Contents

Virtual Machines Documentation

Linux Virtual Machines in Azure
Windows Virtual Machines in Azure
VM Extensions Documentation
Workloads
Oracle
SAP
Classic deployments
Linux VMs using classic deployment
Windows VMs using classic deployment
Resources
Build your skills with Microsoft Learn
Azure Roadmap
Pricing calculator
 Azure and Linux
12/5/2018 • 7 minutes to read • Edit Online

Microsoft Azure is a growing collection of integrated public cloud services including analytics, virtual machines,
databases, mobile, networking, storage, and web—ideal for hosting your solutions. Microsoft Azure provides a
scalable computing platform that allows you to only pay for what you use, when you want it - without having to
invest in on-premises hardware. Azure is ready when you are to scale your solutions up and out to whatever scale
you require to service the needs of your clients.
If you are familiar with the various features of Amazon's AWS, you can examine the Azure vs AWS definition
mapping document.

Regions
Microsoft Azure resources are distributed across multiple geographical regions around the world. A "region"
represents multiple data centers in a single geographical area. Azure currently (as of August 2018) has 42 regions
generally available around the world with an additional 12 regions announced - more global regions than any other
cloud provider. An updated list of existing and newly announced regions can be found in the following page:
Azure Regions

Availability
Azure announced an industry leading single instance virtual machine Service Level Agreement of 99.9% provided
you deploy the VM with premium storage for all disks. In order for your deployment to qualify for the standard
99.95% VM Service Level Agreement, you still need to deploy two or more VMs running your workload inside of
an availability set. An availability set ensures that your VMs are distributed across multiple fault domains in the
Azure data centers as well as deployed onto hosts with different maintenance windows. The full Azure SLA explains
the guaranteed availability of Azure as a whole.

Managed Disks
Managed Disks handles Azure Storage account creation and management in the background for you, and ensures
that you do not have to worry about the scalability limits of the storage account. You specify the disk size and the
performance tier (Standard or Premium), and Azure creates and manages the disk. As you add disks or scale the
VM up and down, you don't have to worry about the storage being used. If you're creating new VMs, use the Azure
CLI or the Azure portal to create VMs with Managed OS and data disks. If you have VMs with unmanaged disks,
you can convert your VMs to be backed with Managed Disks.
You can also manage your custom images in one storage account per Azure region, and use them to create
hundreds of VMs in the same subscription. For more information about Managed Disks, see the Managed Disks
Overview.

Azure Virtual Machines & Instances

Microsoft Azure supports running a number of popular Linux distributions provided and maintained by a number
of partners. You can find distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Debian, Ubuntu,
CoreOS, RancherOS, FreeBSD, and more in the Azure Marketplace. Microsoft actively works with various Linux
communities to add even more flavors to the Azure endorsed Linux Distros list.
If your preferred Linux distro of choice is not currently present in the gallery, you can "Bring your own Linux" VM
by creating and uploading a Linux VHD in Azure.
Azure virtual machines allow you to deploy a wide range of computing solutions in an agile way. You can deploy
virtually any workload and any language on nearly any operating system - Windows, Linux, or a custom created
one from any one of the growing list of partners. Still don't see what you are looking for? Don't worry - you can
also bring your own images from on-premises.

VM Sizes
The size of the VM that you use is determined by the workload that you want to run. The size that you choose then
determines factors such as processing power, memory, and storage capacity. Azure offers a wide variety of sizes to
support many types of uses.
Azure charges an hourly price based on the VM’s size and operating system. For partial hours, Azure charges only
for the minutes used. Storage is priced and charged separately.

Automation
To achieve a proper DevOps culture, all infrastructure must be code. When all the infrastructure lives in code it can
easily be recreated (Phoenix Servers). Azure works with all the major automation tooling like Ansible, Chef,
SaltStack, and Puppet. Azure also has its own tooling for automation:
Azure Templates
Azure VMAccess
Azure is rolling out support for cloud-init across most Linux Distros that support it. Currently Canonical's Ubuntu
VMs are deployed with cloud-init enabled by default. Red Hat's RHEL, CentOS, and Fedora support cloud-init,
however the Azure images maintained by Red Hat do not currently have cloud-init installed. To use cloud-init on a
Red Hat family OS, you must create a custom image with cloud-init installed.
Using cloud-init on Azure Linux VMs

Quotas
Each Azure Subscription has default quota limits in place that could impact the deployment of a large number of
VMs for your project. The current limit on a per subscription basis is 20 VMs per region. Quota limits can be raised
quickly and easily by filing a support ticket requesting a limit increase. For more details on quota limits:
Azure Subscription Service Limits

Partners
Microsoft works closely with partners to ensure the images available are updated and optimized for an Azure
runtime. For more information on Azure partners, see the following links:
Linux on Azure - Endorsed Distributions
SUSE - Azure Marketplace - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Red Hat - Azure Marketplace - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2
Canonical - Azure Marketplace - Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS
Debian - Azure Marketplace - Debian 8 "Jessie"
FreeBSD - Azure Marketplace - FreeBSD 10.4
CoreOS - Azure Marketplace - CoreOS (Stable)
RancherOS - Azure Marketplace - RancherOS
Bitnami - Bitnami Library for Azure
Mesosphere - Azure Marketplace - Mesosphere DC/OS on Azure
 Docker - Azure Marketplace - Azure Container Service with Docker Swarm
Jenkins - Azure Marketplace - CloudBees Jenkins Platform

Getting started with Linux on Azure

To begin using Azure, you need an Azure account, the Azure CLI installed, and a pair of SSH public and private
keys.
Sign up for an account
The first step in using the Azure Cloud is to sign up for an Azure account. Go to the Azure Account Signup page to
get started.
Install the CLI
With your new Azure account, you can get started immediately using the Azure portal, which is a web-based admin
panel. To manage the Azure Cloud via the command line, you install the azure-cli . Install the Azure CLI on your
Mac or Linux workstation.
Create an SSH key pair
Now you have an Azure account, the Azure web portal, and the Azure CLI. The next step is to create an SSH key
pair that is used to SSH into Linux without using a password. Create SSH keys on Linux and Mac to enable
password-less logins and better security.
Create a VM using the CLI
Creating a Linux VM using the CLI is a quick way to deploy a VM without leaving the terminal you are working in.
Everything you can specify on the web portal is available via a command-line flag or switch.
Create a Linux VM using the CLI
Create a VM in the portal
Creating a Linux VM in the Azure web portal is a way to easily point and click through the various options to get to
a deployment. Instead of using command-line flags or switches, you are able to view a nice web layout of various
options and settings. Everything available via the command-line interface is also available in the portal.
Create a Linux VM using the Portal
Log in using SSH without a password
The VM is now running on Azure and you are ready to log in. Using passwords to log in via SSH is insecure and
time consuming. Using SSH keys is the most secure way and also the quickest way to log in. When you create you
Linux VM via the portal or the CLI, you have two authentication choices. If you choose a password for SSH, Azure
configures the VM to allow logins via passwords. If you chose to use an SSH public key, Azure configures the VM
to only allow logins via SSH keys and disables password logins. To secure your Linux VM by only allowing SSH key
logins, use the SSH public key option during the VM creation in the portal or CLI.

