Publish a web site in Windows Azure

I like to use Web Matrix 3 tool for my “home developments”. Microsoft Web Matrix is a free, lightweight, cloud-connected web development tool that you can use to publish your web site into Windows Azure in just some simple steps. You can download it from this link http://www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix/

When you have finished your development, from the Web Matrix environment, click on Publish button (in the ribbon):

In this case I will use a test site I have created for a non-profit organization where I am collaborating.

On the window opened, click on Create a new site option:

Select a name for your site, and a location:

And click OK:

Click Continue to start a compatibility test of your code.

If the result is successful you should see something like that, Click Continue:

Select the files to upload (in case you don’t want to upload all of them) and click Continue:

Publishing process will start in the bottom of Web Matrix environment, and advise you when it is completed:

 

You can see the log files clicking in the link:

And it is ready!!! http://fietgratia.azurewebsites.net/ 

In your Windows Azure Manager console you can see a new item in Web Sites section:

https://manage.windowsazure.com/

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My Lab Environment in Windows Azure

You can build your own lab environment in Windows Azure following these simple steps:

1. Define a Windows Azure Affinity Group
2. Define a Windows Azure Storage Account
3. Register a DNS server in Windows Azure
4. Define a Virtual Network in Windows Azure
5. Configure Windows Server Active Directory in a Windows Azure VM
6. Build a VM in Windows Azure

To avoid extra charge for your lab environment when you are not using it, we can use PowerShell to de-provision and re-provision your environment when you need. To do that follow the steps included in this other post:

De-provision / Re-provision your Azure Lab Environment via PowerShell

Enjoy it!!

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Define a Virtual Network in Windows Azure

Access to Windows Azure Management Portal https://manage.windowsazure.com/

Select Networks on navigation pane.

+NEW and select Networks –> Virtual Network –> Quick Create:

Fill the data and click on CREATE A VIRTUAL NETWORK:

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De-provision / Re-provision your Azure Lab Environment via PowerShell

Your functional SharePoint lab environment is now complete, but if you’re like me, you won’t be using this lab environment 24x7 around-the-clock. As long as the virtual machines are provisioned, they will continue to accumulate compute hours against your Windows Azure account regardless of virtual machine state – even in a shutdown state!

We can leverage the Windows Azure PowerShell module to de-provision our lab virtual machines when not in use and re-provision our lab virtual machines when we need them again in just 5-10 minutes.

Launch PowerShell for Windows Azure. Right-click on the Windows PowerShell shortcut on the desktop and select Run as Administrator to launch Windows PowerShell with Administrative Rights.

Run the following commands:

# Set the Windows PowerShell Execution Policy

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

# Import the Windows Azure PowerShell Module

Import-Module Azure

# Download and Import a Windows Azure publish settings file

Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile

Internet Explorer will be opened automatically and settings file will be downloaded:

Save it in your local machine.

Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile “<complete path and filename of saved file>”

#type the name of your VMs

$myVMs = @("angellab001","angellabAD01")

Foreach ($myVM in $myVMs) {

           Stop-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -Name $myVM

          $ExportPath = "C:\AzureStuff\ExportAzureVM-$myVM.xml"

          Export-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -name $myVM -Path $ExportPath

}

You can create a PowerShell script with these commands and run it from the console.

Ensure that all export files have been created correctly:

Now you can proceed to de-provisioning your lab environment. You need to run the following command (you can create a script and run it from console too):

# De-provisioning your lab

$myVMs = @("angellab001","angellabAD01")

Foreach ( $myVM in $myVMs ) {

              Remove-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -name $myVM

}

Before

After

Just the cloud services (Affinity Group, Virtual Network, Storage Account) exist, VMs have been removed.

