In earlier tutorials in this series, we saw Hyper-V — a virtual server on our own physical hardware. Azure takes exactly that same concept and scales it globally: instead of buying and maintaining hardware yourself, you rent Microsoft's hardware in data centers around the world, only for as long as you use it.
Prerequisite: create an Azure account
Go to portal.azure.com and create an account — Microsoft usually offers an initial free credit (Free Tier) for new users, which is more than enough to practice this tutorial.
Step 1: Enter the portal and start creating a VM
After logging into the Azure Portal, type "Virtual machines" in the top search bar and select it. Click the + Create button and select Azure virtual machine.
Step 2: Basic settings
Resource Group: create a new resource group (e.g., "RG-Learning") — this is an "organizational folder" that keeps all resources related to one project together.
Virtual machine name: give it a name — e.g., "test-vm-01."
Region: choose the geographic region closest to your users (reduces network latency).
Image: select the operating system — e.g., Windows Server 2022 or Ubuntu Server (Ubuntu is a good choice for practicing with the tools in this series).
Size: choose the machine size — for getting started and practicing, Free Tier-eligible options or B1s (small and low-cost) are enough.
Step 3: Configure the administrator account
Authentication type: usually Password for Windows; for Linux you can choose SSH Public Key (more secure) or Password.
Username and Password: enter a username and strong password for administrative access to the VM — this is exactly the info you'll use later to connect (RDP or SSH).
Step 4: Networking settings
Azure automatically suggests a new Virtual Network and Subnet — for this tutorial, you can accept the defaults. The important part is the Public inbound ports section:
For remote access, select the needed port — RDP (3389) for Windows or SSH (22) for Linux.
Step 5: Review and create
Click Review + create. Azure checks the settings and shows the approximate monthly cost. After confirming, click Create — deployment usually takes a few minutes.
Step 6: Connect to the newly created VM
Once deployment finishes, click Go to resource. You'll see the VM's Public IP Address at the top of the page:
For Windows: click Connect > RDP, download the RDP file, and log in with the username/password you set.
For Linux: from your own terminal (or even from inside Kali Linux), run:
ssh username@<Public-IP-Address>
Step 7: Critical note — stop or delete the VM after practicing
Unlike Hyper-V on your own hardware, Azure charges for every minute a VM is running. After you're done practicing:
either Stop (Deallocate) the VM so compute charges stop (only a small disk storage cost remains),
or, if you no longer need it, delete the entire resource group so no cost remains at all.
Why does learning Azure matter?
Today, most organizations — even ones with internal infrastructure (like what's covered in my MCSA courses) — run part of their services on Azure or similar platforms. Mastering the basics of building and managing cloud resources is exactly the skill that connects an infrastructure engineer's career path to the modern cloud world.
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