Your First VM¶

This guide walks you through creating your first Azure VM with azlin in detail.

Overview¶

By the end of this tutorial, you'll have:

• A running Ubuntu 24.04 VM in Azure
• 12 development tools pre-installed
• SSH access configured
• A persistent tmux session
• Understanding of azlin basics

Estimated time: 10-15 minutes

Before You Begin¶

Ensure you have completed:

1. Installation - azlin and Azure CLI installed
2. Azure login - Run az login
3. Active Azure subscription

Step-by-Step Walkthrough¶

1. Check Prerequisites¶

Verify Azure CLI is configured:

az account show

You should see your subscription details. If not, run az login.

2. Run azlin new¶

Create your first VM:

azlin new --name my-first-vm

3. Follow the Prompts¶

azlin will ask you a few questions:

Q: Select Azure subscription - Choose your subscription from the list

Q: Select resource group - Choose existing or create new - Recommendation: Create "azlin-dev" for development VMs

Q: Select region - Choose region close to you - Common choices: eastus, westus2, westeurope

Q: Select VM size - s (8GB RAM) - Light development - m (64GB RAM) - Medium workloads - l (128GB RAM) - Heavy workloads (default) - xl (256GB RAM) - Very heavy workloads

Q: Clone GitHub repository? - Enter repository URL or press Enter to skip

4. Wait for Provisioning¶

azlin will now:

1. Create VM (2-3 minutes)
2. Install tools (2-3 minutes)
3. Configure SSH (30 seconds)
4. Start tmux (10 seconds)

You'll see progress updates in real-time.

5. Automatic Connection¶

Once provisioning completes, azlin automatically connects you via SSH.

You'll see:

✓ VM created successfully
✓ Tools installed
✓ SSH configured
→ Connecting to my-first-vm...

Welcome to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

azureuser@my-first-vm:~$

6. Verify Installation¶

Check that all tools are installed:

# Development tools
docker --version
az --version
gh --version
git --version

# Programming languages
node --version
python3 --version
rustc --version
go version
dotnet --version

# AI coding assistants
npx @github/copilot --version

All commands should return version information.

7. Start Developing¶

You're now in a tmux session on your VM. Try some commands:

# Clone a repository
git clone https://github.com/username/repo
cd repo

# Install dependencies
npm install
# or
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run your application
npm start
# or
python app.py

8. Disconnect and Reconnect¶

To disconnect without stopping the VM:

# Detach from tmux (VM keeps running)
# Press: Ctrl+B, then D

To reconnect later:

azlin connect my-first-vm

Your tmux session and all running processes will still be there!

Understanding What Happened¶

Resource Group¶

azlin created or used a resource group containing:

• Virtual Machine
• Network Interface
• Public IP Address
• Network Security Group
• OS Disk
• SSH Keys (stored in Azure Key Vault)

Installed Tools¶

The VM came with these tools pre-installed:

Container & Orchestration: - Docker with daemon running

Cloud & Version Control: - Azure CLI (authenticated) - GitHub CLI - Git

Programming Languages: - Node.js with npm - Python 3.13 with pip - Rust with cargo - Go - .NET 10 RC

AI Coding Assistants: - GitHub Copilot CLI - OpenAI Codex CLI - Claude Code CLI

SSH Configuration¶

azlin configured SSH with:

• ED25519 key pair
• Key stored in Azure Key Vault
• Key synced across all azlin VMs
• Automatic SSH config entry

tmux Session¶

A tmux session named "main" was started automatically:

• Survives disconnections
• Multiple windows/panes
• Shared across SSH connections

Next Steps¶

Now that you have your first VM:

Learn VM Management¶

• List all VMs
• Stop and start VMs
• Clone VMs
• Delete VMs

Set Up Storage¶

• Create NFS storage
• Mount storage on VMs
• Share data across VMs

Transfer Files¶

• Copy files with azlin cp (see azlin cp --help)
• Sync home directory with azlin sync (see azlin sync --help)

Monitor VMs¶

• View distributed metrics
• Track costs with azlin cost

Troubleshooting¶

VM creation failed¶

Check quotas:

azlin quota

Try a different region or request a quota increase in the Azure portal.

Can't connect via SSH¶

Check VM is running:

azlin status my-first-vm

Check SSH config:

cat ~/.ssh/config | grep my-first-vm

If the VM is running, verify SSH connectivity with ssh -v <vm-ip>.

Tools not installed¶

Reconnect and check again:

azlin connect my-first-vm
which docker az gh git node python3

If still missing, cloud-init may not have finished. Wait a few minutes and reconnect.

Cleaning Up¶

When you're done experimenting:

# Stop VM (keeps data, stops charges)
azlin stop my-first-vm

# Delete VM (removes everything)
azlin destroy my-first-vm

Congratulations! You've created your first azlin VM. Continue to Basic Concepts to learn more.