Search icon CANCEL
Subscription
0
Cart icon
Your Cart (0 item)
Close icon
You have no products in your basket yet
Save more on your purchases! discount-offer-chevron-icon
Savings automatically calculated. No voucher code required.
Arrow left icon
All Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Newsletter Hub
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
timer SALE ENDS IN
0 Days
:
00 Hours
:
00 Minutes
:
00 Seconds
Hands-On Linux Administration on Azure
Hands-On Linux Administration on Azure

Hands-On Linux Administration on Azure: Explore the essential Linux administration skills you need to deploy and manage Azure-based workloads

eBook
$39.99
Paperback
$48.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at $12.99p/m

What do you get with Print?

Product feature icon Instant access to your digital copy whilst your Print order is Shipped
Product feature icon Paperback book shipped to your preferred address
Product feature icon Redeem a companion digital copy on all Print orders
Product feature icon Access this title in our online reader with advanced features
Product feature icon DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want
OR
Modal Close icon
Payment Processing...
tick Completed

Shipping Address

Billing Address

Shipping Methods
Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Hands-On Linux Administration on Azure

Chapter 2. Getting Started with the Azure Cloud

In the first chapter, I covered the history of, and the ideas behind, virtualization and cloud computing. After that, you read about the Microsoft Azure Cloud. This chapter will help you take your first steps into the world of Azure, get access to Azure, explore the different Linux offerings, and deploy your first Linux virtual machine. 

After deployment, you will need access to your virtual machine using SSH with password authentication, or using an SSH key pair. 

To take the first steps on your journey into the Azure Cloud, it is important to complete all the exercises and examine the outcome. 

Note

Everything in this chapter is tested on macOS, Windows Subsystem for Linux, and the latest versions of CentOS and openSUSE LEAP.

Technical requirements


If you want to try all the examples in this chapter, you'll need at least a browser. For stability reasons, it's important to use a very recent version of a browser. Microsoft offers a list of supported browsers in the documentation on the Azure documentation website:

  • Microsoft Edge (latest version)
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Safari (latest version, Mac only)
  • Chrome (latest version)
  • Firefox (latest version)

 

Based on personal experience, I recommend using Google Chrome or a browser based on a recent version of its engine, such as Vivaldi. 

You can do all the exercises in your browser, even the exercises involving the command line. In daily life, it's a better idea to use a local installation of the software; it's faster, easier to copy and paste code, and you can save history and the output from the commands. 

Getting access to Azure


To start in Azure, the first thing you'll need is an account. Go to https://azure.microsoft.com and get yourself a free account to get started, or use the corporate account that is already in use. Another possibility is to use Azure with a Visual Studio Dev Essentials subscription, a Visual Studio subscription, or an Enterprise/Dev subscription. 

If you are using a free account, you'll get some credits to start, some of the popular services for a limited time, and some services that will stay free forever, such as the container service. You can find the most recent list of free services at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free. You won't be charged during the trial period, except for virtual machines that need additional licensing, but you do need a credit card to identify yourself.

Logging in using the Azure portal

Point your browser to https://azure.microsoft.com and use your credentials to log in. You are ready to start using Azure, or, in other words, to start using...

Linux and Azure


Linux is everywhere, on many different devices, in many different environments. There are many different flavors. Why? The choice is yours, but what do you choose? There are any questions, and many different answers are possible. But one thing's for sure: in corporate environments, support is important.

Linux distributions

There are many different Linux distributions around. There are often discussions on internet forums about this fact. But, there are reasons why there are so many:

  • A Linux distribution is a collection of software. Some collections are there for a specific objective. A good example of such a distribution is Kali Linux, which is an advanced penetration testing Linux distribution.
  • Linux is not a multi-purpose operating system. You can use Linux on many different devices: from cars to servers, from synthesizers to workstations. Every Linux implementation must be optimized for a specific goal.
  • Open source is Darwinist by nature. Sometimes, a project is forked, for...