Related Azure components

Storage
Introduction to Microsoft Azure Storage
Add a disk to a Linux VM using the azure-cli
How to attach a data disk to a Linux VM in the Azure portal

Networking
Virtual Network Overview
 IP addresses in Azure
Opening ports to a Linux VM in Azure
Create a Fully Qualified Domain Name in the Azure portal

Containers
Virtual Machines and Containers in Azure
Azure Container Service introduction
Deploy an Azure Container Service cluster

Next steps
You now have an overview of Linux on Azure. The next step is to dive in and create a few VMs!
Explore the growing list of sample scripts for common tasks via AzureCLI
 Overview of Windows virtual machines in Azure
10/5/2018 • 7 minutes to read • Edit Online

Azure Virtual Machines (VM ) is one of several types of on-demand, scalable computing resources that Azure offers.
Typically, you choose a VM when you need more control over the computing environment than the other choices
offer. This article gives you information about what you should consider before you create a VM, how you create it,
and how you manage it.
An Azure VM gives you the flexibility of virtualization without having to buy and maintain the physical hardware
that runs it. However, you still need to maintain the VM by performing tasks, such as configuring, patching, and
installing the software that runs on it.
Azure virtual machines can be used in various ways. Some examples are:
Development and test – Azure VMs offer a quick and easy way to create a computer with specific
configurations required to code and test an application.
Applications in the cloud – Because demand for your application can fluctuate, it might make economic sense
to run it on a VM in Azure. You pay for extra VMs when you need them and shut them down when you don’t.
Extended datacenter – Virtual machines in an Azure virtual network can easily be connected to your
organization’s network.
The number of VMs that your application uses can scale up and out to whatever is required to meet your needs.

What do I need to think about before creating a VM?

There are always a multitude of design considerations when you build out an application infrastructure in Azure.
These aspects of a VM are important to think about before you start:
The names of your application resources
The location where the resources are stored
The size of the VM
The maximum number of VMs that can be created
The operating system that the VM runs
The configuration of the VM after it starts
The related resources that the VM needs
Naming
A virtual machine has a name assigned to it and it has a computer name configured as part of the operating
system. The name of a VM can be up to 15 characters.
If you use Azure to create the operating system disk, the computer name and the virtual machine name are the
same. If you upload and use your own image that contains a previously configured operating system and use it to
create a virtual machine, the names can be different. We recommend that when you upload your own image file,
you make the computer name in the operating system and the virtual machine name the same.
Locations
All resources created in Azure are distributed across multiple geographical regions around the world. Usually, the
region is called location when you create a VM. For a VM, the location specifies where the virtual hard disks are
stored.
This table shows some of the ways you can get a list of available locations.
 METHOD DESCRIPTION

Azure portal Select a location from the list when you create a VM.

Azure PowerShell Use the Get-AzureRmLocation command.

REST API Use the List locations operation.

Azure CLI Use the az account list-locations operation.

VM size
The size of the VM that you use is determined by the workload that you want to run. The size that you choose then
determines factors such as processing power, memory, and storage capacity. Azure offers a wide variety of sizes to
support many types of uses.
Azure charges an hourly price based on the VM’s size and operating system. For partial hours, Azure charges only
for the minutes used. Storage is priced and charged separately.
VM Limits
Your subscription has default quota limits in place that could impact the deployment of many VMs for your project.
The current limit on a per subscription basis is 20 VMs per region. Limits can be raised by filing a support ticket
requesting an increase
Operating system disks and images
Virtual machines use virtual hard disks (VHDs) to store their operating system (OS ) and data. VHDs are also used
for the images you can choose from to install an OS.
Azure provides many marketplace images to use with various versions and types of Windows Server operating
systems. Marketplace images are identified by image publisher, offer, sku, and version (typically version is specified
as latest). Only 64-bit operating systems are supported. For more information on the supported guest operating
systems, roles, and features, see Microsoft server software support for Microsoft Azure virtual machines .
This table shows some ways that you can find the information for an image.

METHOD DESCRIPTION

Azure portal The values are automatically specified for you when you select
an image to use.

Azure PowerShell Get-AzureRMVMImagePublisher -Location location

Get-AzureRMVMImageOffer -Location location -Publisher
publisherName
Get-AzureRMVMImageSku -Location location -Publisher
publisherName -Offer offerName

REST APIs List image publishers

List image offers
List image skus

Azure CLI az vm image list-publishers --location location

az vm image list-offers --location location --publisher
publisherName
az vm image list-skus --location location --publisher
publisherName --offer offerName

You can choose to upload and use your own image and when you do, the publisher name, offer, and sku aren’t
used.
Extensions
VM extensions give your VM additional capabilities through post deployment configuration and automated tasks.
These common tasks can be accomplished using extensions:
Run custom scripts – The Custom Script Extension helps you configure workloads on the VM by running your
script when the VM is provisioned.
Deploy and manage configurations – The PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC ) Extension helps
you set up DSC on a VM to manage configurations and environments.
Collect diagnostics data – The Azure Diagnostics Extension helps you configure the VM to collect diagnostics
data that can be used to monitor the health of your application.
Related resources
The resources in this table are used by the VM and need to exist or be created when the VM is created.

RESOURCE REQUIRED DESCRIPTION

Resource group Yes The VM must be contained in a

resource group.

Storage account Yes The VM needs the storage account to

store its virtual hard disks.

