When you have decided to use Azure IaaS virtual machines based on your requirements, you need to look at the configuration. Resource group is required to create any resource in Microsoft Azure. Let see the configuration of virtual machine.

Login to the Microsoft Azure Portal and select “+ create a resource”. Select compute and then select OS that needs to be deployed as part of the VM. In my case, I am deploying “Windows Server 2016 Datacenter”.

In the first step, define settings as required.

Name = Name of the virtual machine, same name will be applied as a host name.

VM disk type = Either HDD or SSD

User name = Default administrator name

Password = Password for the administrative user name

Confirm password = Confirm password for the administrative user name

Subscription = Select subscription from where the VM cost will be deducted

Resource group = Either “Create new” or “Use existing”

Location = Select the location of your Azure Region

Windows license = Select “Yes” if you have windows license otherwise “No”

Finally select “OK”

In the second step, select the VM size based on your requirement. You can short the VM size by selecting disk type, vCPUs and Memory.

In the third step, configure optional features.

High Availability = If you are deploying multiple VMs in the HA mode, create an “Availability set” and define fault & update domain as needed.

Storage = If you would like to use disk managed by Microsoft, select “Yes” in “Use managed disks” option. Otherwise select “No”, if you select “No” then you need to define a storage account.

Network = Select virtual network for the VM. If you don’t have any then a new will be created for you by default but still you can define your virtual network and use the same.

Subnet = select subnet, an ip to the VM will be assigned from this subnet

Public IP address = Use public ip address, if you want to access this VM directly through the internet. Otherwise you can select “None” here.

Network security group = Use network security group, if you would like to access or deny network traffic on the VM level.

Extensions = If you need to use any extensions as part of the VM deployment then add extensions such as PowerShell DSC, Custom Script Extension etc.

Auto-shutdown = Either “On” or “Off” and define the time and time zone based on your needs.

Notification before shutdown = Either “On” or “Off”

Monitoring = Either “Enabled” or “Disabled” for boot and guest OS diagnostics. If you enable the diagnostics then you need to use a storage account. This diagnostics user account either you can create or use the existing one.

Backup = Either “Enabled” or “Disabled”. If you enable backup option then you need to define “Recovery Services vault”, Resource group (for recovery service vault) and backup policy.

Once done select OK.

In the fourth step, review all the configuration and select “Create” to start the deployment process.

Wait for couple of minutes, your VM will be available for use. If you would like to reuse the VM configuration as-is or would like to reuse the VM configuration with customization then “Download template and parameters” for future deployments.