Azure getting started - Revision history

Ajshen at 02:51, 29 June 2026

2026-06-29T02:51:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:51, 29 June 2026
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			[[Category:Microsoft Azure]]

	= Azure =		= Azure =

Ecucuzze: Removed any reference to the department's azure resources. Made it generic

2025-07-29T16:24:58Z

Removed any reference to the department's azure resources. Made it generic

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:24, 29 July 2025
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	= Getting started: create an Azure virtual machine =		= Getting started: create an Azure virtual machine =

	~~== Getting an account on portal.azure.com ==~~

	The first step is to complete [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZrynhmPAyLAS-TlIN5iPcQSPBbwzVJe1MPbqgYYejRs this form]  asking for an account on Azure. This should prompt a set of emails from Carl. In this process, you’ll be (1) creating an account on portal.azure.com with your @andrew.cmu.edu email address and (2) getting connected to the statistics department resources.

	~~=== Debugging account access ===~~

	If you log onto portal.azure.com and it suggests that you are not connected to the statistics department (it will offer free trials), then you are not correctly connected. This may be due to errors in either of the above.

	To check if you’re able to connect to the department resources, go to the top right corner (with your andrew email address) and click it. You’ll see an option “Switch directory”. Click it. The hope is in the potential startup directories, you’ll see one called “Default Directory” as seen in the image below.

	~~[[File:Azure user on portal.png\|frameless\|200px\|User account on portal.azure.com]]~~

	~~ ~~

	~~[[File:1600px-Azure directory options.png\|frameless\|800px\|understanding and debugging directory options (starting out)]]~~

	== Creating a Resource ==		== Creating a Resource ==

	Creating a virtual on Azure can be a bit complicated (which is why other resources like the department servers are available for certain types of computing).		You will need to have an established Azure account, which no longer can be done through department resources as of Summer 2025. Creating a virtual on Azure can be a bit complicated (which is why other resources like the department servers are available for certain types of computing).

	The first thing to do is click the “create a resource” button on your azure home page (should look something like this:)		The first thing to do is click the “create a resource” button on your azure home page (should look something like this:)
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	Below is 2 images of the first “Basics” page. You will need to		Below is 2 images of the first “Basics” page. You will need to

	#~~fill~~ out / select your “Resource group”		#Fill out / select your “Resource group”
	#~~define~~ your “Virtual machine name” (might we recommend (username)-(CPU/GPU)-cores(#)-(RAM)-(index). For example “bpleroy-GPU-cores4-27-1”.		#Define your “Virtual machine name” (might we recommend (username)-(CPU/GPU)-cores(#)-(RAM)-(index). For example “bpleroy-GPU-cores4-27-1”.
	#~~select~~ the size of the machine (relative to it’s cores and types of cores). You will see available options~~. If you do not see an option that meets your needs, please message remarks@stat.cmu.edu / go see Carl and describe your question~~. You can also click "see all images" to explore a list of options ~~(some which are not available to CMU Stats)~~. If you are looking for GPU in this list filter by "family" and "GPU" for the family.		#Select the size of the machine (relative to it’s cores and types of cores). You will see available options. You can also click "see all images" to explore a list of options. If you are looking for GPU in this list filter by "family" and "GPU" for the family.
	#~~finally~~, we recommend using a ssh public key (which will be downloaded at the end of the set-up process). We recommend you change your “Username” to your andrew id but you can leave it as “azureuser” if you’d like (we recommend such things since you may forget and it's natural to have it consistent across your servers).		#Finally, we recommend using a ssh public key (which will be downloaded at the end of the set-up process). We recommend you change your “Username” to your andrew ID but you can leave it as “azureuser” if you’d like (we recommend such things since you may forget and it's natural to have it consistent across your servers).

	[[File:1400px-Azure basics 1.png\|frameless\|700px\|setting up new server, basic page (1)]]		[[File:1400px-Azure basics 1.png\|frameless\|700px\|setting up new server, basic page (1)]]

Skipper at 02:39, 24 May 2024

2024-05-24T02:39:32Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:39, 24 May 2024
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	[[File:Azure directory options.png\|frameless\|800px\|understanding and debugging directory options (starting out)]]		[[File:1600px-Azure directory options.png\|frameless\|800px\|understanding and debugging directory options (starting out)]]

	== Creating a Resource ==		== Creating a Resource ==

Skipper at 02:37, 24 May 2024

2024-05-24T02:37:27Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:37, 24 May 2024
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	#finally, we recommend using a ssh public key (which will be downloaded at the end of the set-up process). We recommend you change your “Username” to your andrew id but you can leave it as “azureuser” if you’d like (we recommend such things since you may forget and it's natural to have it consistent across your servers).		#finally, we recommend using a ssh public key (which will be downloaded at the end of the set-up process). We recommend you change your “Username” to your andrew id but you can leave it as “azureuser” if you’d like (we recommend such things since you may forget and it's natural to have it consistent across your servers).