Deploying a Linux virtual machine


After covering the the available Linux distributions in Azure and the level of support you can get, after setting up an environment where you can create a virtual machine, it's time to deploy our first virtual machine. 

Your first virtual machine

The resource group is created, a storage account is created in this resource group, and now you are ready to create your first Linux Virtual Machine in Azure.

In PowerShell use the following command:

New-AzureRmVM -Name "UbuntuVM" -Location westus `
  -ResourceGroupName MyResource1 -ImageName UbuntuLTS `
  -Size Standard_B1S

The cmdlet will prompt you to provide a username and password:

In Bash use the following command:

az vm create --name UbuntuVM --resource-group MyResource2 \
  --image UbuntuLTS --authentication-type password \
  --admin-username student –size Standard_B1S

This was very easy, but if you create a virtual machine instance this way, the number of options you can set is very limited. Many things are automatically...

Connecting to Linux


The virtual machine is running, ready for you to log in remotely using the credentials (username and password) you provided during the deployment of your first virtual machine. Another, more secure method using SSH key pairs is available as well.

Logging in to your Linux VM using password authentication 

In the Virtual machine networking section, the public IP address of a virtual machine was queried from the information attached to the virtual machine.  This IP address is needed to connect to an SSH client to the virtual machine. 

SSH, or Secure Shell, is an encrypted protocol used to administer and communicate with servers. Linux, macOS, and the Windows subsystem for Linux comes with the command-line based openSSH client, but there are more advanced clients available, some examples are as follows: 

  • Windows: Putty, MobaXterm and Bitvise Tunnelier 
  • Linux: Putty, Remmina and Pac Manager
  • Mac OS: Putty, Termius and RBrowser  

Using the openSSH command-line client, connect to the...

Summary


This chapter covered the first steps into the Microsoft Azure Cloud. And the first step always involves creating a new account or using an existing company account. With an account, you're able to log in and start discovering the Azure cloud.

In this chapter, the discovery of the Azure cloud was done within the Azure CLI command az, or via PowerShell; example by example, you learned more about the following:

  • The log in process into Azure
  • Regions
  • The storage account
  • Images provided by publishers
  • The creation of virtual machines
  • Query of information attached to a virtual machine
  • What Linux is and the support available for Linux virtual machines

Last, but not least: log into your Linux virtual machine, using SSH. The next chapter starts here, with a new journey: the Linux operating system

 

 

Questions


  1. What are the advantages of the command-line to access Microsoft Azure?
  2. What is the purpose of a storage account?
  3. Can you think of a reason why you can get the following error message?Code=StorageAccountAlreadyTakenMessage=The storage account named mystorage is already taken.
  4. What is the difference between an offer and an image?
  5. What is the difference between a stopped and a de-allocated virtual machine?
  6. What is the advantage of using the private SSH key for authentication to your Linux virtual machine?
  7. The az vm create command has a parameter —generate-ssh-keys. Which keys are created, and where are they stored?

Further reading


By no means is this chapter a tutorial on using PowerShell. But if you want a better understanding of the examples or learn more about PowerShell, I can recommend you reading the book Mastering Windows PowerShell Scripts (ISBN 9781787126305). I suggest that you start with second chapter Working with PowerShell and continue until at least fourth chapter Working with Objects in PowerShell.

You can find more then enough online documentation about using SSH. A very good start is the wikibook: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenSSH.

There is also a very old book, SSH, The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide (ISBN 978-0596008956), which is still a valid source of information, especially for system engineers.