Virtual network Yes The VM must be a member of a virtual

network.

Public IP address No The VM can have a public IP address

assigned to it to remotely access it.

Network interface Yes The VM needs the network interface to

communicate in the network.

Data disks No The VM can include data disks to

expand storage capabilities.

How do I create my first VM?

You have several choices for creating your VM. The choice that you make depends on the environment you are in.
This table provides information to get you started creating your VM.

METHOD ARTICLE

Azure portal Create a virtual machine running Windows using the portal

Templates Create a Windows virtual machine with a Resource Manager

template

Azure PowerShell Create a Windows VM using PowerShell

Client SDKs Deploy Azure Resources using C#

REST APIs Create or update a VM

 METHOD ARTICLE

Azure CLI Create a VM with the Azure CLI

You hope it never happens, but occasionally something goes wrong. If this situation happens to you, look at the
information in Troubleshoot Resource Manager deployment issues with creating a Windows virtual machine in
Azure.

How do I manage the VM that I created?

VMs can be managed using a browser-based portal, command-line tools with support for scripting, or directly
through APIs. Some typical management tasks that you might perform are getting information about a VM,
logging on to a VM, managing availability, and making backups.
Get information about a VM
This table shows you some of the ways that you can get information about a VM.

METHOD DESCRIPTION

Azure portal On the hub menu, click Virtual Machines and then select the
VM from the list. On the blade for the VM, you have access to
overview information, setting values, and monitoring metrics.

Azure PowerShell For information about using PowerShell to manage VMs, see
Create and manage Windows VMs with the Azure PowerShell
module.

REST API Use the Get VM information operation to get information

about a VM.

Client SDKs For information about using C# to manage VMs, see Manage
Azure Virtual Machines using Azure Resource Manager and
C#.

Azure CLI For information about using Azure CLI to manage VMs, see
Azure CLI Reference.

Log on to the VM
You use the Connect button in the Azure portal to start a Remote Desktop (RDP ) session. Things can sometimes go
wrong when trying to use a remote connection. If this situation happens to you, check out the help information in
Troubleshoot Remote Desktop connections to an Azure virtual machine running Windows.
Manage availability
It’s important for you to understand how to ensure high availability for your application. This configuration
involves creating multiple VMs to ensure that at least one is running.
In order for your deployment to qualify for our 99.95 VM Service Level Agreement, you need to deploy two or
more VMs running your workload inside an availability set. This configuration ensures your VMs are distributed
across multiple fault domains and are deployed onto hosts with different maintenance windows. The full Azure SLA
explains the guaranteed availability of Azure as a whole.
Back up the VM
A Recovery Services vault is used to protect data and assets in both Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery
services. You can use a Recovery Services vault to deploy and manage backups for Resource Manager-deployed
VMs using PowerShell.
Next steps
If your intent is to work with Linux VMs, look at Azure and Linux.
Learn more about the guidelines around setting up your infrastructure in the Example Azure infrastructure
walkthrough.
 Azure virtual machine extensions and features
9/28/2018 • 2 minutes to read • Edit Online

Azure virtual machine (VM ) extensions are small applications that provide post-deployment configuration and
automation tasks on Azure VMs, you can use existing images and then customize them as part of your
deployments, getting you out of the business of custom image building.
The Azure platform hosts many extensions that range from VM configuration, monitoring, security, and utility
applications. Publishers take an application, then wrap it into an extension, and simplify the installation, so all you
need to do is provide mandatory parameters.
There is a large choice of first and third party extensions, if the application in the extension repository does not
exist, then you can use the Custom Script extension and configure your VM with your own scripts and commands.
Examples of key scenarios that extensions are used for:
VM configuration, you can use Powershell DSC (Desired State Configuration), Chef, Puppet and Custom Script
Extensions to install VM configuration agents and configure your VM.
AV products, such as Symantec, ESET.
VM vulnerability tool, such as Qualys, Rapid7, HPE.
VM and App monitoring tooling, such as DynaTrace, Azure Network Watcher, Site24x7, and Stackify.
Extensions can be bundled with a new VM deployment. For example, they can be part of a larger deployment,
configuring applications on VM provision, or run against any supported extension operated systems post
deployment.

How can I find What extensions are available?

You can view available extensions in the VM blade in the Portal, under extensions, this represents just a small
amount, for the full list, you can use the CLI tools, see Discovering VM Extensions for Linux and Discovering VM
Extensions for Windows.

How can I install an extension?

Azure VM extensions can be managed using either the Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, Azure Resource Manager
templates, and the Azure portal. To try an extension, you can go to the Azure portal, select the Custom Script
Extension, then pass in a command / script and run the extensions.
If you want to same extension you added in the portal by CLI or Resource Manager template, see different
extension documentation, such as Windows Custom Script Extension and Linux Custom Script Extension.

How do I manage extension application lifecycle?

You do not need to connect to a VM directly to install or delete the extension. As the Azure extension application
lifecycle is managed outside of the VM and integrated into the Azure platform, you also get integrated status of the
extension.

Anything else I should be thinking about for extensions?

Extensions install applications, like any applications there are some requirements, for extensions there is a list of
supported Windows and Linux OSes, and you need to have the Azure VM agents installed. Some individual VM
extension applications may have their own environmental prerequisites, such as access to an endpoint.

Next steps
For more information about how the Linux Agent and Extensions work, see Azure VM extensions and features
for Linux.
For more information about how the Windows Guest Agent and Extensions work, see Azure VM extensions
and features for Windows.
To install the Windows Guest Agent, see Azure Windows Virtual Machine Agent Overview .
To install the Linux Agent, see Azure Linux Virtual Machine Agent Overview .
 Oracle solutions and their deployment on Microsoft
Azure
12/10/2018 • 9 minutes to read • Edit Online

This article covers information required to successfully deploy various Oracle solutions on Microsoft Azure. These
solutions are based on Virtual Machine images published by Oracle in the Azure Marketplace. To get a list of
currently available images, run the following command:

az vm image list --publisher oracle -o table --all

As of 6-16-2017 the list of images are the following:

