Forem: Tawo Wilmer Busa

A Step-by-Step Guide in Creating a Load Balancer in Azure

Tawo Wilmer Busa — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 10:28:39 +0000

Introduction
Azure load balancers distribute incoming traffic to a pool of virtual machines with high throughput and low latency. Creating a pool of virtual machines can make our application resilient to hardware or software failures. Load-balancing in Azure can be public or internal, and there are two types of SKUs: basic and standard.

I will be deployed in the following environment based on the diagram below:

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Load Balancer in Azure
A Load Balancer in Azure helps distribute network traffic efficiently to ensure high availability and reliability for applications.
Step 1: Log in to Azure Portal

Go to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/get-started/azure-portal.
Sign in with your credentials.

Step 2: Create a New Load Balancer

In the search bar at the top, type "Load Balancer" and select "Load Balancers" from the results.

Click "Create" to begin setting up

Step 3: Configure the Basic Settings

Subscription: Select your Azure subscription.
Resource Group: Choose an existing resource group or create a new one.
Region: Pick the Azure region where you want to deploy the load balancer.
Name: Provide a name for your load balancer (e.g., "MyLoadBalancer1").
SKU: Choose Standard, Gateway, or Basic (Standard is recommended for production use since it distributes traffic to backend resources).
Type: Select either Public (for internet-facing applications) or Internal (for internal network applications). For the purpose of this tutorial, we choose public
Tier: Select either Regional or Global
Click Next: Frontend IP Configuration.

Step 4: Configure the Frontend IP

Click + Add a frontend IP configuration.

Provide a name for the frontend IP.

Create a new Public IP if you are using a public load balancer or select Private IP for internal use.

Give the public address a name
Click save
Click Next: Backend pools

Step 5: Configure the Backend Pool

Click + Add a backend pool

Give it a name

Click Next: Inbound rules

Step 7: Configure Load Balancing Rules

Click + Add a load balancing rule.

Provide a name for the rule.
Set the frontend IP configuration.
Choose the backend pool created earlier.
Select the protocol (TCP, or UDP).
Set the port (e.g., 80 for web traffic).

Health probe: Click create new

Then click save

Then click Review + Create

Click Create to deploy your load balancer

Deployment in progress

Step 8: Test the Load Balancer

Open a web browser or use a tool like curl to test the public IP of the load balancer

If configured correctly, traffic will be distributed among backend virtual machines
Conclusion
In this guide, we’ve covered the essential steps to create a public load balancer in Azure, highlighting its significance in optimizing performance and ensuring high availability for your applications.

How to Create an Azure Compute Gallery and Capturing a VM Image

Tawo Wilmer Busa — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 13:35:42 +0000

Introduction
An Azure Compute Gallery allows you to store, manage, and share custom VM images across multiple subscriptions and regions. This article will walk you through creating an Azure Compute Gallery and capturing a VM image using an Azure Portal.
Step 1: Create an Azure Compute Gallery

Navigate to Compute Gallery

Search for "Azure Compute Galleries" in Azure Portal

Click "Create"

Configure the gallery settings:

Choose a resource group
Enter a name for the gallery and region
Click "Review + Create" → "Create"

Deployment in progress

Azure compute gallery created: Now we can create and deploy custom images

Step 2: Capture a VM Image and Add It to the Compute Gallery

Go to "Virtual Machines" in the Azure portal
Select the VM you want to capture

Deallocate the VM (Required before capturing the image)

Under "OS state", select Specialized (since the VM is not generalized)

Create an Image Definition

Click "Create" → "Image Definition"
Enter a name and choose the operating system
Select the VM generation (Gen1 or Gen2)
Leave everything else as default and click ok
Choose "Specialized" under "OS State"

Create an Image Version

Version number: Choose 0.0.1

Click "Review + Create" → "Create"

Deployment in process

Deployment is complete

Then go to resource

Click on create VM

Scroll down to image and notice that the one we just created is listed among the available images

Conclusion
By completing these steps, you have successfully created an Azure Compute Gallery, captured a specialized VM image, and deployed new VMs from it.

