Microsoft Azure: Infrastructure as a

Service (IaaS)
Module 3: IaaS VMs

Microsoft Azure VMs

A Continuous Offering from Private to Public Cloud

Physical Virtual IaaS PaaS SaaS

Overview

Support for key server applications

Easy storage manageability: Page blob

High availability features

Advanced networking

Integration with compute Platform as a Service (PaaS)

IaaS Workloads: All About the App
• Line of Business (LoB) applications:
o Custom applications
o Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
o Content Management Server (CMS)
o Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
o Business Intelligence (BI)

• Application Infrastructure:
o File servers
o Databases
o Identity
o Source control

• Developer, Testing and Staging environments:

o Quickly provision and un-provision entire environments

• Hybrid applications:
o Applications that span your data center and the cloud
Provisioning to the Cloud
Select Image New Disk Persisted in
Getting Started
and VM Size Storage

Windows Server Boot VM from New Disk

Management Portal(s)
Linux
>_
A0 – A11
Scripting
(Windows, Linux and Mac) D1 – D4/D11 – D14
D1_v2 – D15_v2 Blob
Storage
DS1 – DS4/DS11 – DS14
Azure Resource Manager DS1_v2 – DS15_v2 Cloud
(ARM)
G1 – G5
GS1 – GS5
REST API
Supported Windows Server Applications

• Microsoft BizTalk Server - Microsoft BizTalk Server 2013 and later versions
• Microsoft Dynamics AX - Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 and future updates
• Microsoft Dynamics GP - Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and later versions
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV - Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 and later versions
• Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager - Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010 R2 SP1 and later versions
• Microsoft HPC Pack - Microsoft HPC Pack 2012 and later versions
• Microsoft Project Server - Microsoft Project Server 2013 and later versions
• Microsoft SharePoint Server - Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and later versions are supported on Windows Azure Virtual Machines.
• Microsoft SQL Server - 64-bit versions of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and later versions
• Microsoft System Center - Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 and later versions are supported for the following applications:
o •App Controller
o •Configuration Manager
o •Endpoint Protection
o •Operations Manager
o •Orchestrator
o •Server Application Virtualization
o •Service Manager

• Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2012 and later versions

• Microsoft Exchange
• For the most up to date list : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2721672
Linux on Microsoft Azure

• Supported Versions:
o SUSE SLES 11 Service Pack 3+ (SP3), SLES 12+
o openSUSE 13.1+
o CentOS 6.3+,7.0+ by OpenLogic*
o Ubuntu Server 12.04.1+,14.04, 15.10 and 16.04
o Oracle Linux 6.4+, 7.0+
o Red Hat Enterprise Linux RHEL 6.7+, 7.1+
o CoreOS 494.4.0+
• Specific versions are endorsed:
o Integration Components
o Testing and validation by partners
o Bring other variants at your own risk**

• *Image provided by OpenLogic based on CentOS 6.5 – 7.1

• **Interoperation work will be Required
• *** Only Linux VMs in the gallery are supported
What about Red Hat?

• 11/4/2015 – new announcement on partnership between Red Hat and Microsoft.

http://news.microsoft.com/2015/11/04/microsoft-and-red-hat-to-deliver-new-standard-for-enterprise-clo
ud-experiences/
• Landing site https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/campaigns/redhat/
Windows Server Roles that are Not Supported

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2721672
Windows Server Features that are not Supported
Module 3: IaaS VMs

VMs and
Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
Reminder…Azure Resource Manager provides…

A Resource Group is a Unit of Management

• Application Lifecycle Containment – Deployment, update, delete and status
• Declarative solution for Deployment – “Config as Code”
• Grouping – Metering, billing, quote: applied and rolled up to the group
• Consistent Management Layer
• Access Control – Scope for RBAC permissions
Resource Group logical view

Backend Pool (NICs)

Storage VNet
VM IP Load LB IP
Account VM NIC Subnet
Disk (blob)
Address Balancer Address

DependsOn
Resource Group

Network Security Group ACLS

(deployed to VM, NIC, or Subnet)
Portal View of Resource Group
Resource Group Key Points
• A resource can only be IN one resource group
• You CAN share resources in a resource group with other resource groups, ie, such as a storage account
• Virtual machines in a resource group MUST be in a virtual network and MUST be in a subnet which by
default has a network security group (NSG)
• ARM virtual machines can only be placed in ARM storage accounts
• Load balancers must be created either via ARM or PowerShell, it cannot be done in the portal
Demo: Resource Groups
Module 3: IaaS VMs

VM Availability
Service Level Agreements (SLA)
• For Cloud Services, we guarantee that when you deploy two or
more role instances in different fault and upgrade domains,
your Internet facing roles will have external connectivity at
least 99.95% of the time.

• For all Internet facing Virtual Machines that have two or more
instances deployed in the same Availability Set, we guarantee
you will have external connectivity at least 99.95% of the time. 

• For Virtual Network, we guarantee a 99.9% Virtual Network

Gateway availability.

