Megaphone Commons

# Azure technical setup notes

## Technical Configuration

To set up a free account, you must:

* Get a Sponsorship (see [[Azure_VPS_setup_notes]])

* Create a Subscription linked to the Sponsorship (see [[Azure_VPS_setup_notes]])

* (Strongly recommended) Grant access to the subscription to other users.

* Create a Resource Group linked to the Subscription

* Create a Virtual Machine (and associated resources) linked to the Resource Group

### Create a resource group

* Select "Resource Groups" from the main Azure portal (left sidebar).

* Select **Create** and give it a name.

* Your subscription should be pre-selected since you only have the one.

* Click **Review and Create**, then **Create**.

### Create a virtual machine

* Click on your new resource group in the Azure Portal.

* Click **Create**.

* Search for the name of the image you want (e.g. `Debian 13 "Trixie`).

 * If you picked an image that shows an hourly cost, it's the wrong one.

* 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 `D2ps_v6`.

 * "D2" is general-purpose VM, we always select this.  "a" is AMD-series (old preference), "p" is ARM64, "d" is temp disk included (we don't need this), "s" supports premium SSD disks. v6 is the latest gen, always use the latest gen.

![Create a VM - Basics Tab](Selection_2678.png)

![Create a VM - Disks Tab](Selection_2679.png)

### Post-provisioning configuration

#### Get serial console working

Serial console is necessary for single-user mode, and troubleshooting if SSH fails.

It's normally working out of the box now.  Go to "Serial Console" in the VM left navigation.  If it doesn't work:

* Go to **Boot Diagnostics** in the VM's left nav.

* Click **Settings** at the top.

* Select **Enable with managed storage account**.

* Save.

Now Serial Console will work.

#### 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`.