Virtual Machines

Source: Dev.to

What is a virtual machine?

A virtual machine (VM) is a software‑based emulation of a physical computer. It behaves like a real machine, with its own CPU, memory, storage, and operating system, but runs on top of a virtualization layer called a hypervisor instead of directly on hardware.

With platforms such as VMware Workstation, VirtualBox, or enterprise solutions like Microsoft Hyper‑V, you can create multiple isolated virtual computers on a single physical host. Each VM can run a different operating system—Windows, Linux, macOS (with limitations), or others—independent of the host system.

Creating a Virtual Machine in Azure

1. Open the Azure portal and search for Virtual Machines.
2. Click + Create → Virtual Machine.
3. Resource group: create a new one and give it a name to keep your resources organized. Click OK.
4. Availability zone: select one or more zones (note that selecting multiple zones may increase cost).
5. Basics:
   • Virtual machine name – must be globally unique.
   • Region – choose the location for your VM.
   • Image – select a template (e.g., a Windows version) that contains everything needed to start the server instantly.
   • Username – provide a name for the VM’s administrator account (follow the displayed requirements).
   • Password – enter and confirm a strong password.
6. Inbound port rules: choose Allow selected ports.
   • Enable RDP (3389) for Windows remote access.
   • Optionally enable HTTP (80) if you need web traffic.
   • Selecting None will block all inbound internet traffic.
7. Monitoring: disable Boot diagnostics (it captures screenshots of the VM console, which could expose sensitive information).
8. Tags: add name/value pairs to categorize resources (up to 14 tags).
9. Click Review + create to validate the configuration.
10. After validation passes, click Create to deploy the VM. Review the estimated price before confirming.
11. Wait for deployment to complete, then click Go to resources.

Connecting to the VM

1. In the VM’s Settings section, select Configuration and set the idle timeout to 30 minutes using the slider.
2. Click Connect in the Azure VM blade.
3. Choose Download RDP file.
4. Open the downloaded RDP file and enter the credentials you created earlier to log in.

You are now connected to the virtual machine.