In this blog, I will share some quick tips, including Q/A’s and useful links from Day 2 of our recently launched new batch of Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect(AZ-303) in which we have 20+ hands-on labs of AZ-303 and 12+ hands-on labs of AZ-304 in the course.
The previous week, In Day 1 session, we covered Azure Networking for Beginners, IP Addressing, Azure Virtual Network, Virtual Network Peering.
And in this week’s Day 2 Live Session, we have continued with Module 2: Implement VMs for Windows and Linux. We have covered the Azure Virtual Machines, Availability Zones, Fault Domain, Update Domain, Availability Sets, Azure Dedicated Host, Virtual Machines Scale Sets, Disk Encryption, Snap Shots.
We also covered hands-on Lab 1, Lab 2, Lab 5 out of our 20+ extensive labs(AZ-303).
Azure Virtual Machine
A Virtual Machine (VM) is a computing service that performs most functions of a physical computer, behaving like a separate computer system. A virtual machine, usually known as a guest, is created within another computing environment (i.e., Physical Datacenters) referred to as a “host.”
An Azure Virtual Machines gives you the flexibility of virtualization without buying and maintaining the physical hardware that runs it. However, you still need to maintain the Virtual Machin by performing tasks, such as configuring, patching, and installing the software that runs on it.
For Steps to Create And Connect An Ubuntu Virtual Machine, Click here.
Q1: Can we resize an existing Azure Virtual Machine?
Ans: One of the great benefits of Azure Virtual Machines is the ability to change the size of your Virtual Machines based on the need for CPU, Network, or disk performance. A running Virtual Machine can easily be resized to any Virtual Machines size supported by the current cluster of hardware supporting the Virtual Machines.
Q2: Can one Virtual Machine have multiple NICs(Network Interface Cards)?
Ans: Virtual machines in Azure can have multiple virtual network interface cards (NICs) attached. You can associate multiple NICs on a Virtual Machine to multiple subnets, but those subnets must all reside in the same Virtual Network.
Different VM sizes support a varying number of NICs, so size your VM accordingly.
Check more on: Azure Virtual Machines with multiple NICs.
Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances
Azure Reservations help you save money by committing to one-year or three-year plans for multiple products. Committing allows you to get a discount on the resources you use. Reservations can significantly reduce your resource costs by up to 72% from pay-as-you-go prices. Reservations provide a billing discount and don’t affect the runtime state of your resources. After you purchase a reservation, the discount automatically applies to matching resources.
You can pay for a reservation upfront or monthly. The total cost of up-front and monthly reservations is the same, and you don’t pay any extra fees when you choose to pay monthly.
Q3: What happens if we do not use VM after taking a 3 years reservation? Still, will we be charged?
Ans: You will be charged unless the reservation is exchanged or canceled.
Exchange – You can exchange a reservation for another. This is only allowed if the total lifetime cost of the new purchase is greater than the leftover payments that are canceled for the returned reservation.
Cancel – You can choose to cancel the reservation contract and request a refund. However, you are subject to an early termination fee of 12%.
Once the reserved instance expires, deployed VMs will continue to run and be billed at the then-current pay-as-you-go rate. So, you need to exchange or cancel the reservation after 3 years if it is not needed, or otherwise you will be charged.
Q4: Is there something like Spot instances in Azure similar to AWS EC2 instances?
Ans: Yes, In Azure, we have Spot Virtual Machines. Using Azure Spot Virtual Machines allows you to take advantage of unused capacity at significant cost savings. At any point in time when Azure needs the capacity back, the Azure infrastructure will evict Azure Spot Virtual Machines.
Azure will allocate the Virtual Machines if there is capacity available, but there is no SLA for these Virtual Machines. These are best suited for Testing related tasks.
Azure Availability Zone
Azure Availability Zones is a high-availability offering that protects your applications and data from data-center failures. These are unique physical locations within an Azure region. Each zone comprises one or more data centers equipped with independent power, cooling, and networking. The physical separation of Availability Zones within a region protects applications and data from data-center failures.
Zone-redundant services replicate your applications and data across Azure Zones to protect from single-points-of-failure.
Check more on Availability Zone.
Azure Availability Set
Availability Set is a logical grouping capability for isolating VM resources from each other when they’re deployed. By deploying your VMs across multiple hardware nodes, Azure ensures that if hardware or software failure happens within Azure, only a sub-set of your virtual machines is impacted, and your overall solution is safe and in working condition.
It provides redundancy for your virtual machines. An Availability set spreads your virtual machines across multiple fault domains and update domains.
Check more on Azure Availability Set.
Q5: What is the difference between Availability Sets and Availability Zones?
Ans: Availability sets are used to protect applications from hardware failures within an Azure data center, and Availability zones protect applications from complete Azure data center failures.
The concept of update domain and fault domain is present in both availability set and availability zone, But in the case of an availability set, a group of servers (physical or logical), physical grouping, i.e., a rack of servers, is a fault domain. A logical group of servers is an update domain, and In the case of an availability zone, each availability zone itself is considered a separate fault domain and update domain.
Azure Fault Domain
Azure Fault domains define the group of virtual machines that share a common power source and network switch.
- Each fault domain contains some racks, and each rack contains a virtual machine.
- Each of these Azure Fault domain shares a power supply and a network switch.