	[[File:Azure basics 1.png\|frameless\|700px\|setting up new server, basic page (1)]]		[[File:1400px-Azure basics 1.png\|frameless\|700px\|setting up new server, basic page (1)]]

	[[File:Azure basics 2.png\|frameless\|700px\|setting up new server, basic page (2)]]		[[File:1400px-Azure basics 2.png\|frameless\|700px\|setting up new server, basic page (2)]]

	==== Disks ====		==== Disks ====
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	The second pages is about “Disks” although creating storage on Azure is complicated it’s a very necessary procedure. Click “Create and attache a new disk”. You will then have to select the right size. Generally, disks smaller than 512 GB are cheap for the department but 1 TB + are more costly. You personal computer likely has between 128 - 512 GB (maybe 1TB), but it’s really unlikely you’ll need too much for your project.		The second pages is about “Disks” although creating storage on Azure is complicated it’s a very necessary procedure. Click “Create and attache a new disk”. You will then have to select the right size. Generally, disks smaller than 512 GB are cheap for the department but 1 TB + are more costly. You personal computer likely has between 128 - 512 GB (maybe 1TB), but it’s really unlikely you’ll need too much for your project.

	[[File:Azure disk creation.png\|frameless\|700px\|creating a disk]]		[[File:1400px-Azure disk creation.png\|frameless\|700px\|creating a disk]]

Skipper at 02:31, 24 May 2024

2024-05-24T02:31:13Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:31, 24 May 2024
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	Ensure you’re not wasting precious department Azure credits - when you are not using your virtual machine, please shut it down (and then relaunch it when you need to use it). You can shut-down and relauch a server on the resource page. The overview for your virtual machine might look something like the image below. To turn off your machine click the “Stop” button on the “Overview” tab, and to launch your machine click the “Start” button. Every time you launch your machine it’s likely that the IP address will have changed, so use the “Connect” button to figure out the new IP address (though it is also listed on the Overview page). The “Connect” page (which appears in the second image) will also remind you of what your username for the virtual machine is.		Ensure you’re not wasting precious department Azure credits - when you are not using your virtual machine, please shut it down (and then relaunch it when you need to use it). You can shut-down and relauch a server on the resource page. The overview for your virtual machine might look something like the image below. To turn off your machine click the “Stop” button on the “Overview” tab, and to launch your machine click the “Start” button. Every time you launch your machine it’s likely that the IP address will have changed, so use the “Connect” button to figure out the new IP address (though it is also listed on the Overview page). The “Connect” page (which appears in the second image) will also remind you of what your username for the virtual machine is.

	[[File:Azure on off.png\|frameless\|800px\|turning on and off server to save department money]]		[[File:1600px-Azure on off.png\|frameless\|800px\|turning on and off server to save department money]]

	[[File:Azure connect.png\|frameless\|800px\|connecting to your server's IP address when it changes]]		[[File:1600px-Azure connect.png\|frameless\|800px\|connecting to your server's IP address when it changes]]

	= Getting started: create an Azure virtual machine =		= Getting started: create an Azure virtual machine =

Skipper: Created page with " = Azure = == Respectiful use of Azure resources == Ensure you’re not wasting precious department Azure credits - when you are not using your virtual machine, please shut..."

2024-03-30T00:13:26Z

Created page with " = Azure = == Respectiful use of Azure resources == Ensure you’re not wasting precious department Azure credits - when you are not using your virtual machine, please shut..."

New page

= Azure =

== Respectiful use of Azure resources ==

Ensure you’re not wasting precious department Azure credits - when you are not using your virtual machine, please shut it down (and then relaunch it when you need to use it). You can shut-down and relauch a server on the resource page. The overview for your virtual machine might look something like the image below. To turn off your machine click the “Stop” button on the “Overview” tab, and to launch your machine click the “Start” button. Every time you launch your machine it’s likely that the IP address will have changed, so use the “Connect” button to figure out the new IP address (though it is also listed on the Overview page). The “Connect” page (which appears in the second image) will also remind you of what your username for the virtual machine is.

