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Explore Laas And Paas Services In Microsoft Azure

Project 1: Explore IaaS and PaaS Services in Microsoft Azure
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This is a graphic novel set in the BallotOnline executive boardroom. A BallotOnline executive says, "we've spent all this money on cloud computing now. How is it going to save us time and money?" the architect for ballotonline replies, "the next step is automation. we can save the organization money on the cost of each process we automate."

Previously, you’ve examined and investigated various cloud service offerings and deployment options for BallotOnline in the Amazon Web Services cloud environment.

To ensure that the BallotOnline cloud migration team looked at cloud offerings from other vendors, Sophia, the vice president of Information Technology (IT), suggested exploring Microsoft Azure cloud and determining if Azure IaaS service offerings are competitive with AWS. In addition, she proposed to look at Azure PaaS capabilities to compare the ease of development and deployment process and DevOps options between these two cloud vendors.

As the principal cloud architect for BallotOnline, you will research Azure’s IaaS and PaaS capabilities. You will design and implement PoC (proof of Concept) projects in Azure cloud, investigating and using its services within both service models. These projects will attempt to deploy future BallotOnline web applications using a prototype web page as a simple example and find out to what degree the Azure environment supports the DevOps processes for web applications.

Project Steps

You will conduct the proof of concept in several steps.

  1. In Step 1 you will start exploring the features of the Azure environment, to get a feel for how to use its services for possible BallotOnline cloud deployment.
  2. You will provision a Virtual Machine (VM) in Azure and configure it with the web services needed.
  3. You will create the machine image off your VM, and configure the scale set along with load balancer for your VMs, using IaaS Azure services.
  4. You will also create Azure Webb App service – a PaaS offering supporting the automatic and continuous deployment of web apps.

You will prepare lab reports documenting your efforts in each of these steps.

In the last step of the project, you will prepare and submit the final report to BallotOnline management to document your Azure explorations.

The project will take about four weeks to complete. Check the Project 3 FAQ thread in the discussion area for any last-minute updates or clarifications about the project. Click on Step 1 to get started.

In Step 1 you will start exploring the features of the Azure environment, to get a feel for how to use its services for possible BallotOnline cloud deployment.

In previous projects, you have investigated and reported on several aspects of cloud technology crucial to BallotOnline’s cloud migration. To make a final determination, you have been asked to build a proof of concept for migrating the company’s website to the Microsoft Azure cloud.

Proof of Concept Steps

You will conduct the proof of concept in several steps.

  1. You will provision Azure Web App using Azure CLI.
  2. You will set up continuous deployment for your Web App.
  3. You will explore Azure Web App Service’s Features and Capabilities.

Competencies

Your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below.

  • 2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.
  • 2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the issue or problem.
  • 2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to determine its value and relevance to the problem.
  • 2.4: Consider and analyze information in context to the issue or problem.
  • 9.5: Design virtualized network infrastructure to meet business needs.
  • 9.6: Design cloud storage infrastructure to meet business needs.
  • 10.2: Create and deploy virtual machines.
  • 10.3: Configure cloud management tools and software.
  • 10.4: Configure cloud orchestration and automation software.
  • 10.7: Configure a public cloud infrastructure using industry leading provider(s).

Step 1: Explore services and offerings of Microsoft Azure cloud

You will start your exploration of Microsoft Azure cloud offering by looking at general overviews of its services and offerings.

Resources

Check out and study the content of following links on Microsoft website:

  • Get to know Azure – for general introduction of Azure
  • What is the Azure portal? – for overview of Azure web portal
  • Global Infrastructure – for overview of Azure infrastructure
  • Browse Azure products for overview of popular Azure products and services
  • Student Hub – for learning about Azure student accounts and educational offerings
  • Technical documentation – starting point for all Azure technical documentation

Step 2: BallotOnline PoC in Azure: Provision and Prepare Web Server Virtual Machine

The BallotOnline management has asked you to build an environment as a proof of concept on Microsoft Azure cloud to migrate the BallotOnline web service. This environment will consist of virtual servers or virtual machines made up of a group of instances that will be used to serve out the BallotOnline website.

In Step 2 of our Azure exploration project you will deploy a virtual machine in Azure and equip it with all installs needed to serve the BallotOnline web page.

