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Azure VPS setup notes » History » Version 31

Jon Goldberg, 05/09/2022 04:21 PM

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{{last_updated_at}} by {{last_updated_by}}
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# Microsoft Azure - Setup
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## For the Client
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Hi there!  If I've directed you to this page, the part that concerns you are the first three sections only.  It's a bit convoluted, so feel free to ask me if you run into trouble! -Jon
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[**NOTE**: Most of Microsoft's pages break with an ad blocker enabled.]
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### Get a Sponsorship
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* [Go to the Nonprofit Microsoft Getting Started page](https://nonprofit.microsoft.com/en-us/getting-started).  Fill out the paperwork to be approved as a 501c3.  Approval can take 1 day or 3-4 weeks - I've seen both multiple times.
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* Once approved, go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/nonprofits/azure to claim credits (or go directly to [Claiming Your Credits](https://nonprofit.microsoft.com/en-us/offers/azure).
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* You'll know your successful because you'll see a sponsorship listed on the [Sponsorship Page](https://www.microsoftazuresponsorships.com/Balance).
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### Create a Subscription
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* Check that you have credits in your sponsored account: https://www.microsoftazuresponsorships.com/Balance
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* Visit the [Azure Portal](https://portal.azure.com).  
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* Click the **Subscriptions** icon.
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* Click the **Add** button.
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* Add a subscription of type "Microsoft Azure Sponsorship" from the Azure portal. You will likely need to select **Show other subscription types** to see it.
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 * **Note**: Even sponsored subscriptions require a credit card, make sure you have one available.
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### Grant access to other users
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Microsoft is now enforcing two-factor authentication, so you need to create a separate user for me as your web vendor.
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[Source](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/add-change-subscription-administrator) for instructions
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* Open the new subscription by clicking on it from the **Subscriptions** page.
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* Click **Access Control (IAM)** in the left navigation bar.
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* Under *Grant access to this resource*, click **Add role assignments**.
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* On the *Role* tab, click **Owner** and press **Next**.
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* On the *Members* tab, set *Assign Access* to **User, group, or service principal**, and click **Select Members**.
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* In the *Search by name or email address* box, put the email of the new user and press **Save**.
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At this point, they'll receive an email to either log in with an existing Microsoft account or to create a new one.
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## Technical Configuration
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To set up a free account, you must:
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* Get a Sponsorship (see above)
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* Create a Subscription linked to the Sponsorship (see above)
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* (Strongly recommended) Grant access to the subscription to other users.
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* Create a Resource Group linked to the Subscription
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* Create a Virtual Machine (and associated resources) linked to the Resource Group
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### Create a resource group
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* Select "Resource Group" from the main Azure portal.  
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* Select **Create** and give it a name.
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* Your subscription should be pre-selected since you only have the one.
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* Click **Review and Create**, then **Create**.
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### Create a virtual machine
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* Click on your new resource group in the Azure Portal.
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* Click **Create**.
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* Click **Create** under **Virtual MAchine**.
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* Search for the name of the image you want (e.g. `Debian 11 "Bullseye`).
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 * If you picked an image that shows an hourly cost, it's probably the wrong one.
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* See the screenshots below for configuration of the "Basics" and "Disk" tabs.  The other tabs I keep with the defaults.  My standard VPS type is now `D2as_v5`.
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 * "D2" is general-purpose VM, we always select this.  "a" is AMD-series, "d" is temp disk included (we don't need this), "s" supports premium SSD disks.
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* I've attached a downloaded template for this VM, which as of now I haven't used yet, not sure how it works.
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![Create a VM - Basics Tab](https://hq.megaphonetech.com/attachments/download/1771/Selection_999(010).png)
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![Create a VM - Disks Tab](Selection_1016.png)
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### Post-provisioning configuration
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#### Partition and format the attached disk
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Your VM (if it's D2s v3) will have an "OS disk" of 30GB it ships with.  Your attached disk is unformatted.  Partition and format the new disk with:
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```shell
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sudo parted --script -a optimal /dev/sdc mklabel gpt -- mkpart primary ext4 '0%' '100%'
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sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdc1 
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```
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**NOTE** At different times, Azure may attach the disk as `/dev/sdb` or /dev/sdc`.  Use `fdisk -l` to determine the correct disk to work with.
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#### Mount the attached disk
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```shell
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# waagent is writing to /var, we need to kill it for now.
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sudo pkill waagent
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# install lsof and rsync
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sudo apt install lsof rsync
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# Ensure that no files are open in /var.
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# This should come back empty. (Note that recently it hasn't been but seems to work anyway).
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sudo lsof | grep /var
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sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt
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sudo rsync -va /var/* /mnt
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sudo mv /var /var.old
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sudo umount /mnt
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sudo mkdir /var
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sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /var
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sudo vi /etc/fstab
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```
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Add the following line to `/etc/fstab`:
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```
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/dev/sdc1       /var     ext4    defaults    0 1
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```
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#### Modify Firewall Rules
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* Click on your new virtual machine in the Azure portal.
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* Click **Networking** in the side navigation.
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* You should see your firewall settings.  They should look like the screenshot below, except they'll be missing the two items circled.
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* Add the "allow_ping" and "Port_5665" rules to the *Inbound Port Rules* as shown in the screenshot.
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![Firewall Rules](https://hq.megaphonetech.com/attachments/download/1772/Selection_999(012).png)
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#### Add a swapfile
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[Complete instructions are here](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4010058/how-to-add-a-swap-file-in-linux-azure-virtual-machines) but in short, add this to `/etc/waagent.conf` for an 8GB swapfile:
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```
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    ResourceDisk.Format=y
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    ResourceDisk.EnableSwap=y
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    ResourceDisk.SwapSizeMB=8192
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```
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Then run `service walinuxagent restart`.
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## Post-deployment management
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### Adding a new disk
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Add a disk by going to the virtual machine and clicking "Disk", not by "Add Resource".  Then used the `parted` and `mkfs` commands from above.  Don't forget to modify `/etc/fstab`!