Offer Publisher Sku Urn

Version
---------------------- ----------- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
--------- -------------
Oracle-Database-Ee Oracle 12.1.0.2 Oracle:Oracle-Database-Ee:12.1.0.2:12.1.20170202
12.1.20170202
Oracle-Database-Se Oracle 12.1.0.2 Oracle:Oracle-Database-Se:12.1.0.2:12.1.20170202
12.1.20170202
Oracle-Linux Oracle 6.4 Oracle:Oracle-Linux:6.4:6.4.20141206
6.4.20141206
Oracle-Linux Oracle 6.7 Oracle:Oracle-Linux:6.7:6.7.20161007
6.7.20161007
Oracle-Linux Oracle 6.8 Oracle:Oracle-Linux:6.8:6.8.20161020
6.8.20161020
Oracle-Linux Oracle 6.9 Oracle:Oracle-Linux:6.9:6.9.20170406
6.9.20170406
Oracle-Linux Oracle 7.0 Oracle:Oracle-Linux:7.0:7.0.20141217
7.0.20141217
Oracle-Linux Oracle 7.2 Oracle:Oracle-Linux:7.2:7.2.20161020
7.2.20161020
Oracle-Linux Oracle 7.3 Oracle:Oracle-Linux:7.3:7.3.20170320
7.3.20170320
Oracle-WebLogic-Server Oracle Oracle-WebLogic-Server Oracle:Oracle-WebLogic-Server:Oracle-WebLogic-
Server:12.1.2 12.1.2

These images are considered "Bring Your Own License" and as such you will only be charged for compute, storage,
and networking costs incurred by running a VM. It is assumed you are properly licensed to use Oracle software
and that you have a current support agreement in place with Oracle. Oracle has guaranteed license mobility from
on-premises to Azure. See the published Oracle and Microsoft note for details on license mobility.
Individuals can also choose to base their solutions on a custom image they create from scratch in Azure or upload
a custom image from their on premises environment.

Support for JD Edwards

According to Oracle Support note Doc ID 2178595.1 , JD Edwards EnterpriseOne versions 9.2 and above are
supported on any public cloud offering that meets their specific Minimum Technical Requirements (MTR ). You
need to create custom images that meet their MTR specifications for OS and software application compatibility.

Oracle Database virtual machine images

Oracle supports running Oracle DB 12.1 Standard and Enterprise editions in Azure on virtual machine images
based on Oracle Linux. For the best performance for production workloads of Oracle DB on Azure, be sure to
properly size the VM image and use Managed Disks that are backed by Premium Storage. For instructions on how
to quickly get an Oracle DB up and running in Azure using the Oracle published VM image, try the Oracle DB
Quickstart walkthrough.
Attached disk configuration options
Attached disks rely on the Azure Blob storage service. Each standard disk is capable of a theoretical maximum of
approximately 500 input/output operations per second (IOPS ). Our premium disk offering is preferred for high-
performance database workloads and can achieve up to 5000 IOps per disk. While you can use a single disk if that
meets your performance needs - you can improve the effective IOPS performance if you use multiple attached
disks, spread database data across them, and then use Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM ). See Oracle
Automatic Storage overview for more Oracle ASM specific information. For an example of how to install and
configure Oracle ASM on a Linux Azure VM - you can try the Installing and Configuring Oracle Automated
Storage Management tutorial.

Oracle Real Application Cluster (Oracle RAC)

Oracle RAC is designed to mitigate the failure of a single node in an on-premises multi-node cluster configuration.
It relies on two on-premises technologies which are not native to hyper-scale public cloud environments: network
multi-cast and shared disk. If your database solution requires Oracle RAC in Azure, you need 3rd party software to
enable these technologies. For more information on Oracle RAC, please see the FlashGrid solution page.

High availability and disaster recovery considerations

When using Oracle Databases in Azure, you are responsible for implementing a high availability and disaster
recovery solution to avoid any downtime.
High availability and disaster recovery for Oracle Database Enterprise Edition (without relying on Oracle RAC ) can
be achieved on Azure using Data Guard, Active Data Guard, or Oracle Golden Gate, with two databases on two
separate virtual machines. Both virtual machines should be in the same virtual network to ensure they can access
each other over the private persistent IP address. Additionally, we recommend placing the virtual machines in the
same availability set to allow Azure to place them into separate fault domains and upgrade domains. Should you
want to have geo-redundancy - you can have these two databases replicate between two different regions and
connect the two instances with a VPN Gateway.
We have a tutorial "Implement Oracle DataGuard on Azure", which walks you through the basic setup procedure to
trial this on Azure.
With Oracle Data Guard, high availability can be achieved with a primary database in one virtual machine, a
secondary (standby) database in another virtual machine, and one-way replication set up between them. The result
is read access to the copy of the database. With Oracle GoldenGate, you can configure bi-directional replication
between the two databases. To learn how to set up a high-availability solution for your databases using these tools,
see Active Data Guard and GoldenGate documentation at the Oracle website. If you need read-write access to the
copy of the database, you can use Oracle Active Data Guard.
We have a tutorial "Implement Oracle GoldenGate on Azure", which walks you through the basic setup procedure
to trial this on Azure.
Despite having an HA and DR solution architected in Azure, you want to ensure you have a backup strategy in
place to restore your database. We have a tutorial Backup and recover an Oracle Database which walks you
through the basic procedure for establishing a consistent backup.

Oracle WebLogic Server virtual machine images

 Clustering is supported on Enterprise Edition only. You are licensed to use WebLogic clustering only when
using the Enterprise Edition of WebLogic Server. Do not use clustering with WebLogic Server Standard Edition.
UDP multicast is not supported. Azure supports UDP unicasting, but not multicasting or broadcasting.
WebLogic Server is able to rely on Azure UDP unicast capabilities. For best results relying on UDP unicast, we
recommend that the WebLogic cluster size be kept static, or be kept with no more than 10 managed servers
included in the cluster.
WebLogic Server expects public and private ports to be the same for T3 access (for example, when
using Enterprise JavaBeans). Consider a multi-tier scenario where a service layer (EJB ) application is
running on a WebLogic Server cluster consisting of two or more VMs, in a vNet named SLWLS. The client
tier is in a different subnet in the same vNet, running a simple Java program trying to call EJB in the service
layer. Because it is necessary to load balance the service layer, a public load-balanced endpoint needs to be
created for the Virtual Machines in the WebLogic Server cluster. If the private port that you specify is
different from the public port (for example, 7006:7008), an error such as the following occurs:

[java] javax.naming.CommunicationException [Root exception is java.net.ConnectException:

t3://example.cloudapp.net:7006:

Bootstrap to: example.cloudapp.net/138.91.142.178:7006' over: 't3' got an error or timed out]

This is because for any remote T3 access, WebLogic Server expects the load balancer port and the WebLogic
managed server port to be the same. In the preceding case, the client is accessing port 7006 (the load
balancer port) and the managed server is listening on 7008 (the private port). This restriction is applicable
only for T3 access, not HTTP.
To avoid this issue, use one of the following workarounds:
Use the same private and public port numbers for load balanced endpoints dedicated to T3 access.
Include the following JVM parameter when starting WebLogic Server:

-Dweblogic.rjvm.enableprotocolswitch=true

For related information, see KB article 860340.1 at http://support.oracle.com.