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon
Download code icon Download Code

Key benefits

  • Manage and deploy virtual machines in your Azure environment
  • Explore various open source tools to integrate automation and orchestration
  • Leverage Linux features to create, run, and manage containers

Description

Azure’s market share has increased massively and enterprises are adopting it rapidly, while Linux is a widely-used operating system and has proven to be one of the most popular workloads on Azure. It has thus become crucial for Linux administrators and Microsoft professionals to be well versed with managing Linux workloads in an Azure environment. With this guide, system administrators will be able to deploy, automate, and orchestrate containers in Linux on Azure. The book follows a hands-on approach to help you understand DevOps, monitor Linux workloads on Azure and perform advanced system administration. Complete with systematic explanations of concepts, examples and self-assessment questions, the chapters will give you useful insights into Linux and Azure. You’ll explore some of Linux’s advanced features for managing multiple workloads and learn to deploy virtual machines (VMs) in Azure. Dedicated sections will also guide you with managing and extending Azure VMs’ capabilities and understanding automation and orchestration with Ansible and PowerShell DSC. In later chapters, you’ll cover useful Linux troubleshooting and monitoring techniques that will enable you to maintain your workload on Azure. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to make the most out of Azure’s services to efficiently deploy and manage your Linux workloads.

Who is this book for?

This book is for system administrators who want to deploy and manage their workloads in Azure. Prior experience with system administration and a basic understanding of Azure would be useful.

What you will learn

  • Understand why Azure is the ideal solution for your open source workloads
  • Successfully deploy Linux in an Azure environment
  • Use configuration management to manage Linux in Azure
  • Work with containers in Linux
  • Use Azure's identity management systems to enhance Linux security
  • Automate deployment with Azure Resource Manager (ARM) and PowerShell
  • Employ Ansible to manage Linux instances in a public cloud environment
Estimated delivery fee Deliver to United States

Economy delivery 10 - 13 business days

Free $6.95

Premium delivery 6 - 9 business days

$21.95
(Includes tracking information)

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Aug 31, 2018
Length: 410 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789130966
Vendor :
Microsoft
Languages :
Tools :

What do you get with Print?

Product feature icon Instant access to your digital copy whilst your Print order is Shipped
Product feature icon Paperback book shipped to your preferred address
Product feature icon Redeem a companion digital copy on all Print orders
Product feature icon Access this title in our online reader with advanced features
Product feature icon DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want
OR
Modal Close icon
Payment Processing...
tick Completed

Shipping Address

Billing Address

Shipping Methods
Estimated delivery fee Deliver to United States

Economy delivery 10 - 13 business days

Free $6.95

Premium delivery 6 - 9 business days

$21.95
(Includes tracking information)

Product Details

Publication date : Aug 31, 2018
Length: 410 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781789130966
Vendor :
Microsoft
Languages :
Tools :

Packt Subscriptions

See our plans and pricing
Modal Close icon
$12.99 billed monthly
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 6,500+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Simple pricing, no contract
$129.99 billed annually
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 6,500+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just $5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
$179.99 billed in 18 months
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 6,500+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just $5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts

Frequently bought together


Stars icon
Total $ 146.97
Hands-On Linux Administration on Azure
$48.99
Practical Linux Security Cookbook
$48.99
Learning Linux Shell Scripting
$48.99
Total $ 146.97 Stars icon
Visually different images

Table of Contents

11 Chapters
Exploring the Azure Cloud Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Getting Started with the Azure Cloud Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Basic Linux Administration Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing Azure Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Advanced Linux Administration Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing Linux Security and Identities Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Deploying Your Virtual Machines Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Exploring Continuous Configuration Automation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Container Virtualization in Azure Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with Azure Kubernetes Service Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Troubleshooting and Monitoring Your Workloads Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
(2 Ratings)
5 star 100%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
Paola Nov 28, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
this book is perfect if you are planning linux workloads on Azure, I specifically liked the part on containers strategy. Containers logic is clearly explained and helps understanding all of its modern applications."Containers are very popular nowadays. But they are not new, they didn't come out of theblue. It's even not easy to point to an exact time when they started. As explained earlier, Idon't want to give you a lesson in the facts of history, but history can give you a betterunderstanding of the technology and even give you a clue about why or when you shoulduse it in your organization."
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer Feb 01, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Nice book as a basic for azure administration
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Get free access to Packt library with over 7500+ books and video courses for 7 days!
Start Free Trial