• "NO SLA" under the single instance

Fault and Update Domains
• Fault domains:
o Represent groups of resources anticipated to fail together, i.e. same rack, same server
o Fabric spreads instances across fault at least two fault domains
o The number of fault domains is controlled by the Azure Fabric
o Anticipated to fail together: share power source and network switch
o 3 fault domains by default

• Update domains:
o Represents groups of resources that will be updated together
o Host OS updates honor service update domains
o Specified in service definition
o Default of five (up to 5)
o More than 5 update domains allowed

• Fabric spreads role instances across update domains and fault domains
VM Availability Sets
• Update domains are honored by host OS updates

VM VM
Availability Set

VM VM

Availability Set
How Does this Relate to the SLA?

Availability Set

VM VM VM

No SLA* SLA 99.95

* No guaranteed SLA for single VM instance

End-to-End Highly Available Solution
• Redundancy at every level

SQL-AVSET

IIS-AVSET SQL
IIS Web
Application Server

Web VM

SQL Mirroring
L IIS Web
Internet B Application

Web VM SQL
Server
Module 3: IaaS VMs

Understanding Disks
VM Disk Layout – Windows OS
OS Disk
• Persistent
• SATA
• Drive C:

* Max. size of C:\ drive – 1,023GB

VM Disk Layout – Windows OS (continued)

Temporary Storage Disk

• Local (Not Persistent)
• SATA/SSD
• Drive D:
VM Disk Layout – Windows OS(continued)

Data Disk(s)
• Persistent
• SCSI
• Customer-defined
Letter
Persistent Disk Management – Windows OS
• C:\ = OS Disk
• D:\ = Non-Persistent Cache Disk
• E:\, F:\. G:\ and all subsequent Data Disks—you will need to attach and format them

Capability OS Disk Data Disk

Host Cache Default ReadWrite None
Max Capacity 1023 GB 1 TB
Imaging Capable Yes No
Hot Update Cache Setting requires a Change Cache without reboot,
reboot Add/Remove without reboot
Disk Caching – Windows OS

• Modify using the Set-AzureOSDisk or the Set-AzureDataDisk cmdlets

Supported Cache Modes:

Disk Type Read Only Read Write None
OS Disk Supported Default Not Supported

Data Disks Supported Supported Default

Temporary Disk Not stored in Microsoft Azure Storage Blob

Service
VM Disk Selection Categories
• A Series
• Deployed on a variety of hardware and types of processors
• Size throttled based upon hardware
• Offers consistent performance regardless of hardware
• D Series
• CPUs 60% faster than A Series
• D Drive (temp) is an SSD Drive
• DS Series
• Performance similar to D Series but can be used with Premium storage
• Dv2 Series
• CPUs 35% faster than D series
• 2.4 GHz Intel Xeon @E5-2673 Haswell processor
• Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
• DSv2 Series
• Similar to Dv2 series but can use Premium storage
VM Disk Selection Categories (con’t)
• G Series
• Up to 32 cpu cores
• Up to 448GB of RAM
• GS Series
• Performance similar to G Series but can be used with Premium storage
• F Series
• 2GB+ RAM and 16GB plus SSD per CPU
• Optimized for compute intensive workloads
• 2.4 GHz Intel Xeon @E5-2673 Haswell processor
• Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
• FS Series
• Targeted for Premium storage
• SSD drive is persistent storage
• N Series (private preview Sept/Oct 2016)
• NVIDIA GRID 2.0 virtualized graphics
Comparing CPU performance across VM SKU’s
• Azure Compute Unit (ACU)
o Standardized on Standard_A1 VM = 100
o ‘*’ Intel Turbo Technology increases CPU frequency and provide a performance boost
Sizes for Virtual Machines in Azure
• https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/virtual-machines-windows-sizes/
Persistent Disks and Azure Storage High Durability

Microsoft Azure Storage

(Disaster Recovery)

VM VM Microsoft Azure Storage

Azure Premium Storage
• Premium storage account can be created via the Azure Portal https://portal.azure.com , Azure PowerShell or the
Service Management REST API
• Available in Regions https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/regions/#services
• Supports only Azure Page Blobs that are used to hold persistent disks
• Only supports Locally Redundant Storage (LRS)
• Must use DS, DSv2 or GS-Series disks for VMs
• Cannot be mapped to a custom domain
• Storage analytics not currently supported
 Azure Premium Storage Scalability
• Three types of Premium Storage disks

• Scalability Targets
Creating a Premium Storage account
Module 3: IaaS VMs

Disks and Images

Introduction to Disks and Images

OS Images
• Microsoft • Base OS image for new VMs
• Partner
• User
• Sysprepped/Generalized/Read-only
• Created by uploading or by capture

Disks
• OS Disks
• Writable disks for VMs
• Data Disks • Created during VM creation or
during upload of existing Virtual
Hard Disks (VHDs)
Image Mobility