Dynamic clustering and load balancing limitations. Suppose you want to use a dynamic cluster in
WebLogic Server and expose it through a single, public load-balanced endpoint in Azure. This can be done
as long as you use a fixed port number for each of the managed servers (not dynamically assigned from a
range) and do not start more managed servers than there are machines the administrator is tracking (that is,
no more than one managed server per virtual machine). If your configuration results in more WebLogic
servers being started than there are virtual machines (that is, where multiple WebLogic Server instances
share the same virtual machine), then it is not possible for more than one of those instances of WebLogic
servers to bind to a given port number – the others on that virtual machine fail.
If you configure the admin server to automatically assign unique port numbers to its managed servers, then
load balancing is not possible because Azure does not support mapping from a single public port to
multiple private ports, as would be required for this configuration.
Multiple instances of Weblogic Server on a virtual machine. Depending on your deployment’s
requirements, you might consider the option of running multiple instances of WebLogic Server on the same
virtual machine, if the virtual machine is large enough. For example, on a medium size virtual machine, which
contains two cores, you could choose to run two instances of WebLogic Server. Note however that we still
recommend that you avoid introducing single points of failure into your architecture, which would be the case if
you used just one virtual machine that is running multiple instances of WebLogic Server. Using at least two
virtual machines could be a better approach, and each of those virtual machines could then run multiple
 instances of WebLogic Server. Each of these instances of WebLogic Server could still be part of the same cluster.
Note, however, it is currently not possible to use Azure to load-balance endpoints that are exposed by such
WebLogic Server deployments within the same virtual machine, because Azure load balancer requires the load-
balanced servers to be distributed among unique virtual machines.

Oracle JDK virtual machine images

JDK 6 and 7 latest updates. While we recommend using the latest public, supported version of Java
(currently Java 8), Azure also makes JDK 6 and 7 images available. This is intended for legacy applications
that are not yet ready to be upgraded to JDK 8. While updates to previous JDK images might no longer be
available to the general public, given the Microsoft partnership with Oracle, the JDK 6 and 7 images
provided by Azure are intended to contain a more recent non-public update that is normally offered by
Oracle to only a select group of Oracle’s supported customers. New versions of the JDK images will be
made available over time with updated releases of JDK 6 and 7.
The JDK available in this JDK 6 and 7 images, and the virtual machines and images derived from them, can
only be used within Azure.
64-bit JDK. The Oracle WebLogic Server virtual machine images and the Oracle JDK virtual machine images
provided by Azure contain the 64-bit versions of both Windows Server and the JDK.

Next steps
You now have an overview of current Oracle Solutions on Microsoft Azure. Your next step is to deploy your first
Oracle Database on Azure.
Try the Create an Oracle Database on Azure tutorial to get started.
 Using Azure for hosting and running SAP workload
scenarios
12/14/2018 • 5 minutes to read • Edit Online

By choosing Microsoft Azure as your SAP ready cloud partner, you are able to reliably run your mission critical
SAP workloads and scenarios on a scalable, compliant, and enterprise-proven platform. Get the scalability,
flexibility, and cost savings of Azure. With the expanded partnership between Microsoft and SAP, you can run SAP
applications across dev/test and production scenarios in Azure - and be fully supported. From SAP NetWeaver to
SAP S4/HANA, SAP BI, Linux to Windows, SAP HANA to SQL, we have you covered.
Besides hosting SAP NetWeaver scenarios with the different DBMS on Azure, you can host different other SAP
workload scenarios, like SAP BI on Azure. Documentation regarding SAP NetWeaver deployments on Azure
native Virtual Machines can be found in the section "SAP NetWeaver on Azure Virtual Machines."
The uniqueness of Azure for SAP HANA is a unique offer that sets Azure apart from competition. In order to
enable hosting more memory and CPU resource demanding SAP scenarios involving SAP HANA, Azure offers the
usage of customer dedicated bare-metal hardware for the purpose of running SAP HANA deployments that
require up to 20 TB (60 TB scale-out) of memory for S/4HANA or other SAP HANA workload. This unique Azure
solution of SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances) allows you to run SAP HANA on the dedicated bare-metal
hardware with the SAP application layer or workload middle-ware layer hosted in native Azure Virtual Machines.
This solution is documented in several documents in the section "SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances)."
Hosting SAP workload scenarios in Azure also can create requirements of Identity integration and Single-Sign-On
using Azure Activity Directory to different SAP components and SAP SaaS or PaaS offers. A list of such integration
and Single-Sign-On scenarios with Azure Active Directory (AAD ) and SAP entities is described and documented in
the section "AAD SAP Identity Integration and Single-Sign-On."