- All the resources in the fault domain become unavailable when there is a failure in the fault domain.
Check more on Azure Fault Domain.
Azure Update Domain
An update domain is a logical group of the underlying hardware that can undergo maintenance or be rebooted simultaneously. As you create VMs within an availability set, the Azure platform automatically distributes your VMs across these update domains. This approach ensures that at least one instance of your application always remains running as the Azure platform undergoes periodic maintenance.
Check more on Azure Update Domain.
Q6: How many Fault Domains and Update Domains can we have?
Ans: By default, Azure will assign three fault domains and five update domains (which can be increased to a maximum of 20) to the Availability Set.
When spreading your VMs over fault domains, your VMs sit over three different racks in the Azure data center. So, in the case of an event or failure on the underlying platform, only one rack gets affected, and the other VMs are still accessible.
Virtual Machine Scale Set in Azure
Virtual Machine Scale Set, an interesting service offered by Microsoft Azure, helps to create and manage a set of identical, auto-scaling Virtual Machines (VMs). The number of VM instances can automatically increase or decrease based on scheduled conditions.
Check more on Azure VM Scale Set.
Q7: How many Virtual Machines can I have in a scale set?
Ans: Scale sets support up to 1,000 Virtual Machine instances for standard marketplace images. If you create a scale set using a custom image, the limit is 600 Virtual Machine instances.
Q8: Do scale sets work with Azure availability zones?
Ans: When you deploy a virtual machine scale set, you can choose to use a single Availability Zone in a region or multiple zones.
To protect your virtual machine scale sets from Data-center level failures, you can create a scale set across Availability Zones. Azure regions that support Availability Zones have a minimum of three separate zones, each with its own independent power source, network, and cooling.
Azure Disk Encryption
Azure Disk Encryption helps protect and safeguard your data to meet your organizational security and compliance commitments. ADE provides volume encryption for the OS and data disks of Azure virtual machines (VMs) through the use of Linux or the BitLocker feature of Windows. ADE is integrated with Azure Key Vault to help you control and manage the disk encryption keys and secrets.
Check more on Snapshots.
Q9: How much does Azure Disk Encryption cost?
Ans: There’s no charge for encrypting VM disks with Azure Disk Encryption, but there are charges associated with the use of Azure Key Vault Because our Disk Encryption keys are stored in Key Vault.
Snapshots
An Azure Snapshot is a read-only copy of the existing disk in the Microsoft Azure Cloud. We can create a snapshot of the OS or Data disk. This snapshot can be used as a backup. The snapshot can also be used to create a Virtual Machine. To create a Virtual Machine using a snapshot, it is better to shut down the VM before taking its snapshot.
Check more on Snapshots.
Q10: Can we create a snapshot from a corrupted VM?
Ans: Yes, we can create a snapshot from a corrupted VM. Because we are creating a snapshot of the disk of the VM, we can always take a snapshot of a disk irrespective of its condition.
Q11: Can we create a snapshot of an encrypted disk?
Ans: Yes, we can create a snapshot of an encrypted disk. It depends on the encryption method used. Firstly, we have to decrypt the disk using keys. You can use the Microsoft keys or custom keys to decrypt.
Q12: Which is better azure backup or snapshots?
Ans: The biggest advantage of Azure Backup is that we can directly restore Virtual Machine. But if we use a disk snapshot and want to restore Virtual Machines, we have to use the snapshot to create an OS disk and then use this OS disk to create new Virtual Machines.
We can also configure the Backup policy in the azure backup. But snapshots need to be done manually, or you can automate, which will require more effort.
Quiz Time (Sample Exam Questions)!
With our Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect training program, we cover 220+ [AZ-303] & 150+[AZ-304] sample exam questions to help you prepare for the certification AZ-303 & AZ-304.
Note: Download the 25 Sample Questions of Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect from here.
Check out one of the questions and see if you can crack this…
Ques: You have a set of virtual machines that are hosting mission-critical applications. You have to ensure the experience of virtual machines experience as little downtime as possible.
Which of the following can you use to maintain application performance across an identical set of Virtual Machines?
A. Scale Sets
B. Availability Sets
C. Availability Zone
D. Azure Functions
The right answer will be revealed in the next week’s blog.
Here is the answer to the question shared last week.
Ques. There is a requirement to ensure that virtual machines hosted in Virtual Networks can communicate across both virtual networks using their private IP address. Which of the following can be used to fulfill this requirement?
A. Virtual Network Peering
B. VPN Gateway
C. Local Gateway
D. ExpressRoute
Answer: A
Explanation: Virtual Network Peering facilitates communication between resources of 2 VNet’s using Azure infrastructure.
Feedback
We always improve and be the best version of ourselves from the previous session, constantly asking for feedback from our attendees.
Here’s the feedback that we received from our trainees who had attended the session…
Related/References
- Exam AZ-300 – Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies Certification Exam
- Azure Automate Deployment And Configuration Of Resources
- Azure Networking | A Brief Introduction for Beginners
- Introduction to ARM Templates: Learn, Create and Deploy in Azure
- Tips To Prepare Exam AZ-304: Microsoft Azure Architect Design
Next Task For You
Are you still feeling confused about where to start or which certification is right for you? Just click on the register now button below to register for a Free Masterclass on Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Certification, Live Demo & Q/A, which will help you better understand to choose the right path and clear certification exam.
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