How to Create a VM Data Disk, Initialize it and make it usable in Microsoft Azure

Tawo Wilmer Busa — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 16:18:12 +0000

Introduction
An Azure VM Data Disk is a managed disk that provides additional storage for a Virtual Machine (VM) in Microsoft Azure. It is separate from the OS disk and is used to store application data, databases and other files.
In this article, we will be looking at step-by-step guidelines on how to add data disk and initialize it to make it usable on Azure VM.
Guideline on How to Add a Data Disk to a Windows Virtual Machine through the Azure Portal
Step 1: Create and Attach a Data Disk

Sign in to Azure Portal 👉 Go to: https://portal.azure.com
Navigate to Virtual Machine

Search for Virtual Machine in the search bar and select

Click on "Virtual Machines" and select the VM where you want to add a data disk

Add or create a new resource group

Choose a virtual machine name, region and availability zone

Choose the image (OS) and size of the virtual machine

Create a username and password

Inbound port roles

Public inbound ports: click on Allow selected ports
Select inbound ports: select HTTP (80)

Licensing

Click on tick mark(✓)
Click on Next:Disks >

On the disks section leave as default

Go to the Monitoring to disable the boot diagnostic

Go to Tag

Give it a name and value

click on Review + create

Go to Review + create_ and click create

Deployment in progress

Step 2: Create Data Disk

Click on the Go to Resource

On the overview go to settings
Click settings, then select disks
On Data disks page, click on + create and attach new disk

On the LUN: Choose disk name, storage type, and size
Click on apply

Data Disks Created

Step 3: Initialize and Format the Data Disk

Click on connect
Click on select and wait for the validation till it is configured

Click on Download RDP file
Connect to the VM: Use Remote Desktop (RDP) to connect to your Windows VM.

Open Disk Management: Press Win + X and select Disk Management (or type diskmgmt.msc in the search box and press Enter)
On Disk Management Click on create and format hard disk partitions

Right-click on the unallocated space of the new disk. Select New Simple Volume

Follow the wizard to assign a drive letter and format the disk Click Next

On the specify volume size use the default and click on next

On the assign drive path click on next

On the format partition give it a name on the volume label and click on next

Now Click on Finish to complete the process

Notice that the new disk is now showing Healthy and no longer unallocated.

Conclusion
This will be the end of our learning on Understanding how to attach new data disks to a Windows virtual machine through the Azure portal. With Azure, you can easily expand your VM’s capacity by adding more data disks or resizing existing ones to meet the demands of your workloads. I hope you had an informative learning journey on this topic.

How to Create an App Service Application & Upload Content on Microsoft Azure

Tawo Wilmer Busa — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 13:33:42 +0000

Introduction
Azure App Services provides the platform to build and deploy web, mobile, or integration applications. We can build robust cloud-native apps that can scale as per the need and with complex architecture and secure connections for any platform or device without worrying about the Virtual machine that will host. In this article, I'll walk you through the steps of creating an App Service application in the Azure Portal and uploading code to it.

🔑 Prerequisites:

An Azure Subscription (Free or Paid)
Azure Resource Group
Web App Content (HTML, ASP.NET, Node.js, PHP, or any app files)
Azure CLI (Optional for automation)

Step 1: Create an App Service using Azure Portal

Sign in to Azure Portal 👉 Go to: https://portal.azure.com
Navigate to App Service
Search for App Services in the search bar
Configure the App Service
Click + Create then click on +web app to start the setup process

Fill Basic Information

Subscription: Select your Azure subscription
Resource Group: Create a new resource group or select an existing one

Name: Unique App Name (e.g., mywebapp123)
Runtime Stack: Choose your platform (.NET, PHP, Node.js, Python, Java, etc.)
Region: Choose the nearest region

App Service Plan

Select an existing App Service Plan or create a new one
Choose the pricing tier based on your app’s needs (e.g., Free, Basic, Standard, Premium)
Then click on create and review

click on create

Click on Go to resource to open the App Service overview page

Step 2: Upload Content to App Service

On the Resource overview page search for advanced tools then click on advanced tools

Click on GO

Note, when click on Go it will redirect to a new page kudu+

Click Debug console then on the drop down click on CMD

Click on site

Click on wwwroot

On the hostingstart.html page click on the pencil like sign

Copy and paste your web code and click Save

Ensure your code is ready for deployment

Go back to the app service resource group and click on Default domain link

Conclusion
We have successfully created an Azure App Service application and uploaded a simple Bank App code. Azure App Service is a powerful platform for hosting web apps, and you may configure your app's settings, scale it, and combine it with other Azure services as necessary.