Latest Changes
Clarification around usage and configuration of Azure Network Virtual Appliances in latency critical
communication paths of SAP systems in:
Considerations for Azure Virtual Machines DBMS deployment for SAP workload
SAP HANA infrastructure configurations and operations on Azure
Documentation around SAP HANA Dynamic Tiering for Azure VMs
SAP HANA infrastructure configurations and operations on Azure
Documentation around SAP HANA Scale-out on Azure VM M128s got added to:
SAP HANA infrastructure configurations and operations on Azure
SAP HANA availability within one Azure region

SAP HANA on SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances)

A series of documentation leads you through SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances) or in short HANA Large
Instances. The documents cover the listed areas of HANA Large Instances:
Overview of SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances)
Architecture of SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances)
 Infrastructure and Connectivity to SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances)
Install SAP HANA on SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances)
High Availability and Disaster Recovery of SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances)
Troubleshooting and Monitoring of SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances)
Next steps:
Read Overview and Architecture of SAP HANA on Azure (Large Instances)

SAP HANA on Azure Virtual Machines

This section of the documentation covers different aspects of SAP HANA. As a prerequisite, you should be familiar
with the principal services of Azure that provide elementary services of Azure IaaS, so mostly knowledge of Azure
compute, storage, and networking. Many of those topics are handled in the SAP NetWeaver related Azure
Planning Guide.
The documentation specific for HANA on Azure consists of this list of articles and their subarticles:
Quickstart: Manual installation of single-instance SAP HANA on Azure VMs
Deploy SAP S/4HANA or BW/4HANA on Azure
SAP HANA infrastructure configurations and operations on Azure
SAP HANA high availability for Azure virtual machines
SAP HANA availability within one Azure region
SAP HANA availability across Azure regions
High availability of SAP HANA on Azure virtual machines
Backup guide for SAP HANA on Azure Virtual Machines
SAP HANA Azure Backup on file level
SAP HANA backup based on storage snapshots

SAP NetWeaver deployed on Azure Virtual Machines

In this section, you find planning and deployment documentation for SAP NetWeaver and Business One on Azure.
The documentation in this chapter is focused mostly around the basics and the usage of non-HANA databases with
SAP workload on Azure. Whereas the documents and articles for HA are foundation for HANA high availability in
Azure as well. the articles list like:
SAP Business One on Azure Virtual Machines
Deploy SAP IDES EHP7 SP3 for SAP ERP 6.0 on Azure
Running SAP NetWeaver on Microsoft Azure SUSE Linux VMs
Azure Virtual Machines planning and implementation for SAP NetWeaver
Azure Virtual Machines deployment for SAP NetWeaver
Protect a multi-tier SAP NetWeaver application deployment by using Site Recovery
SAP LaMa connector for Azure
Regarding non-HANA databases under SAP workload on azure the documents list like:
Considerations for Azure Virtual Machines DBMS deployment for SAP workload
SQL Server Azure Virtual Machines DBMS deployment for SAP NetWeaver
Oracle Azure Virtual Machines DBMS deployment for SAP workload
IBM DB2 Azure Virtual Machines DBMS deployment for SAP workload
SAP ASE Azure Virtual Machines DBMS deployment for SAP workload
SAP MaxDB, liveCache, and Content Server deployment on Azure VMs
For SAP HANA databases on Azure, check the section SAP HANA on Azure Virtual Machines.
For high availability of SAP workload on Azure, the entry document is:
Azure Virtual Machines high availability for SAP NetWeaver
The entry document points to various other architecture and scenario documents. In subsequent scenario
documents, links to detailed technical documents explaining the deployment and configuration of the different high
availability methods are provided. The different documents of establishing and configuring high availability for
SAP NetWeaver workload are covering Linux as well as Windows operating systems.
For integration between Azure Active Directory (AAD ) and SAP Services and Single-Sign-On, the documents list
like:
Tutorial: Azure Active Directory integration with SAP Cloud for Customer
Tutorial: Azure Active Directory integration with SAP Cloud Platform Identity Authentication
Tutorial: Azure Active Directory integration with SAP Cloud Platform
Tutorial: Azure Active Directory integration with SAP NetWeaver
Tutorial: Azure Active Directory integration with SAP Business ByDesign
Tutorial: Azure Active Directory integration with SAP HANA
Your S/4HANA environment – Fiori Launchpad SAML Single Sign-On with Azure AD
For integration of Azure Services into SAP components the list of documents looks like:
Use SAP HANA in Power BI Desktop
DirectQuery and SAP HANA
Use the SAP BW Connector in Power BI Desktop
Azure Data Factory offers SAP HANA and Business Warehouse data integration
 Azure and Linux
12/5/2018 • 7 minutes to read • Edit Online

Microsoft Azure is a growing collection of integrated public cloud services including analytics, virtual machines,
databases, mobile, networking, storage, and web—ideal for hosting your solutions. Microsoft Azure provides a
scalable computing platform that allows you to only pay for what you use, when you want it - without having to
invest in on-premises hardware. Azure is ready when you are to scale your solutions up and out to whatever scale
you require to service the needs of your clients.
If you are familiar with the various features of Amazon's AWS, you can examine the Azure vs AWS definition
mapping document.

Regions
Microsoft Azure resources are distributed across multiple geographical regions around the world. A "region"
represents multiple data centers in a single geographical area. Azure currently (as of August 2018) has 42 regions
generally available around the world with an additional 12 regions announced - more global regions than any
other cloud provider. An updated list of existing and newly announced regions can be found in the following page:
Azure Regions

Availability
Azure announced an industry leading single instance virtual machine Service Level Agreement of 99.9% provided
you deploy the VM with premium storage for all disks. In order for your deployment to qualify for the standard
99.95% VM Service Level Agreement, you still need to deploy two or more VMs running your workload inside of
an availability set. An availability set ensures that your VMs are distributed across multiple fault domains in the
Azure data centers as well as deployed onto hosts with different maintenance windows. The full Azure SLA
explains the guaranteed availability of Azure as a whole.

Managed Disks
Managed Disks handles Azure Storage account creation and management in the background for you, and ensures
that you do not have to worry about the scalability limits of the storage account. You specify the disk size and the
performance tier (Standard or Premium), and Azure creates and manages the disk. As you add disks or scale the
VM up and down, you don't have to worry about the storage being used. If you're creating new VMs, use the Azure
CLI or the Azure portal to create VMs with Managed OS and data disks. If you have VMs with unmanaged disks,
you can convert your VMs to be backed with Managed Disks.
You can also manage your custom images in one storage account per Azure region, and use them to create
hundreds of VMs in the same subscription. For more information about Managed Disks, see the Managed Disks
Overview.

Azure Virtual Machines & Instances

Microsoft Azure supports running a number of popular Linux distributions provided and maintained by a number
of partners. You can find distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Debian,
Ubuntu, CoreOS, RancherOS, FreeBSD, and more in the Azure Marketplace. Microsoft actively works with various
Linux communities to add even more flavors to the Azure endorsed Linux Distros list.
If your preferred Linux distro of choice is not currently present in the gallery, you can "Bring your own Linux" VM
by creating and uploading a Linux VHD in Azure.
Azure virtual machines allow you to deploy a wide range of computing solutions in an agile way. You can deploy
virtually any workload and any language on nearly any operating system - Windows, Linux, or a custom created
one from any one of the growing list of partners. Still don't see what you are looking for? Don't worry - you can
also bring your own images from on-premises.