[[File:Azure on off.png|frameless|800px|turning on and off server to save department money]]

[[File:Azure connect.png|frameless|800px|connecting to your server's IP address when it changes]]

= Getting started: create an Azure virtual machine =

== Getting an account on portal.azure.com ==

The first step is to complete [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZrynhmPAyLAS-TlIN5iPcQSPBbwzVJe1MPbqgYYejRs this form]  asking for an account on Azure. This should prompt a set of emails from Carl. In this process, you’ll be (1) creating an account on portal.azure.com with your @andrew.cmu.edu email address and (2) getting connected to the statistics department resources.

=== Debugging account access ===

If you log onto portal.azure.com and it suggests that you are not connected to the statistics department (it will offer free trials), then you are not correctly connected. This may be due to errors in either of the above.

To check if you’re able to connect to the department resources, go to the top right corner (with your andrew email address) and click it. You’ll see an option “Switch directory”. Click it. The hope is in the potential startup directories, you’ll see one called “Default Directory” as seen in the image below.

[[File:Azure user on portal.png|frameless|200px|User account on portal.azure.com]]

 

[[File:Azure directory options.png|frameless|800px|understanding and debugging directory options (starting out)]]

== Creating a Resource ==

Creating a virtual on Azure can be a bit complicated (which is why other resources like the department servers are available for certain types of computing).

The first thing to do is click the “create a resource” button on your azure home page (should look something like this:)

[[File:Azure create new.png|frameless|300px|create new server button]]

You can also do so in the <code>All resources</code> > <code>+ Create</code>

 

----

For statistical computing we select a resource from the <code>AI + Machine Learning</code> tab on the left side and then select <code>Data Science Virtual Machine - Ubuntu 18.04</code> for a linux virtual machine. This selection will look something like the image below:

[[File:Azure select resource type.png|frameless|700px|Selecting which type of virtual server to use]]

=== Defining your Resource ===

There are a lot of options to create your resource, but you can ignore a lot of these.

==== Basics ====

Below is 2 images of the first “Basics” page. You will need to

#fill out / select your “Resource group”
#define your “Virtual machine name” (might we recommend (username)-(CPU/GPU)-cores(#)-(RAM)-(index). For example “bpleroy-GPU-cores4-27-1”.
#select the size of the machine (relative to it’s cores and types of cores). You will see available options. If you do not see an option that meets your needs, please message remarks@stat.cmu.edu / go see Carl and describe your question. You can also click "see all images" to explore a list of options (some which are not available to CMU Stats). If you are looking for GPU in this list filter by "family" and "GPU" for the family.
#finally, we recommend using a ssh public key (which will be downloaded at the end of the set-up process). We recommend you change your “Username” to your andrew id but you can leave it as “azureuser” if you’d like (we recommend such things since you may forget and it's natural to have it consistent across your servers).

[[File:Azure basics 1.png|frameless|700px|setting up new server, basic page (1)]]

[[File:Azure basics 2.png|frameless|700px|setting up new server, basic page (2)]]

==== Disks ====

The second pages is about “Disks” although creating storage on Azure is complicated it’s a very necessary procedure. Click “Create and attache a new disk”. You will then have to select the right size. Generally, disks smaller than 512 GB are cheap for the department but 1 TB + are more costly. You personal computer likely has between 128 - 512 GB (maybe 1TB), but it’s really unlikely you’ll need too much for your project.

[[File:Azure disk creation.png|frameless|700px|creating a disk]]

 

==== Network and Management ====

There isn’t really anything necessary for you to do on these tabs.

==== Advanced ====

If you are using GPUs you’ll need to add the NVDIA extension for GPUs.

==== Tags are also not necessary ====

==== Done? ====

You did it! Save your ssh key (<code>.pem</code> file) in a location where you plan to call the server from. Also note that you will '''still''' need to correctly link your data disk you just created (which is discussed in the next step).

=== Connecting your data disk ===

This process is slightly complex (and can have implications if you don’t do it correctly). We recommend you follow the [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/attach-disk-portal azure docs].