How to Create and Deploy Windows 11 Virtual Machine on Microsoft Azure

Tawo Wilmer Busa — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 11:57:00 +0000

Introduction
Here’s a step-by-step guide to create and deploy a Windows 11 Virtual Machine on Microsoft Azure using the Azure Portal.
Prerequisites:

An Azure Subscription (Free or Paid)
Resource Group (If not created, I can guide you on that)
Azure Account Access
Virtual Network (Optional, Azure will create one if not available)

Steps to Create & Deploy Windows 11 VM
Step 1: Sign in to Azure Portal

Go to: https://portal.azure.com Log in with your Azure credentials

Step 2: Navigate to Virtual Machines

In the Azure Portal, click on Create a resource group

Name the resource group and click on review and create

Select "Home" search Virtual Machine and then click on Virtual Machine

Click + Create > Azure Virtual Machine

Step 3: Configure Basics

Subscription: Choose your active Azure subscription
Resource Group: Select an existing resource group or create a new one
Virtual machine name: Enter a unique name for your VM

Region: Choose a region that supports Windows 11 VMs
Choose Availability Zone

Image: Click Browse all images and select Windows 11 Pro
Size: Choose an appropriate VM size based on your workload requirements

Step 4: Configure Administrator Account

Under the Administrator account section, choose Username and Password.
Select inbound ports and click on HTTP

✅ Check the box License Type: I confirm I have a Windows 11 license (if applicable)
Step 5: Configure Networking

Virtual Network: Default or Create New
Subnet: Default or Create New
Public IP: Enable (For remote access)
NIC Network Security Group: Basic
Select Allow RDP (3389) under Inbound Ports

Enable Auto-shutdown if required to save costs when not in use
Configure Backup settings if needed

Step 6: Review + Create

Review all your configurations.
Click Create.

The deployment process may take a few minutes. Once complete, navigate to the VM under Virtual Machines
Step 7: Connect to Windows 11 VM

Go to Virtual Machines
Select your VM
Click Connect

Download the RDP file

Open the RDP file and log in using your credentials

Enter the Administrator username and password set during the VM creation process.

Windows 11 pro created successfully

Conclusion
Congratulations! You have successfully created a Windows 11 virtual machine in Microsoft Azure. You can now install applications, configure settings, and manage the VM as needed. Be sure to monitor usage to optimize cost and performance.

How to Create a Resource Group in Microsoft Azure

Tawo Wilmer Busa — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 09:43:01 +0000

Introduction
What is a Resource Group in Azure?
Resource groups (RG) in Azure is a new approach to group a collection of assets in logical groups for easy or even automatic provisioning, monitoring, and access control, and for more effective management of their costs. One benefit of using RGs in Azure is grouping related resources that belong to an application together, as they share a unified lifecycle from creation to usage and finally, de-provisioning.

To better understand this challenge, imagine you wanted to create an application in Azure management portal. To do so, you would create the virtual networks, the storage account(s), the cloud services, virtual machines, and potentially many other components of that application—without the ability to group them. This article explains how to setup a Resource Group on Azure.
Step 1: Log into Azure Portal

Go to 👉 https://portal.azure.com and sign in with your Azure account.

Step 2: Navigate to Resource Groups
In the search bar at the top, type Resource Groups.
Select Resource Groups from the search results.

Step 3: Create Resource Group

Click + Create (or + New Resource Group depending on the version).
Fill out the following details:

Subscription: Select the Azure subscription you want to use.
Resource Group Name: Enter a unique name for your resource group.
Region: Choose the region where the resources will be stored (e.g., East US, West Europe).

Step 4: Review + Create

Then click Review + Create.

Review your configuration

Conclusion
You have successfully set up a Resource groups (RG) in Microsoft Azure.

How to Create a Resume and Deploy it on GitHub

Tawo Wilmer Busa — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 14:05:14 +0000

What Is GitHub?
Before we get into the rest of the details for including GitHub on your resume, let us discuss some basics of what it is in brief. GitHub is in a way a social platform for developers to collaborate on projects. It is a place where like-minded developers communicate and collaborate on various projects at the same time. In other words, it is a file or code-sharing service and is a highly used software used for version control.