VM Sizes
The size of the VM that you use is determined by the workload that you want to run. The size that you choose then
determines factors such as processing power, memory, and storage capacity. Azure offers a wide variety of sizes to
support many types of uses.
Azure charges an hourly price based on the VM’s size and operating system. For partial hours, Azure charges only
for the minutes used. Storage is priced and charged separately.

Automation
To achieve a proper DevOps culture, all infrastructure must be code. When all the infrastructure lives in code it can
easily be recreated (Phoenix Servers). Azure works with all the major automation tooling like Ansible, Chef,
SaltStack, and Puppet. Azure also has its own tooling for automation:
Azure Templates
Azure VMAccess
Azure is rolling out support for cloud-init across most Linux Distros that support it. Currently Canonical's Ubuntu
VMs are deployed with cloud-init enabled by default. Red Hat's RHEL, CentOS, and Fedora support cloud-init,
however the Azure images maintained by Red Hat do not currently have cloud-init installed. To use cloud-init on a
Red Hat family OS, you must create a custom image with cloud-init installed.
Using cloud-init on Azure Linux VMs

Quotas
Each Azure Subscription has default quota limits in place that could impact the deployment of a large number of
VMs for your project. The current limit on a per subscription basis is 20 VMs per region. Quota limits can be raised
quickly and easily by filing a support ticket requesting a limit increase. For more details on quota limits:
Azure Subscription Service Limits

Partners
Microsoft works closely with partners to ensure the images available are updated and optimized for an Azure
runtime. For more information on Azure partners, see the following links:
Linux on Azure - Endorsed Distributions
SUSE - Azure Marketplace - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Red Hat - Azure Marketplace - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2
Canonical - Azure Marketplace - Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS
Debian - Azure Marketplace - Debian 8 "Jessie"
FreeBSD - Azure Marketplace - FreeBSD 10.4
CoreOS - Azure Marketplace - CoreOS (Stable)
RancherOS - Azure Marketplace - RancherOS
Bitnami - Bitnami Library for Azure
Mesosphere - Azure Marketplace - Mesosphere DC/OS on Azure
 Docker - Azure Marketplace - Azure Container Service with Docker Swarm
Jenkins - Azure Marketplace - CloudBees Jenkins Platform

Getting started with Linux on Azure

To begin using Azure, you need an Azure account, the Azure CLI installed, and a pair of SSH public and private
keys.
Sign up for an account
The first step in using the Azure Cloud is to sign up for an Azure account. Go to the Azure Account Signup page to
get started.
Install the CLI
With your new Azure account, you can get started immediately using the Azure portal, which is a web-based
admin panel. To manage the Azure Cloud via the command line, you install the azure-cli . Install the Azure CLI on
your Mac or Linux workstation.
Create an SSH key pair
Now you have an Azure account, the Azure web portal, and the Azure CLI. The next step is to create an SSH key
pair that is used to SSH into Linux without using a password. Create SSH keys on Linux and Mac to enable
password-less logins and better security.
Create a VM using the CLI
Creating a Linux VM using the CLI is a quick way to deploy a VM without leaving the terminal you are working in.
Everything you can specify on the web portal is available via a command-line flag or switch.
Create a Linux VM using the CLI
Create a VM in the portal
Creating a Linux VM in the Azure web portal is a way to easily point and click through the various options to get to
a deployment. Instead of using command-line flags or switches, you are able to view a nice web layout of various
options and settings. Everything available via the command-line interface is also available in the portal.
Create a Linux VM using the Portal
Log in using SSH without a password
The VM is now running on Azure and you are ready to log in. Using passwords to log in via SSH is insecure and
time consuming. Using SSH keys is the most secure way and also the quickest way to log in. When you create you
Linux VM via the portal or the CLI, you have two authentication choices. If you choose a password for SSH, Azure
configures the VM to allow logins via passwords. If you chose to use an SSH public key, Azure configures the VM
to only allow logins via SSH keys and disables password logins. To secure your Linux VM by only allowing SSH
key logins, use the SSH public key option during the VM creation in the portal or CLI.

Related Azure components

Storage
Introduction to Microsoft Azure Storage
Add a disk to a Linux VM using the azure-cli
How to attach a data disk to a Linux VM in the Azure portal

Networking
Virtual Network Overview
 IP addresses in Azure
Opening ports to a Linux VM in Azure
Create a Fully Qualified Domain Name in the Azure portal

Containers
Virtual Machines and Containers in Azure
Azure Container Service introduction
Deploy an Azure Container Service cluster

Next steps
You now have an overview of Linux on Azure. The next step is to dive in and create a few VMs!
Explore the growing list of sample scripts for common tasks via AzureCLI
 Overview of Windows virtual machines in Azure
10/5/2018 • 7 minutes to read • Edit Online

Azure Virtual Machines (VM ) is one of several types of on-demand, scalable computing resources that Azure
offers. Typically, you choose a VM when you need more control over the computing environment than the other
choices offer. This article gives you information about what you should consider before you create a VM, how you
create it, and how you manage it.
An Azure VM gives you the flexibility of virtualization without having to buy and maintain the physical hardware
that runs it. However, you still need to maintain the VM by performing tasks, such as configuring, patching, and
installing the software that runs on it.
Azure virtual machines can be used in various ways. Some examples are:
Development and test – Azure VMs offer a quick and easy way to create a computer with specific
configurations required to code and test an application.
Applications in the cloud – Because demand for your application can fluctuate, it might make economic
sense to run it on a VM in Azure. You pay for extra VMs when you need them and shut them down when you
don’t.
Extended datacenter – Virtual machines in an Azure virtual network can easily be connected to your
organization’s network.
The number of VMs that your application uses can scale up and out to whatever is required to meet your needs.

What do I need to think about before creating a VM?

