4.1.2.1. Create VMs from Azure Marketplace

💡 First Principle: Azure Marketplace provides a catalog of pre-configured virtual machine images that accelerate deployment by bundling the operating system, software, and configuration, ensuring a reliable and consistent starting point.

Scenario: You need to quickly provision a new Windows Server VM for a short-term testing environment. You want a reliable base image without having to manually install the OS or basic configurations.

What It Is: Azure Marketplace is an online store that offers applications and services built by Microsoft and its partners. For VMs, it provides a catalog of ready-to-use images.

Purpose:

• Marketplace images simplify VM creation by bundling OS, software, and configuration, reducing manual setup and ensuring compatibility.

High-Level Deployment Steps (Azure Portal):

1. Search: Go to "Create a resource" and search for the desired image (e.g., Windows Server, Ubuntu, SQL Server).
2. Select & Create: Choose the image and click "Create".
3. Configure Basics: Specify subscription, resource group, VM name, region, availability options, image, size, and admin credentials.
4. Disks: Select OS disk type and add data disks.
5. Networking: Configure VNet, subnet, public IP, and NSG rules.
6. Review + Create: Validate and deploy.

⚠️ Common Pitfall: Assuming a Marketplace image is fully hardened and production-ready out of the box. While they provide a great starting point, you are still responsible for applying your organization's specific security baselines and configurations.

Key Trade-Offs:

• Speed (Marketplace) vs. Customization (Custom Image): Marketplace images are the fastest way to get a standard VM running. Custom images require more upfront effort but provide a fully standardized and pre-configured environment.

Reflection Question: How does leveraging Azure Marketplace VM images fundamentally accelerate deployment and simplify configuration, allowing you to focus on your workloads instead of infrastructure setup?