==== step 1: finding and identifying your disk ====

on the server run something like:

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">lsblk -o NAME,HCTL,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT | grep -i "sd"</syntaxhighlight>

you should see a list something like this:

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">sda 3:0:0:0 128G
sdb 0:0:0:0 150G
├─sdb1 149.9G /
├─sdb14 4M
└─sdb15 106M /boot/efi
sdc 1:0:1:0 176G
└─sdc1 176G /mnt</syntaxhighlight>

now, on portal for the same VM, look at your disks (left side: Settings > Disks) and examine the size of your disk you added (for mine it’s 128G). As such we can conclude that my disk that needs mounting is <code>sda</code> (this might not be the same for you - and is not the same in the azure docs).

==== step 2: partitioning a new disk ====

Copied form the azure docs (but changed for my disk name)

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">sudo parted /dev/sda --script mklabel gpt mkpart xfspart xfs 0% 100%
sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/sda1
sudo partprobe /dev/sda1</syntaxhighlight>

==== step 3: mount the disk ====

Create a directory to mount the file system using mkdir. The following example creates a directory at <code>/datadrive</code>:

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">sudo mkdir /datadrive</syntaxhighlight>

Use mount to then mount the filesystem. The following example mounts the <code>/dev/sda1</code> partition to the <code>/datadrive</code> mount point:

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">sudo mount /dev/sda1 /datadrive</syntaxhighlight>

''Now we have'':

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">lsblk -o NAME,HCTL,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT | grep -i "sd"</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">sda 3:0:0:0 128G
└─sda1 128G /datadrive
sdb 0:0:0:0 150G
├─sdb1 149.9G /
├─sdb14 4M
└─sdb15 106M /boot/efi
sdc 1:0:1:0 176G
└─sdc1 176G /mnt</syntaxhighlight>

==== step 4: … ====

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">sudo blkid</syntaxhighlight>
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">/dev/sdb1: LABEL="cloudimg-rootfs" UUID="1fe704c3-9cec-4cb5-b634-2e46f6bd9f90" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="318ec118-9248-4203-9cd5-7cb8c36f04d6"
/dev/sdb15: LABEL="UEFI" UUID="52A4-029B" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="2332d2b4-222e-425d-866e-227b42f3979d"
/dev/sdc1: UUID="9cc09cc7-c65d-4fe4-a397-75679a438c1c" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="2b584de2-01"
/dev/sda1: UUID="a2ba271d-e5a4-4416-84d2-b9408864b53b" TYPE="xfs" PARTLABEL="xfspart" PARTUUID="77452866-0b43-4485-9956-673377498608"</syntaxhighlight>

==== step 5: creating alias link to datadrive ====

To create a symbolic link to your a <code>workspace</code> folder to the <code>/datadrive</code> you can do the following.

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">ln -s /datadrive ~/workspace </syntaxhighlight>

Afterwards, everything in the <code>workspace</code> will actually be stored on your new <code>/datadrive</code>.

==== step 6: making sure you have correct permissions ====

<code>ls -al /</code> (might show you don’t have access (write, read, execute) to the /datadrive), so we did

<code>sudo chmod 777 datadrive</code> …

[https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/how-to-create-symbolic-links-in-linux/ https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/how-to-create-symbolic-links-in-linux/]

=== Connecting to your server and moving files ===

To connect to your server you will need to know (1) where you're ssh key is (often called <code>_server_name_.pem</code> (this should have been downloaded at the end of the creation of your server). '''Note that the first time your connect you need to make sure you have the correct permissions - see the connect page for the correct <code>cmod</code> command you need to use!''' (2) your username defined in the [[Azure_getting_started#Basics|Basics]] step

You will also need to know what IP address your server is currently using. This can before on the connect page of your server (as seen in the second image in this article). Then you're type something like

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
ssh -i _my_ssh_key_.pem _user_name_@_IP_address_
</syntaxhighlight>

To pass files to and from your server with <code>scp</code>, we will imagine you are on your home computer. Then do as follows:

#'''server to local''' <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
scp -i _my_ssh_key_.pem _user_name_@_IP_address_:/full/path/to/files/on/server/my_script.R /local/path/to/files/on/local/computer/
</syntaxhighlight>

#'''local to server''' <syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
scp -i _my_ssh_key_.pem /local/path/to/files/on/local/computer/my_script.R _user_name_@_IP_address_:/full/path/to/files/
</syntaxhighlight>

To pass directories (and do the full thing you'll need to do the same as above but add

 
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
scp -i _my_ssh_key.pem -r ...
</syntaxhighlight>