On-premises Cloud

MyApp.vhd Blob
Storage
Bring Your Own Server/VHD

On-premises Cloud

MyApp.vhd
On-premises
Virtual Server Provision VM from
an image or a disk
Use Case using a portal, a
script or an API
• Forklift Migration of VMs
Create
• Sysprepped Images Upload Blob disk or
VHD storage
• Use Add-AzureVHD/Add- image
AzureRmVHD to upload
VHD must be fixed disk
* Disk must be converted before
upload
Imaging VMs in the Cloud

Cloud
Identical or similar deployment instances
use a common OS image as a starting
point
Blob Base.VHD
storage

Boot
VM Blob
storage

Customize Generalize Capture

VHD VHD VM Capture VM saves the customized
image to your image library
Tips on Bring Your Own (BYO) Generalized Images
• Sysprep and Generalize is expected
• Do not put unattend.xml on the disk
Module 3: IaaS VMs

Managing VMs
Azure VM Agent and Extensions
• VM Agent is used to install, configure, manage and run Azure VM Extensions
o Installs, configures, and removes VM extensions on instances of Azure VMs
o Enable via Portal or PowerShell
o Available for Windows and Linux

• VM Extensions provide dynamic features that Microsoft and other third parties provide
o Modify security and identity features, such as resetting account values and using antimalware
o Start, stop, or configure monitoring and diagnostics
o Reset or install connectivity features, such as RDP and SSH
o Diagnose, monitor, and manage your VMs
Lab: Introduction with Microsoft Azure Virtual
Machines
What are Virtual Machine Scale Sets?
• A way to deploy and manage VMs as a set
• Integrated with Azure Autoscale
• Integrated with Azure Load Balancer
• An Azure Compute resource Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets
• A scalable compute platform
• A platform independent infrastructure for PaaS Scalable VM Base
Scalable VM
Scalable VM OS Image
Scalable VM
ExtensionVirtual
1
Extension
Machine 1
Agent Extension 1
Extension 2
Agent Extension
Extension 2 11
Agent Extension
Extension 2
Agent Extension 2
Agent Extension 2
OS Image Diff
OS Image Diff
OS Image Diff
OS
OSImage
ImageDiff
Diff
Disk
Azure’s Next Generation of cloud platform

Web Mobile
Apps Apps
PaaS Layers
Cluster Orchestration Media App Service
Vertical PaaS

Service
CloudFoundry Batch
Cluster
Fabric
Orchestration ACS, Mesos, Swarm
VM Extensions
IaaS and
IaaS+ VMs and VM Scale Sets

Infrastructure Azure Stack Azure Public Cloud

52
When to use VM Scale Sets

• Pets vs. Packs

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vijairaj/278290052/ Source:

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Source:
http://www.torange-fr.com/animals/birds/Un-troupeau-de-pigeons-et-tourterelles-15497.html
http://survivorsdogs.wikia.com/wiki/Wolf_(animal)?file=Wolfpack.jpg
License:
License:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Demo: VM Scale Sets
Azure Resource Manager: Building a Virtual Machine
Resource Group
virtualMachine
Subnet - hardwareProfile
- osProfile
VM - storageProfile
- networkProfile

NIC networkInterface storageAccount

- privateIPAllocat - accountType
ionMethod

Public IP Storage
VNET publicIPAddress virtualNetwork
- allocationMethod - addressSpace
- domainNameLabel - Subnet
- addressPrefix

https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates/ 55
VM Scale Sets in ARM
Manage groups of identical VMs

Resource Group
• Auto-Scalable
• Fast Subnet
Scale Set
• Customizable
• Windows or Linux V V V V
• VM Extensions
• Open PaaS platform
M M M M
…
Scalable NIC Scalable Storage
• Ease of Management
• Focus on target Extensions
instance count
• Updatable
VNET

https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates - *vmss*
VM Scale Sets: Capacity
• Specify a target instance count
• Specify a prefix for the computer name
1
{
"type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets",
"apiVersion": "2015-06-15",

2
"name": "[parameters('vmSSName')]",
"location": "[variables('location')]",
"tags": {
"osProfile": { "vmsstag1": "Myriad"
"computerNamePrefix": "[parameters('vmSSName')]", },
"adminUsername": "[parameters('adminUsername')]", "dependsOn": [
"adminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]" ...
}, ],
"networkProfile": { "sku": {
"networkInterfaceConfigurations": [ "name": "Standard_A2",
{ "tier": "Standard",
"name": "nic1", "capacity": "[parameters('instanceCount')]"
"properties": { },
Lab: Create a VM Scale Set using a Custom
Windows IIS Image
Module 3: IaaS VMs

Preview Features
Module Summary

Support for key server applications

Easy storage manageability
High availability features
Advanced networking
Integration with compute PaaS
Virtual Machine Shutdown (classic portal view)
• Shutdown from Windows Azure Portal or Stop-AzureVM
o Billing stops for the VM
o All resources are released (including network adapters)

• Shutdown within the VM or Stop-AzureVM –StayProvisioned:

o Billing continues for the VM
o Keeps resources reserved (including IP address)