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5. Provisioning a VM Using AZ CLI, Configuring Nginx, and Allowing HTTP Traffic

Overview

This exercise introduces creating a Virtual Machine (VM) with Azure CLI, using default SSH keys for secure authentication, installing Nginx, and configuring the network to allow HTTP traffic. You will work exclusively in the VSCode Integrated Terminal (Windows users: Make sure you use Git Bash).

Step 1: Set Up the Environment

Open VSCode and launch the Integrated Terminal:
- On Windows, use Git Bash inside VSCode.
- On Mac or Linux, use the default terminal.
Verify that Azure CLI is installed by running:
```
az --version
```
- If Azure CLI is not installed, follow the official installation guide.
Log in to your Azure account:
```
az login
```
- Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the authentication.

Step 2: Create a Resource Group

Set variables in the terminal session for the resource group and VM name:
```
resource_group="MyCLIVMGroup"
vm_name="MyCLIVM"
```

Create the resource group in the northeurope location:

az group create --name $resource_group --location northeurope

✅ Verification Step: Review the output to confirm successful creation. You should see a JSON response similar to:
{
  "id": "/subscriptions/<subscription-id>/resourceGroups/MyCLIDemoGroup",
  "location": "eastus",
  "name": "MyCLIVMGroup",
  "properties": {
    "provisioningState": "Succeeded"
  }
}

Step 3: Create a VM

Create a VM using the default SSH keys:

 az vm create \
    --resource-group $resource_group \
    --location northeurope \
    --name $vm_name \
    --image Ubuntu2204 \
    --size Standard_B1s \
    --admin-username azureuser \
    --generate-ssh-keys

💡 Information
This command:
Creates a VM named MyCLIVM.
Uses the latest Ubuntu 22.04 image.
Generates SSH keys if not already available in ~/.ssh/id_rsa.

✅ Verification Step: Review the output to confirm successful creation. You should see a JSON response similar to:

{
  "fqdns": "",
  "id": "/subscriptions/ca0a7799-8e2e-4237-8616-8cc0e947ecd5/resourceGroups/MyCLIVMGroup/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/MyCLIVM",
  "location": "northeurope",
  "macAddress": "60-45-BD-DD-A5-5F",
  "powerState": "VM running",
  "privateIpAddress": "10.0.0.4",
  "publicIpAddress": "13.74.100.155",
  "resourceGroup": "MyCLIVMGroup",
  "zones": ""
}

💡 Information Box:
If you don’t have default SSH keys (~/.ssh/id_rsa), Azure CLI will generate them automatically. You can also create them manually using:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048
This generates:
~/.ssh/id_rsa (private key)
~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (public key)

Step 4: Log in to the VM

Retrieve the public IP address of the VM:

vm_ip=$(az vm show --resource-group $resource_group --name $vm_name --show-details --query publicIps -o tsv)
echo $vm_ip

Step 5: Install Nginx

Update the system and install Nginx:
```
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx -y
```
✅ Verification Step:
1. Run the command curl localhost. Ensure you get som HTML code back. This means that it runs correctly regardless of firewall settings.
2. Open a browser and go to the <VM_Public_IP>. You should NOT see the Nginx default page. This is because we haven´t opened the firewall on port 80 yet.
💡 Information Box:
Azure VMs block HTTP traffic on port 80 by default for security reasons. You need to explicitly allow HTTP traffic.

Step 6: Open Port 80 for HTTP Traffic

Make sure you return back to your laptop in the Terminal:
```
exit
```
Allow traffic on port 80:
```
az vm open-port --resource-group $resource_group --name $vm_name --port 80
```
✅ Verification Step:
Verify the rule is applied:
```
az network nsg rule list --resource-group $resource_group --nsg-name ${vm_name}NSG --output table
```
- Ensure a rule exists for port 80 allowing inbound traffic.
Return to the browser and refresh the page. Confirm the default Nginx page loads in the browser, indicating port 80 is open and traffic is allowed.

Step 7: Clean Up Resources (Optional)

Delete the resource group to avoid unnecessary costs:

az group delete --name $resource_group --no-wait --yes

💡 Information Box:
Always clean up unused resources to avoid incurring unexpected charges.

Exercise Complete!

You have successfully provisioned a VM using Azure CLI, logged in with SSH, installed and tested Nginx, and configured port 80 for HTTP traffic.