There are always a multitude of design considerations when you build out an application infrastructure in Azure.
These aspects of a VM are important to think about before you start:
The names of your application resources
The location where the resources are stored
The size of the VM
The maximum number of VMs that can be created
The operating system that the VM runs
The configuration of the VM after it starts
The related resources that the VM needs
Naming
A virtual machine has a name assigned to it and it has a computer name configured as part of the operating
system. The name of a VM can be up to 15 characters.
If you use Azure to create the operating system disk, the computer name and the virtual machine name are the
same. If you upload and use your own image that contains a previously configured operating system and use it to
create a virtual machine, the names can be different. We recommend that when you upload your own image file,
you make the computer name in the operating system and the virtual machine name the same.
Locations
All resources created in Azure are distributed across multiple geographical regions around the world. Usually, the
region is called location when you create a VM. For a VM, the location specifies where the virtual hard disks are
stored.
This table shows some of the ways you can get a list of available locations.

METHOD DESCRIPTION

Azure portal Select a location from the list when you create a VM.

Azure PowerShell Use the Get-AzureRmLocation command.

REST API Use the List locations operation.

Azure CLI Use the az account list-locations operation.

VM size
The size of the VM that you use is determined by the workload that you want to run. The size that you choose then
determines factors such as processing power, memory, and storage capacity. Azure offers a wide variety of sizes to
support many types of uses.
Azure charges an hourly price based on the VM’s size and operating system. For partial hours, Azure charges only
for the minutes used. Storage is priced and charged separately.
VM Limits
Your subscription has default quota limits in place that could impact the deployment of many VMs for your project.
The current limit on a per subscription basis is 20 VMs per region. Limits can be raised by filing a support ticket
requesting an increase
Operating system disks and images
Virtual machines use virtual hard disks (VHDs) to store their operating system (OS ) and data. VHDs are also used
for the images you can choose from to install an OS.
Azure provides many marketplace images to use with various versions and types of Windows Server operating
systems. Marketplace images are identified by image publisher, offer, sku, and version (typically version is specified
as latest). Only 64-bit operating systems are supported. For more information on the supported guest operating
systems, roles, and features, see Microsoft server software support for Microsoft Azure virtual machines .
This table shows some ways that you can find the information for an image.

METHOD DESCRIPTION

Azure portal The values are automatically specified for you when you select
an image to use.

Azure PowerShell Get-AzureRMVMImagePublisher -Location location

Get-AzureRMVMImageOffer -Location location -Publisher
publisherName
Get-AzureRMVMImageSku -Location location -Publisher
publisherName -Offer offerName

REST APIs List image publishers

List image offers
List image skus

Azure CLI az vm image list-publishers --location location

az vm image list-offers --location location --publisher
publisherName
az vm image list-skus --location location --publisher
publisherName --offer offerName
You can choose to upload and use your own image and when you do, the publisher name, offer, and sku aren’t
used.
Extensions
VM extensions give your VM additional capabilities through post deployment configuration and automated tasks.
These common tasks can be accomplished using extensions:
Run custom scripts – The Custom Script Extension helps you configure workloads on the VM by running your
script when the VM is provisioned.
Deploy and manage configurations – The PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC ) Extension helps
you set up DSC on a VM to manage configurations and environments.
Collect diagnostics data – The Azure Diagnostics Extension helps you configure the VM to collect diagnostics
data that can be used to monitor the health of your application.
Related resources
The resources in this table are used by the VM and need to exist or be created when the VM is created.

RESOURCE REQUIRED DESCRIPTION

Resource group Yes The VM must be contained in a

resource group.

Storage account Yes The VM needs the storage account to

store its virtual hard disks.

Virtual network Yes The VM must be a member of a virtual

network.

Public IP address No The VM can have a public IP address

assigned to it to remotely access it.

Network interface Yes The VM needs the network interface to

communicate in the network.

Data disks No The VM can include data disks to

expand storage capabilities.

How do I create my first VM?

You have several choices for creating your VM. The choice that you make depends on the environment you are in.
This table provides information to get you started creating your VM.

METHOD ARTICLE

Azure portal Create a virtual machine running Windows using the portal

Templates Create a Windows virtual machine with a Resource Manager

template

Azure PowerShell Create a Windows VM using PowerShell

Client SDKs Deploy Azure Resources using C#

 METHOD ARTICLE

REST APIs Create or update a VM

Azure CLI Create a VM with the Azure CLI

You hope it never happens, but occasionally something goes wrong. If this situation happens to you, look at the
information in Troubleshoot Resource Manager deployment issues with creating a Windows virtual machine in
Azure.

How do I manage the VM that I created?

VMs can be managed using a browser-based portal, command-line tools with support for scripting, or directly
through APIs. Some typical management tasks that you might perform are getting information about a VM,
logging on to a VM, managing availability, and making backups.
Get information about a VM
This table shows you some of the ways that you can get information about a VM.

METHOD DESCRIPTION

Azure portal On the hub menu, click Virtual Machines and then select the
VM from the list. On the blade for the VM, you have access to
overview information, setting values, and monitoring metrics.

Azure PowerShell For information about using PowerShell to manage VMs, see
Create and manage Windows VMs with the Azure PowerShell
module.

REST API Use the Get VM information operation to get information

about a VM.

Client SDKs For information about using C# to manage VMs, see Manage
Azure Virtual Machines using Azure Resource Manager and
C#.

Azure CLI For information about using Azure CLI to manage VMs, see
Azure CLI Reference.

Log on to the VM
You use the Connect button in the Azure portal to start a Remote Desktop (RDP ) session. Things can sometimes
go wrong when trying to use a remote connection. If this situation happens to you, check out the help information
in Troubleshoot Remote Desktop connections to an Azure virtual machine running Windows.
Manage availability
It’s important for you to understand how to ensure high availability for your application. This configuration
involves creating multiple VMs to ensure that at least one is running.
In order for your deployment to qualify for our 99.95 VM Service Level Agreement, you need to deploy two or
more VMs running your workload inside an availability set. This configuration ensures your VMs are distributed
across multiple fault domains and are deployed onto hosts with different maintenance windows. The full Azure
SLA explains the guaranteed availability of Azure as a whole.
Back up the VM
A Recovery Services vault is used to protect data and assets in both Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery
services. You can use a Recovery Services vault to deploy and manage backups for Resource Manager-deployed
VMs using PowerShell.

Next steps
If your intent is to work with Linux VMs, look at Azure and Linux.
Learn more about the guidelines around setting up your infrastructure in the Example Azure infrastructure
walkthrough.