[Recap] Day 3: Implement VMs for Windows and Linux: [Azure Solutions Architect] [AZ-303/304]

In this blog, I have shared some quick tips, including Q/A’s and useful links from Day 3 of our recently launched new batch of Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect(AZ-303/AZ-304).

On our Day 2 live session, we covered Hybrid Identity, Password hash synchronization (PHS), Pass-through authentication (PTA), AD FS, Azure AD Health, Azure Networking for Beginners, IP Addressing, Azure Virtual Network, VNet Peering.

And in this week’s Day 3 Live Session, 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 4, Lab 7 out of our 25+ extensive labs(AZ-303).

So, here are some of the Q/A asked during the Live session from Module 4: Implement VMs for Windows and Linux.

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.

➝Read more about the Azure Virtual Machines.

Q1: What is RDP?

Ans: Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) was developed by Microsoft Corporation to provide users with the ability of a remote connection to servers and computers running Windows operating systems.

In fact, with this protocol users can work on a remote computer as they are working directly on it.RDP is a Microsoft proprietary protocol that enables remote connections to other computers, typically over TCP port 3389.

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 up front 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.

Also Check: Our blog post on Azure Networking.

Q2: 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 cancelled.

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 cancelled 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 will be billed at the then-current pay-as-you-go rate. So, you need to exchange or cancel the reservation if it is not needed or otherwise you will be charged.

Q3: 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 VMs if there is capacity available, but there is no SLA for these VMs. These are best suited for Testing related tasks.

Also Check: Our blog post on ARM Template.

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 is made up of 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.

Also Check: Our blog post on Azure Service Bus.

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.

Also Read: Our blog post on Azure Traffic Manager.

Q4: 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 and logical group of servers is an update domain and In case of an availability zone, each availability zone itself is considered, a separate fault domain and update domain.

Check Out: Our blog post on Azure Bastion.

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.

Also Read: Our blog post on Azure Load Balancer.

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.

Q5: 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.

Check Out: Our blog post on Microsoft Azure Serverless Computing.

Azure Dedicated Host

Azure Dedicated Host provides physical servers that host one or more Azure virtual machines. Your server is dedicated to your organisation and workloads—capacity is not shared with other customers. This host-level isolation helps address compliance requirements. As you provision the host, you gain visibility into (and control over) the server infrastructure and you determine the host’s maintenance policies.

➝Read more about the  Azure Dedicated Host.

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.

➝Read more about the Azure VM Scale Set.

Q6: How many Virtual Machines can I have in a scale set?

Ans: Scale sets support up to 1,000 VM instances for standard marketplace images. If you create a scale set using a custom image, the limit is 600 VM instances.

Q7: Do scale sets work with Azure availability zones?

Ans: Yes, 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 the feature 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.

Q8: 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.

➝Read more about the Snapshots.

Q9: 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.

Q10: Can we create a snapshot of an encrypted disk?

Ans: Yes, we can create a snapshot of an encrypted disk. Firstly, we have to decrypt the disk using keys. You can use the Microsoft keys or custom keys to decrypt, It depends on the encryption method used.

Q11: Which is better azure backup or snapshots?

Ans: The biggest advantage of Azure Backup is that we can use it to restore VM directly. But if we use a disk snapshot and want to restore VM, we have to use the snapshot to create an OS disk and then use this OS disk to create a new VM.

We can also configure the Backup policy in 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 experiences 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-303 – Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies Certification Exam
• [Recap] Day 1: Azure Active Directory [Azure Solutions Architect]
• [Recap] Day 2: Implement and Manage Hybrid Identities & Virtual Networking: [Azure Solutions Architect]
• 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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