To re-provisioning your lab environment you have to run the following commands or create a script:

#type your virtual network name

$myVNet = "angellabnet01"

#type your VMs name

$myVMs = @("angellab001","angellabAD01")

#type your storage account

$myStorageAccount = "angellabstore01"

Get-AzureSubscription |

       Set-AzureSubscription -CurrentStorageAccount $myStorageAccount

Foreach ($myVM in $myVMs ) {

           $ExportPath = "C:\AzureStuff\ExportAzureVM-$myVM.xml"

          Import-AzureVM -Path $ExportPath | New-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -VNetName $myVNet

           Start-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -name $myVM

}

Take into account the order of the VMs in $myVMs vector. If you have an Active Directory server, it should be the first one to re-provision before of the rest of servers that are joined to the domain. Or if you have a SharePoint server + a SQL server, SQL server should be re-provisioned before the SharePoint one because this contains the SharePoint configuration databases needed to get SharePoint server running.

Before

After

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Build a VM in Windows Azure

Access to Windows Azure Management Portal https://manage.windowsazure.com/

Go to Virtual Machines menu, and click on +NEW button at the bottom toolbar. Navigate to Compute –> Virtual Machines –> From Gallery.

As you can see Windows Azure provides us a lot of templates, not just for Microsoft products but for different Linux providers:

      

We will select Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview one, and click next. Fill the configuration fields and click next:

Select the correct Network and Storage Account and click next:

Leave the default values and click ok:

VM will be created:

If we click on the VM name, the VM Dashboard will be opened:

To access remotely to the server, click on the server name and click on Connect button in bottom toolbar:

If you receive this message, click on Open:

Or Save if you prefer to save the .rdp file in your machine and use it in the future.

In the next window click Connect button:

Enter your credentials and click OK. You will access to your new server.

If we have created an AD server to host our own domain, we can join this new server to the domain and use our domain accounts to manage it.

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Configure Windows Server Active Directory in a Windows Azure VM

Access to Windows Azure Management Portal https://manage.windowsazure.com/

First we have to create a VM, click on +NEW and navigate to Compute –> Virtual Machines –> From Gallery:

Select Windows Server 2012 Datacenter and click on button:

For lab purposes we can choice Extra Small size. Fill the rest of the fields and go to next page:

Fill the fields and ensure you are using the correct Virtual Network and Storage Account:

In the next page, click button to start the creation of the VM.

As the new virtual machine is being provisioned, you will see the Status column on the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal cycle through several values including Stopped, Stopped (Provisioning), and Running (Provisioning). When provisioning for this new Virtual Machine is completed, the Status column will display a value of Running and you may continue with the next step in this guide.

If we click on the VM name, the VM Dashboard will be opened:

On Dashboard menu we will see all VM related information (IP, External IP, DNS, Server Name, etc.). In our case, IP address should be 10.0.0.4:

On the bottom toolbar, click on ATTACH, and select Attach empty disk:

Give a name and a size to the disk and click OK:

On the dashboard we can see the new data disk attached:

Click on Connect button in the bottom toolbar:

If you receive this message, click on Open:

Or Save if you prefer to save the .rdp file in your machine and use it in the future.

In the next window click Connect button:

Enter your credentials and click OK. You will access to your new AD server.

You will access to your new AD server:

Inside the AD server, go to Server Manager –> File and Storage Services –> Volumes –> Disks

Right click the 10GB disk we have created right now and select New Volume:

And Next:

To use all the available space, click Next:

Click Next:

And Next again:

And click on Create:

When process is finished click on Close button:

From Server Manager Dashboard click on Add roles and features:

Click Next. Select Role-based or feature-based installation and click Next:

Click Next. Select Active Directory Domain Services:

Click on Add Features:

And click Next.

In the next windows, click Next, Next and Install.

Go to AD DS menu in Server Manager:

Click on More… (system advise to us that we have to follow a post-deployment configuration for AD):

Click on Promote this server to a domain… link to start the configuration.

Create a new forest with the name you prefer, and click Next:

Type a password and click Next:

Click Next in the following window. And Next again.

Put all the paths in the drive we have attached, F:

Next, Next and Install.

Now you can create domain users that you could use in the rest of server you will create, and join them to your domain.

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