Recommend a virtual machine-based solution

Virtual machines (VMs) offer a flexible and scalable solution for running applications and services in the cloud. When designing and implementing a Microsoft Azure infrastructure solution for hosting VMs, there are several important factors to consider. In this article, we will explore a recommended VM-based solution for the exam “Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions.”

Exam Objectives

The exam evaluates your ability to design and implement solutions that meet specific business and technical requirements. This includes considerations such as:

• Availability
• Scalability
• Security
• Cost optimization

Recommended Solution

A recommended solution for designing an Azure infrastructure with VMs is to use a combination of Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) and Azure Load Balancer. Here’s how you can implement this solution:

Step 1: Create a Virtual Machine Scale Set

Create a Virtual Machine Scale Set that will host your VM instances. Define the desired configuration, such as the number of VMs, their sizes, and the operating system image to be used. Configure the VMSS to use an appropriate load balancing method, such as round-robin or least-connections, to evenly distribute traffic among the VM instances.

Step 2: Configure Health Probes

To ensure that only healthy VM instances receive traffic, configure health probes on the Azure Load Balancer associated with the VMSS. These probes periodically check the health of the VM instances and direct traffic only to the healthy ones. Define the probe’s endpoint and the criteria for considering a VM instance as healthy.

Step 3: Set up Auto Scaling Rules

To dynamically scale the number of VM instances based on resource demand, set up auto scaling rules for the VMSS. Azure provides multiple scaling options, such as scaling based on CPU usage, metric thresholds, or scheduled scaling. Determine the appropriate scaling conditions and thresholds based on your application’s performance requirements.

Step 4: Secure VM Instances

Ensure the security of your VM instances by implementing best practices for Azure security. Use network security groups (NSGs) to control inbound and outbound traffic, configure virtual network service endpoints, and enable Azure Disk Encryption for data protection.

Step 5: Optimize Costs

Optimize costs by leveraging Azure Reserved VM Instances (RIs) and Azure Spot VMs. RIs provide significant savings for long-running VMs by prepaying for compute capacity. Spot VMs offer low-cost VM instances with flexible availability. By using the right combination of RIs and Spot VMs, you can optimize costs without compromising performance and availability.

By following these steps, you can design and implement a highly available, scalable, and cost-effective Azure infrastructure solution based on virtual machines. This solution leverages the power of Virtual Machine Scale Sets and Azure Load Balancer to distribute traffic and manage the scaling of VM instances.

Remember to refer to Microsoft’s official documentation for detailed guidelines and the latest updates on Azure services. Good luck with your exam preparation and designing your Microsoft Azure infrastructure solutions!