Create Your First Azure VM (Linux)

You build web01 in a resource group that stays for the next lessons, check its first-boot setup, connect with Bastion Developer, and deallocate it.

$v = Get-Content C:\azure-lab\vnet-saat.json | ConvertFrom-Json
az group create --name rg-saat-vms --tags course=saatvedha-azure lesson=15 keep=true -o none

1Look at the image before you use it

Run this:

az vm image show --location centralindia --urn Canonical:ubuntu-24_04-lts:server:latest --query "{name:name, generation:hyperVGeneration, arch:architecture, os:osDiskImage.operatingSystem}" -o table

You should see something like this:

Name               Generation    Arch    Os
-----------------  ------------  ------  -----
24.04.202610090    V2            x64     Linux

latest resolves to a dated version. Generation V2 and x64 match the B2ats v2 size. For production you’d pin a specific version so every rebuild is identical.

2Write the first-boot script

Paste this whole block:

$init = @'
#cloud-config
write_files:
  - path: /var/www/index.html
    content: |
      <h1>web01</h1>
      <p>SaatVedha Azure course, Lesson 15</p>
  - path: /etc/systemd/system/saat-web.service
    content: |
      [Unit]
      Description=SaatVedha lab web page
      After=network-online.target

      [Service]
      ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 -m http.server 80 --directory /var/www
      Restart=always

      [Install]
      WantedBy=multi-user.target
runcmd:
  - systemctl daemon-reload
  - systemctl enable --now saat-web
'@
[IO.File]::WriteAllText('C:\azure-lab\web01-init.yaml', ($init -replace "`r`n", "`n"))

WriteAllText with Unix line endings keeps Windows carriage returns out of the files cloud-init writes. YAML is fussy about indentation, so keep the spaces exactly as shown.

3Create web01

Run this (about two minutes):

az vm create --resource-group rg-saat-vms --name web01 --image Canonical:ubuntu-24_04-lts:server:latest --size Standard_B2ats_v2 --zone 1 --subnet $v.'snet-web' --asgs asg-web --public-ip-address '""' --nsg '""' --admin-username azureuser --generate-ssh-keys --os-disk-size-gb 64 --custom-data C:\azure-lab\web01-init.yaml --tags course=saatvedha-azure lesson=15 keep=true role=web --query "{name:name, power:powerState, privateIp:privateIpAddress, publicIp:publicIpAddress, zone:zones}" -o table

You should see something like this:

Name    Power       PrivateIp    PublicIp    Zone
------  ----------  -----------  ----------  ------
web01   VM running  10.30.1.4                1

No public IP, as planned. --zone 1 places it in zone 1 of Central India; Lesson 18 is about why that matters. --generate-ssh-keys reused your key if you had one, or created %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\id_rsa.

4Check that first boot worked

Run this:

az vm run-command invoke --resource-group rg-saat-vms --name web01 --command-id RunShellScript --scripts "cloud-init status --wait; systemctl is-active saat-web; curl -s http://localhost" --query "value[0].message" -o tsv

You should see something like this:

Enable succeeded:
[stdout]
status: done
active
<h1>web01</h1>
<p>SaatVedha Azure course, Lesson 15</p>

[stderr]

5Turn on auto-shutdown

Run this (13:30 UTC is 19:00 in India):

az vm auto-shutdown --resource-group rg-saat-vms --name web01 --time 1330 -o none
az resource show --resource-group rg-saat-vms --resource-type Microsoft.DevTestLab/schedules --name shutdown-computevm-web01 --query "{status:properties.status, time:properties.dailyRecurrence.time, zone:properties.timeZoneId}" -o table

You should see something like this:

Status    Time    Zone
--------  ------  -----
Enabled   1330    UTC

6Connect with Bastion Developer

1. In the portal, open web01 and choose Connect > Connect via Bastion.
2. If asked, choose the Developer option (no cost, one session at a time). It’s ready in seconds, with nothing deployed into your VNet.
3. Authentication type: SSH Private Key from Local File. Username azureuser, and pick %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\id_rsa.
4. In the browser terminal, run hostname and curl -s localhost.

The NSG on snet-web keeps Azure’s default rules, which let Bastion’s connection in. Nothing on the internet can reach port 22.

7Deallocate it

Close the Bastion tab, then run this:

az vm deallocate --resource-group rg-saat-vms --name web01
az vm show --resource-group rg-saat-vms --name web01 --show-details --query powerState -o tsv

You should see this:

VM deallocated

✅ Checkpoint: web01 served its page, you connected with Bastion Developer, and it is now VM deallocated with auto-shutdown on. Keep it: Lessons 17 to 19 use it.