For instance, if a team wants to create a website and every individual needs to simultaneously update their codes then they can create a centralized repository where everyone can upload, edit, and manage the code files. Therefore Github can be considered as a common channel wherein like-minded professionals can collaborate and work on projects at the same time.
To create a sample resume and deploy it on GitHub Pages, the following steps are required:
Step 1: Create the HTML Resume File
Writing your resume in HTML; Open any text editor (e.g., VS Code, Notepad++ or Sublime Text).

Create a file named index.html and add the following sample code:

Save the File: Save the file as index.html in a folder named resume-project.

Step 2: Push the Code to GitHub

Go to GitHub and sign in to your account
Click on the + icon and select new repository on the dropdown

Name your repository (e.g., busa-wilmer-resume)
Choose Public repository.
Check the box to Add a README file

Click Create repository

Step 3: Set Up Your Resume with Gitbash and Push to GitHub

Download and install Gitbash from https://git-scm.com/downloads and choose either for macOS, windows, or Linux
Run these command git config --global user.name to register/configure the user and the email

To confirm if the command has successfully been listed: Run the command git config --list

Add a directory for the repository and run the command mkdir "name of directory"

Navigate to the directory and run the command cd "name of directory"

Initialize a Git repository and run the command "git init"

Create an index.html file and run the command "touch index.html"

Launch the file on index.html and run the command "vim index.html"

Copy and paste the resume on html format from your VS Code, Notepad++ or Sublime Text

To save and quit "vim index.html" command at the same time, run the command :wq and hit Enter.

Step 4: Connect to GitHub

Go to Github click on code drop down and copy the HTTPS url link

Run the HTTPS url link you copied with the command "git remote add origin"

Proceed by adding your index.html file with the command "git add index.html"

Run the command git commit -m "commit"

Step 5: Deploy on GitHub Pages

Go to your GitHub repository
Click on Settings
Scroll down to Pages
Under Branch, select main or master
Click Save

Wait a few minutes for GitHub Pages to deploy your site

Conclusion
By following these steps, you can successfully create and host a professional resume on GitHub Pages.

Explaining Key Concepts in Cloud Computing

Tawo Wilmer Busa — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 11:28:29 +0000

What is Virtualization?

Virtualization is a technology that creates virtual versions of physical hardware, like servers, storage, and networks. It uses software to simulate hardware functions, allowing multiple virtual machines to run on a single physical machine.

How it works

Virtualization software creates an abstraction layer over the physical hardware.
The physical hardware is divided into multiple virtual machines (VMs).
Each VM has its own operating system (OS) and can run independently.
The VMs share the resources of the physical machine.

Benefits

Efficiency
Virtualization allows organizations to use their hardware resources more efficiently.
Scalability
Virtualization allows organizations to scale up or down quickly to match demand.
Disaster recovery
Virtualization allows organizations to recover from outages with minimal downtime.
Cost savings
Virtualization allows organizations to use fewer servers, which can reduce energy consumption and infrastructure costs.

Scalability

**
In cloud computing, "scalability" refers to the ability of a cloud environment to easily increase or decrease its computing resources (like processing power, storage, and network capacity) as needed to meet changing demands, allowing businesses to adapt their infrastructure without significant disruption and optimize costs by only paying for the resources they use.

Key points about cloud scalability:
Flexibility:
It allows businesses to quickly scale up during peak usage periods and scale down during low demand times, providing flexibility to handle fluctuating workloads.
Cost-efficiency:
By only utilizing the resources required, businesses can avoid over-provisioning and unnecessary expenses.
Growth support:
Cloud scalability enables businesses to easily accommodate long-term growth without the need for significant upfront investments in hardware.

Types of scaling:

Vertical scaling: Adding more power to existing resources (like increasing RAM on a server)
Horizontal scaling: Adding more servers to distribute workload across a larger pool

Agility

**
"Agility" in cloud computing refers to the capability of a business to rapidly develop, test, and deploy applications in a cloud-based environment, allowing them to quickly adapt to changing market conditions and user demands by easily scaling up or down resources as needed, essentially enabling faster innovation and response to new business challenges; it's about flexibility and the ability to react quickly to evolving needs through the cloud's dynamic infrastructure.

Key points about cloud agility:

Rapid development and deployment: The ability to quickly create, test, and launch applications without significant upfront infrastructure investment.
Scalability: Easily adjusting resource allocation based on demand fluctuations, scaling up or down as needed.
Flexibility: Adapting to changing business needs and market conditions with ease.
Cost efficiency: Optimizing resource utilization to avoid unnecessary expenses.
Automation: Leveraging automated processes to streamline resource provisioning and management.