You will configure VM with NGIX, a widely used open-source web server, and install the BallotOnline website data.

The webmaster of the BallotOnline website has provided you with the files to migrate to Azure. The files are compressed in a zip file and can be accessed here.

Finally, you will perform a test to ensure that the new web services are available.

After the basic infrastructure is provisioned, in the next project step you will configure your deployment to provide its web services in an auto-scaled and load-balanced environment.

Take Action

Complete the Provision and Prepare Web Server VM lab following the lab guide.

As you build out this environment, you will capture your progress with screenshots as indicated in the lab instructions.

Lab results should include the following items:

  • Screenshots of your progress in completing the labs (refer to lab instructions)
  • URL to your test migration website
  • Brief summary of your progress in completing the lab

Step 3: BallotOnline PoC in Azure: Create Azure VM Scale Set with Load Balancer

In the previous step, you provisioned an Azure VM and configured it to support BallotOnline’s website.

Now, you will create a Virtual Machine image based on your server, and use it to create and configure Azure Scale Set – a service allowing for auto-scaling multiple VMs based on a machine image. While provisioning your scale set, you will automatically associate it with a load balancer, to distribute website requests among VMs in the scale set.

As in the previous step, you will use the Azure web portal to provision and configure your resources. Manual creation of these resources illustrates the PaaS-level services in Microsoft Azure cloud.

Take Action

Complete the Deploy Scale Set and Load Balancer lab by following the lab guide.

As you perform your test, you will capture your progress with screenshots as indicated in the lab instructions.

Lab results should include the following items:

  • Screenshots of your progress in completing the labs (refer to lab instructions)
  • Demonstration of accessing the BallotOnline web page via the scale set URL.
  • Brief summary of your progress in completing the lab

Step 4: BallotOnline PoC in Azure: Deploy Azure PaaS Web Application

In the previous step, you implemented the BallotOnline PoC deployment using IaaS service set of Azure.

In this step, you will explore and use the PaaS-level Azure service – Azure Web App Service.

It enables you, among other things, to build and host web apps in the programming language of your choice without managing infrastructure.

You will also use Azure CLI to provision your Web app and associated resources.

Take Action

Complete the BallotOnline PoC in Azure: Create Azure PaaS Web Application lab by following the lab guide.

As you perform your test, you will capture your progress with screenshots as indicated in the lab instructions.

Lab results should include the following items:

  • Screenshots of your progress in completing the labs (refer to lab instructions)
  • Demonstration of accessing the BallotOnline web page via the scale set URL
  • Brief summary of your progress in completing the lab

Step 5: Write Explore Microsoft Azure Final Technical Report

In the previous project steps, you explored and used Azure IaaS and PaaS services to migration of BallotOnline’s web services to Azure. Now, you will document the lessons learned during the buildout of the Azure environments and your test migration in your final report to BallotOnline management.

Here are some areas to consider:

  • What challenges did you encounter while building out the Azure environment?
  • Did you encounter any errors while building out the Azure environment? If so, elaborate.
  • Did you encounter any issues while testing the migration? If so, elaborate.

Compile a final report for management that includes an executive summary, all lab reports, and lessons learned, and a summary of the lessons learned from the project.

The final document should be between 12 and 15 pages, including the code and screenshots from the workshops you completed.

Use the Explore Azure Final Report template to submit your work to the assignment dropbox below.

Check Your Evaluation Criteria

Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies below, which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A good practice would be to use each competency as a self-check to confirm you have incorporated all of them. To view the complete grading rubric, click My Tools, select Assignments from the drop-down menu, and then click the project title.

  • 2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.
  • 2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the issue or problem.
  • 2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to determine its value and relevance to the problem.
  • 2.4: Consider and analyze information in context to the issue or problem.
  • 9.5: Design virtualized network infrastructure to meet business needs.
  • 9.6: Design cloud storage infrastructure to meet business needs.
  • 10.2: Create and deploy virtual machines.
  • 10.3: Configure cloud management tools and software.
  • 10.4: Configure cloud orchestration and automation software.
  • 10.7: Configure a public cloud infrastructure using industry leading provider(s).