E-series	Memory optimized	Databases, caches	Standard_E4s_v5
F-series	Compute optimized	Batch processing	Standard_F4s_v2
N-series	GPU	ML, rendering	Standard_NC6s_v3

  # List available sizes in a region
az vm list-sizes --location eastus --output table

Use Azure VM Selector to compare. Azure Hybrid Benefit saves up to 40% if you have existing Windows Server licenses.

Managed Disks

Disk Type	IOPS	Use Case	Cost
Standard HDD	Up to 500	Backup, infrequent access	Lowest
Standard SSD	Up to 6,000	Web servers, dev/test	Medium
Premium SSD	Up to 20,000	Production databases	Higher
Premium SSD v2	Configurable IOPS	High-performance workloads	Flexible
Ultra Disk	Up to 160,000	Mission-critical databases	Highest

  # Add data disk
az vm disk attach \
  --resource-group rg-webapp-dev \
  --vm-name vm-web-01 \
  --disk datadisk1 \
  --size-gb 128 \
  --sku Premium_LRS \
  --new

# On the VM:
sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdc
sudo mkdir /data && sudo mount /dev/sdc /data

Network Security Groups

  # Create NSG with rules
az network nsg create --resource-group rg-webapp-dev --name nsg-web

az network nsg rule create \
  --resource-group rg-webapp-dev \
  --nsg-name nsg-web \
  --name AllowHTTPS \
  --priority 100 \
  --destination-port-ranges 443 \
  --access Allow \
  --protocol Tcp

az network nsg rule create \
  --resource-group rg-webapp-dev \
  --nsg-name nsg-web \
  --name AllowSSH \
  --priority 110 \
  --source-address-prefixes YOUR_IP/32 \
  --destination-port-ranges 22 \
  --access Allow \
  --protocol Tcp

Best practice: Place VMs in private subnets; access via Azure Bastion (no public IP needed).

High Availability

Availability Sets (Legacy)

Spread VMs across fault domains and update domains within a region:

  az vm create \
  --resource-group rg-webapp-prod \
  --name vm-web-01 \
  --availability-set web-availability-set \
  ...

Availability Zones (Recommended)

Deploy VMs across physically separate data centers:

  az vm create \
  --resource-group rg-webapp-prod \
  --name vm-web-zone1 \
  --zone 1 \
  --size Standard_D2s_v5 \
  ...

az vm create \
  --resource-group rg-webapp-prod \
  --name vm-web-zone2 \
  --zone 2 \
  --size Standard_D2s_v5 \
  ...