DEEP DIVE — Virtual Machines (VMs)

Question 1

What is a Virtual Machine?

Answer 1

a simulated computer system that runs within a physical computer

Question 2

What does a Virtual Machine Do?

Answer 2

create a virtual environment where you can run different operating systems and software. It’s like having multiple computers running on a single piece of hardware

Question 3

what are the 5 types of Virtual Machines

Answer 3

B-Series, D-series. F-series. E-series, NC-series

Question 4

B-Series

Answer 4

burstable, cheap, light workloads, small website

Question 5

D-series

Answer 5

general purpose, balanced CPU/memory, App servers, databases

Question 6

F-Series

Answer 6

Need Strong CPU for fast calculations

Question 7

E-Series

Answer 7

Needs lots of Ram for big databases

Question 8

NC-series

Answer 8

is a GPU VM, graphics heavy stuff (Ai, video rendering,)

Question 9

Why use virtual machines?

Answer 9

flexibility, scalability, global access and cost savings

Question 10

What is Flexible about virtual machines

Answer 10

can spin up a machine for 2 hours and shut it down (only pay for 2 hours)

Question 11

what are the real world uses of VMs

Answer 11

Hosting Websites, Running Database servers, Setting up testing environments for new apps, hosting game servers, creating secure servers for remote work.

Question 12

Components of a VM

Answer 12

Operating System, CPU, RAM (Memory), Storage, Network Interface.

Question 13

Operating System

Answer 13

What system it runs, Windows server 2022, Ubuntu Linux

Question 14

CPU

Answer 14

How much processing power

Question 15

Ram (memory)

Answer 15

How much “desk space” for active work.

Question 16

Storage

Answer 16

Virtual hard drives, SSD and HDD

Question 17

Network Interface

Answer 17

Virtual “ethernet port” for internet, connects to a Virtual Network (Vnet)

Question 18

Optional extras for a VM

Answer 18

Back up plans, monitoring/logging, Auto-shutdown settings (to avoid wasting money).

Question 19

How are VMs Billed?

Answer 19

billed per second or minute they are running.

Question 20

what do you Pay for on a running VM

Answer 20

Compute ( CPU + RAM usage, Storage (Vms disks), Networking (outbound data traffic if big enough).

Question 21

When you deallocate your VM, what do you still pay for?

Answer 21

You still pay for storage, but stop paying for compute.

Question 22

why should you turn off AND deallocate

Answer 22

because Azure keeps billing, the VM’s are still reserved for the user.

Question 23

What are 3 good security practices to secure a VM

Answer 23

Set strong passwords/SSH keys, use Network Security Groups (NSG), use Azure bastion.

Question 24

What does a Network Security Group (NSG) do?

Answer 24

blocks unwanted access (like a firewall).

Question 25

What does Azure Bastion do

Answer 25

connects VM without exposing it to the internet

Question 26

Availability set

Answer 26

Groups VMs in way that protects from hardware failures (high availability).

Question 27

Availability Zone

Answer 27

Spread VMs across different physical locations inside a region (even safer).

Question 28

Scale Set

Answer 28

Automatically scale VM numbers up/down based on demand (like auto-spawning Vms).

Question 29

Managed Disk

Answer 29

Azure manages your VMs storage disks for you (more reliability).

Question 30

Snapshots

Answer 30

backup copy of a VM disk at a point in time (for recovery).