FAQs

What is the delivery time and cost of print book? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Shipping Details

USA:

'

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the US within 10-15 business days

Premium: Trackable Delivery to most addresses in the US within 3-8 business days

UK:

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 7-9 business days.
Shipments are not trackable

Premium: Trackable delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 3-4 business days!
Add one extra business day for deliveries to Northern Ireland and Scottish Highlands and islands

EU:

Premium: Trackable delivery to most EU destinations within 4-9 business days.

Australia:

Economy: Can deliver to P. O. Boxes and private residences.
Trackable service with delivery to addresses in Australia only.
Delivery time ranges from 7-9 business days for VIC and 8-10 business days for Interstate metro
Delivery time is up to 15 business days for remote areas of WA, NT & QLD.

Premium: Delivery to addresses in Australia only
Trackable delivery to most P. O. Boxes and private residences in Australia within 4-5 days based on the distance to a destination following dispatch.

India:

Premium: Delivery to most Indian addresses within 5-6 business days

Rest of the World:

Premium: Countries in the American continent: Trackable delivery to most countries within 4-7 business days

Asia:

Premium: Delivery to most Asian addresses within 5-9 business days

Disclaimer:
All orders received before 5 PM U.K time would start printing from the next business day. So the estimated delivery times start from the next day as well. Orders received after 5 PM U.K time (in our internal systems) on a business day or anytime on the weekend will begin printing the second to next business day. For example, an order placed at 11 AM today will begin printing tomorrow, whereas an order placed at 9 PM tonight will begin printing the day after tomorrow.


Unfortunately, due to several restrictions, we are unable to ship to the following countries:

  1. Afghanistan
  2. American Samoa
  3. Belarus
  4. Brunei Darussalam
  5. Central African Republic
  6. The Democratic Republic of Congo
  7. Eritrea
  8. Guinea-bissau
  9. Iran
  10. Lebanon
  11. Libiya Arab Jamahriya
  12. Somalia
  13. Sudan
  14. Russian Federation
  15. Syrian Arab Republic
  16. Ukraine
  17. Venezuela
What is custom duty/charge? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customs duty are charges levied on goods when they cross international borders. It is a tax that is imposed on imported goods. These duties are charged by special authorities and bodies created by local governments and are meant to protect local industries, economies, and businesses.

Do I have to pay customs charges for the print book order? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The orders shipped to the countries that are listed under EU27 will not bear custom charges. They are paid by Packt as part of the order.

List of EU27 countries: www.gov.uk/eu-eea:

A custom duty or localized taxes may be applicable on the shipment and would be charged by the recipient country outside of the EU27 which should be paid by the customer and these duties are not included in the shipping charges been charged on the order.

How do I know my custom duty charges? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The amount of duty payable varies greatly depending on the imported goods, the country of origin and several other factors like the total invoice amount or dimensions like weight, and other such criteria applicable in your country.

For example:

  • If you live in Mexico, and the declared value of your ordered items is over $ 50, for you to receive a package, you will have to pay additional import tax of 19% which will be $ 9.50 to the courier service.
  • Whereas if you live in Turkey, and the declared value of your ordered items is over € 22, for you to receive a package, you will have to pay additional import tax of 18% which will be € 3.96 to the courier service.
How can I cancel my order? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Cancellation Policy for Published Printed Books:

You can cancel any order within 1 hour of placing the order. Simply contact [email protected] with your order details or payment transaction id. If your order has already started the shipment process, we will do our best to stop it. However, if it is already on the way to you then when you receive it, you can contact us at [email protected] using the returns and refund process.

Please understand that Packt Publishing cannot provide refunds or cancel any order except for the cases described in our Return Policy (i.e. Packt Publishing agrees to replace your printed book because it arrives damaged or material defect in book), Packt Publishing will not accept returns.

