Deploying a Linux Virtual Machine with Cloud-Init

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Deploying a Linux Virtual Machine with Cloud-Init

In this lab, we'll deploy two virtual machines. For one, we'll be using Azure Deployment Wizard, and for the other we'll use Azure CLI. For each of these machines, we'll use `cloud-init` to pre-update our VMs before we connect to ensure they're ready for use at first login. Not only will we go over how to use `cloud-init`, we'll also walk through how you can craft a `cloud-init` file using the Azure Cloud Shell.

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Lab Info

Level

Beginner

Last updated

Sep 25, 2025

Duration

1h 0m

Challenge

Deploy a VM & Configure it Using Cloud-Init from the Azure Console

Our first goal is to show how to use cloud-init even in one-off deployments where you may just want to get some of the busy work for your server taken care of at deployment time. To do this, we'll deploy a basic server and use cloud-init to get the server patches up-to-date before we even log in to it.
Challenge

Deploy a VM & Configure it Using Cloud-Init using the Azure Cloud Shell and Azure CLI

The second goal of this lab will essentially recreate the steps of the first, using the Azure CLI and a cloud-init command file that can be used repeatedly for other servers. Students will learn how to create a cloud-init command file in the Azure Cloud Shell and how to use that file when deploying using the command line.

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