High Availability

**
In cloud computing, "High Availability" (HA) refers to a system design that ensures applications and services remain operational even when individual components fail, by utilizing redundant servers and automatically switching to backup systems across multiple locations, minimizing downtime and guaranteeing near-continuous access for users; essentially, it's the ability to maintain a high level of uptime despite potential hardware or software failures.

Key points about High Availability:

Redundancy:
The core principle of HA is to have multiple copies of critical data and systems spread across different servers or data centers to avoid single points of failure.
Failover mechanisms:
When a component fails, HA systems automatically switch to a backup component, ensuring seamless transition and minimal disruption to users.
Load balancing:
Distributing traffic across multiple servers to prevent overload on any single instance.
Importance for mission-critical applications:
Businesses that rely on continuous operations, like e-commerce platforms or financial systems, often prioritize HA to minimize downtime and potential revenue loss.

How to achieve High Availability in the cloud:

Utilizing cloud-based services with built-in HA features:
Most cloud providers offer features like availability zones, load balancers, and replication services to facilitate HA configurations.
Deploying applications across multiple availability zones:
Distributing application instances across geographically separate data centers to mitigate regional outages.
Implementing database replication:
Creating redundant copies of databases to ensure data is accessible even if the primary database fails.

Fault Tolerant

**
In cloud computing, "fault tolerant" means a system is designed to continue operating without interruption even if one or more of its components (like servers or data centers) fail, achieved through redundancy and failover mechanisms to maintain service availability despite hardware or software glitches; essentially, the ability to withstand failures and keep applications running smoothly.

Key points about fault tolerance in cloud computing:
Redundancy:
The core principle of fault tolerance is to replicate data and services across multiple servers or locations, so if one component fails, another can take over seamlessly.
Failover mechanisms:
When a component fails, the system automatically switches to a backup component to ensure uninterrupted service.
Importance in cloud computing:
Since cloud systems are distributed across multiple data centers, fault tolerance is crucial to maintain high availability and reliability for users.

Example of fault tolerance in cloud computing:
Database replication:
Storing a database on multiple servers in different geographic locations, so if one server fails, the data can still be accessed from another.

Load balancing:
Distributing traffic across multiple servers to prevent overload on any single server and ensure smooth operation even if one server experiences issues.

Global Reach

In cloud computing, "Global Reach" refers to the ability of a cloud service provider to offer their services and reach customers across the globe through a network of data centers located in various regions, enabling businesses to access applications and data with low latency regardless of their geographic location, effectively expanding their market reach internationally.
Key points about Global Reach in cloud computing:
Data centers around the world:
Cloud providers maintain data centers in various regions, enabling access to applications and data from anywhere.
Scalability and expansion:
Businesses can easily scale their operations and expand into new markets by utilizing cloud services with global reach.
Low latency access:
The distributed data centers ensure fast response times for users across different geographic locations.
Benefits for businesses:
Global Reach allows companies to serve customers worldwide, access a larger market, and operate with greater flexibility.

What is the difference between Elasticity and Scalability

In cloud computing, "elasticity" refers to the ability to rapidly adjust computing resources up or down in real-time to meet fluctuating demand, often automatically, while "scalability" means the capacity to increase or decrease resources over time to accommodate a growing workload, usually with more planned adjustments and provisioning involved; essentially, elasticity is about dynamic, short-term adaptation to changing needs, while scalability is about long-term planned growth to handle anticipated demand increases.

Key differences:
Response time:
Elasticity reacts quickly to immediate demand fluctuations, while scalability focuses on gradual adjustments to anticipated growth.
Automation:
Elasticity is usually highly automated, using algorithms to dynamically allocate resources based on real-time monitoring, whereas scalability might require manual intervention to provision new resources.
Use case:
Elasticity is ideal for handling sudden spikes in traffic like during a sales event, while scalability is better suited for steady business growth over time.

Examples:
Elasticity:
An online shopping website automatically scales up server capacity during peak Black Friday hours to prevent slowdowns and then scales back down when the rush subsides.

Scalability:
A growing SaaS company gradually adds more servers to accommodate a steady increase in user subscriptions as their business expands.