Hey everyone! I'm diving into the Azure Cloud scene and could really use some help from those with experience. I'm 20, currently interning for about six months, focusing primarily on Azure while also picking up tidbits about Nutanix through work. My hands-on experience has been with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) and Nerdio, giving me a decent grasp of operational tasks like updates and application deployments. However, I feel I need a better understanding of Azure's cloud architecture and infrastructure. My college just gave me $100 in Azure credits, and I'd love to invest this in a meaningful project that enhances my learning—specifically around architectures, best practices, and real-world applications. I'm looking for:
- Project ideas that could help me understand Azure architecture better
- Key Azure services to explore on a limited budget
- Tips for designing a project that mimics a real production environment
Thanks for any thoughts or experiences you can share!
3 Answers
You might also want to get familiar with the Azure Pricing Calculator. It’s super handy for planning your projects and keeping track of costs while exploring different services. Understanding pricing could save you from unexpected expenses!
If you find deploying multiple VMs overwhelming, consider starting with a simple three-tier application using free or consumption services. That way, you can focus on learning without the burden of high costs!
First things first, set yourself some budget alerts! Create reminders at various usage percentages (like 50%, 60%, and so on) because that $100 can vanish quickly. Begin by learning through manual deployment rather than jumping straight into coding. It’s essential to get your hands dirty!
Try setting up a hub and spoke architecture with one hub VNET that includes a basic firewall and VPN gateway, and two spoke VNETs, each running a Linux VM and a Windows VM. Keep these VMs private—no public IPs—and use Azure Active Directory for logins. Use Azure Policy to enforce rules, like restricting certain actions or requiring tags on resource groups. Don't forget to play around with Azure Defender and maybe even set up an IIS instead of just doing the basics!
That should keep you busy for a while, and you'll learn a lot along the way!
Solid advice! Make sure you don’t overlook the budget monitoring.
This is a fantastic list! Definitely a lot to unpack here.