Azure VPS setup notes » History » Revision 9
Revision 8 (Jon Goldberg, 08/07/2020 06:57 PM) → Revision 9/49 (Jon Goldberg, 08/07/2020 06:59 PM)
# Azure VPS setup notes Azure is more complex than, say, Linode. To set up a free account, you must: * Get a Sponsorship. * Create a Subscription linked to the Sponsorship. * Create a Resource Group linked to the Subscription. * Create a Virtual Machine (and associated resources) linked to the Resource Group. [**NOTE**: Most of Microsoft's pages break with an ad blocker enabled.] ### Get a Sponsorship * [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. * Once approved, go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/nonprofits/azure to claim credits. ### Create a Subscription * Check that you have credits in your sponsored account: https://www.microsoftazuresponsorships.com/Balance * Visit the [Azure Portal](https://portal.azure.com). * Click the **Subscriptions** icon. * Click the **Add** button. * 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. * **Note**: Even sponsored subscriptions require a credit card, make sure you have one available. #### Create a resource group * Select "Resource Group" from the main Azure portal. * Select **Add** and give it a name. * Your subscription should be pre-selected since you only have the one. * Click **Review and Create**. #### Create a virtual machine * Click on your new resource group in the Azure Portal. * Click **Add**. * Search for the name of the image you want (e.g. Debian). * See the screenshots below for configuration of the "Basics" and "Disk" tabs. The other tabs I keep with the defaults. * I've attached a downloaded template for this VM, which as of now I haven't used yet, not sure how it works. ![Create a VM - Basics Tab](https://hq.megaphonetech.com/attachments/download/1771/Selection_999(010).png) ![Create a VM - Disks Tab](https://hq.megaphonetech.com/attachments/download/1770/Selection_999(011).png) #### Post-provisioning configuration ##### Modify Firewall Rules * Click on your new virtual machine in the Azure portal. * Click **Networking** in the side navigation. * You should see your firewall settings. They should look like the screenshot below, except they'll be missing the two items circled. * Add the "allow_ping" and "Port_5665" rules to the *Inbound Port Rules* as shown in the screenshot. ![Firewall Rules](https://hq.megaphonetech.com/attachments/download/1772/Selection_999(012).png) ##### Add a swapfile [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: ``` ResourceDisk.Format=y ResourceDisk.EnableSwap=y ResourceDisk.SwapSizeMB=8192 ``` Then run `service walinuxagent restart`.