What is your returns and refunds policy? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Return Policy:

We want you to be happy with your purchase from Packtpub.com. We will not hassle you with returning print books to us. If the print book you receive from us is incorrect, damaged, doesn't work or is unacceptably late, please contact Customer Relations Team on [email protected] with the order number and issue details as explained below:

  1. If you ordered (eBook, Video or Print Book) incorrectly or accidentally, please contact Customer Relations Team on [email protected] within one hour of placing the order and we will replace/refund you the item cost.
  2. Sadly, if your eBook or Video file is faulty or a fault occurs during the eBook or Video being made available to you, i.e. during download then you should contact Customer Relations Team within 14 days of purchase on [email protected] who will be able to resolve this issue for you.
  3. You will have a choice of replacement or refund of the problem items.(damaged, defective or incorrect)
  4. Once Customer Care Team confirms that you will be refunded, you should receive the refund within 10 to 12 working days.
  5. If you are only requesting a refund of one book from a multiple order, then we will refund you the appropriate single item.
  6. Where the items were shipped under a free shipping offer, there will be no shipping costs to refund.

On the off chance your printed book arrives damaged, with book material defect, contact our Customer Relation Team on [email protected] within 14 days of receipt of the book with appropriate evidence of damage and we will work with you to secure a replacement copy, if necessary. Please note that each printed book you order from us is individually made by Packt's professional book-printing partner which is on a print-on-demand basis.

What tax is charged? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Currently, no tax is charged on the purchase of any print book (subject to change based on the laws and regulations). A localized VAT fee is charged only to our European and UK customers on eBooks, Video and subscriptions that they buy. GST is charged to Indian customers for eBooks and video purchases.

What payment methods can I use? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

You can pay with the following card types:

  1. Visa Debit
  2. Visa Credit
  3. MasterCard
  4. PayPal
What is the delivery time and cost of print books? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Shipping Details

USA:

'

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the US within 10-15 business days

Premium: Trackable Delivery to most addresses in the US within 3-8 business days

UK:

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 7-9 business days.
Shipments are not trackable

Premium: Trackable delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 3-4 business days!
Add one extra business day for deliveries to Northern Ireland and Scottish Highlands and islands

EU:

Premium: Trackable delivery to most EU destinations within 4-9 business days.

Australia:

Economy: Can deliver to P. O. Boxes and private residences.
Trackable service with delivery to addresses in Australia only.
Delivery time ranges from 7-9 business days for VIC and 8-10 business days for Interstate metro
Delivery time is up to 15 business days for remote areas of WA, NT & QLD.

Premium: Delivery to addresses in Australia only
Trackable delivery to most P. O. Boxes and private residences in Australia within 4-5 days based on the distance to a destination following dispatch.

India:

Premium: Delivery to most Indian addresses within 5-6 business days

Rest of the World:

Premium: Countries in the American continent: Trackable delivery to most countries within 4-7 business days

Asia:

Premium: Delivery to most Asian addresses within 5-9 business days

Disclaimer:
All orders received before 5 PM U.K time would start printing from the next business day. So the estimated delivery times start from the next day as well. Orders received after 5 PM U.K time (in our internal systems) on a business day or anytime on the weekend will begin printing the second to next business day. For example, an order placed at 11 AM today will begin printing tomorrow, whereas an order placed at 9 PM tonight will begin printing the day after tomorrow.


Unfortunately, due to several restrictions, we are unable to ship to the following countries:

  1. Afghanistan
  2. American Samoa
  3. Belarus
  4. Brunei Darussalam
  5. Central African Republic
  6. The Democratic Republic of Congo
  7. Eritrea
  8. Guinea-bissau
  9. Iran
  10. Lebanon
  11. Libiya Arab Jamahriya
  12. Somalia
  13. Sudan
  14. Russian Federation
  15. Syrian Arab Republic
  16. Ukraine
  17. Venezuela