Welcome to the first blog post in our new series: Getting Started with Azure: Solutions You can Deploy in 10 Minutes or Less. We’re kicking it off with a spotlight on Linux in Azure.
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The ability to spin up a virtual Linux machine in the cloud is a dream come true for many IT people, who, until Satya Nadella took over at Microsoft, saw their desire for interactions between Microsoft products and any other OSes and software thwarted. This was due to Gates/Ballmer-era Microsoft’s somewhat combative attitude toward anything that wasn’t theirs.
Today, that’s no longer the case. Microsoft under Nadella is letting people do pretty much anything they can imagine in Azure, including using it to run competing software and operating systems, like Linux.
Nadella saw the cloud light, and has worked hard to turn Microsoft around during his tenure as CEO, encouraging people to use (and thus pay for) Microsoft’s myriad cloud services. Today, the company no longer prescribes what can and can’t be done with their software ecosystem (beyond what’s legal and what isn’t, of course), instead leaving that up to end users.
Just five years ago, this was entirely unthinkable, but today, engineers can spin up as many Linux virtual machines in Azure as they like (and are willing to pay for).
Getting Started with Linux on Azure
To get started with deploying a Linux virtual machine on Azure, Microsoft says you’ll need an Azure account, the Azure command-line interface installed, and a pair of SSH public and private keys.
The rest of the steps needed to get your VM up and running are contained in this post, an in-depth article put out by Microsoft that outlines everything you need to know. If you tackle this task with all your prep-work done, it’s possible to deploy this particular VM in less than ten minutes.
If you’re interested, and would like to know if your specific distro is supported, follow this link to see a list of endorsed Linux distros that can be deployed via Azure.
Ask the experts
Should you require assistance in signing up for Azure services, or you just need more information on what’s available, you can contact the Azure experts in the Tarsus On Demand team at Tarsus HQ on 011 531 1000, or send them an email.
[Image: Microsoft]
