SSH and RDP access in Azure - Mini Project: Build & Apply

SSH and RDP Access Setup on Azure VM

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a virtual machine (VM) on Microsoft Azure. You want to allow secure remote access to this VM using SSH for Linux and RDP for Windows. This will let users connect safely from their computers to the VM.

🎯 Goal: Create Linux and Windows Azure VMs with network security rules that allow SSH access on port 22 and RDP access on port 3389.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a resource group named myResourceGroup in eastus region

Create a virtual network named myVnet with subnet mySubnet

Create a network security group named myNSG with inbound rules for SSH (port 22) and RDP (port 3389)

Create network interfaces myNIC and myWinNIC attached to mySubnet and myNSG

Create a VM named myVM using UbuntuLTS for SSH access with myNIC and a VM named myWinVM using Win2019Datacenter for RDP access with myWinNIC

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Setting up secure remote access to cloud virtual machines is essential for managing servers and applications remotely.

💼 Career

Cloud engineers and system administrators often configure network security and remote access to ensure safe and controlled connectivity to cloud resources.

1

Create Resource Group and Virtual Network

Create a resource group called myResourceGroup in the eastus region. Then create a virtual network called myVnet with address prefix 10.0.0.0/16 and a subnet called mySubnet with address prefix 10.0.1.0/24 inside myResourceGroup.

Azure

# Your code here to create resource group and virtual network

Need a hint?

Use az group create to make the resource group and az network vnet create to make the virtual network with subnet.

2

Create Network Security Group with SSH and RDP Rules

Create a network security group called myNSG in myResourceGroup. Add an inbound security rule named AllowSSH to allow TCP traffic on port 22 from any source. Add another inbound rule named AllowRDP to allow TCP traffic on port 3389 from any source.

Azure

az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus
az network vnet create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVnet --address-prefix 10.0.0.0/16 --subnet-name mySubnet --subnet-prefix 10.0.1.0/24
# Your code here to create NSG and add SSH and RDP rules

Need a hint?

Use az network nsg create to make the NSG and az network nsg rule create to add rules for ports 22 and 3389.

3

Create Network Interface with NSG Attached

Create a network interface called myNIC in myResourceGroup attached to the subnet mySubnet of myVnet. Attach the network security group myNSG to this network interface.

Azure

az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus
az network vnet create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVnet --address-prefix 10.0.0.0/16 --subnet-name mySubnet --subnet-prefix 10.0.1.0/24
az network nsg create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myNSG
az network nsg rule create --resource-group myResourceGroup --nsg-name myNSG --name AllowSSH --protocol Tcp --direction Inbound --priority 1000 --source-address-prefixes '*' --source-port-ranges '*' --destination-address-prefixes '*' --destination-port-ranges 22 --access Allow
az network nsg rule create --resource-group myResourceGroup --nsg-name myNSG --name AllowRDP --protocol Tcp --direction Inbound --priority 1001 --source-address-prefixes '*' --source-port-ranges '*' --destination-address-prefixes '*' --destination-port-ranges 3389 --access Allow
# Your code here to create network interface with NSG attached

Need a hint?

Use az network nic create with --network-security-group myNSG to attach the NSG.

4

Create Virtual Machine with SSH and RDP Access

Create a second network interface myWinNIC in myResourceGroup attached to mySubnet of myVnet and myNSG. Create a VM myVM using myNIC and UbuntuLTS image for SSH. Create myWinVM using myWinNIC and Win2019Datacenter image for RDP. Use azureuser as admin username, generate SSH keys for Linux, and set password YourP@ssw0rd123! for Windows.

Azure

az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus
az network vnet create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVnet --address-prefix 10.0.0.0/16 --subnet-name mySubnet --subnet-prefix 10.0.1.0/24
az network nsg create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myNSG
az network nsg rule create --resource-group myResourceGroup --nsg-name myNSG --name AllowSSH --protocol Tcp --direction Inbound --priority 1000 --source-address-prefixes '*' --source-port-ranges '*' --destination-address-prefixes '*' --destination-port-ranges 22 --access Allow
az network nsg rule create --resource-group myResourceGroup --nsg-name myNSG --name AllowRDP --protocol Tcp --direction Inbound --priority 1001 --source-address-prefixes '*' --source-port-ranges '*' --destination-address-prefixes '*' --destination-port-ranges 3389 --access Allow
az network nic create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myNIC --vnet-name myVnet --subnet mySubnet --network-security-group myNSG
# Your code here to create network interface myWinNIC and VMs using myNIC and myWinNIC

Need a hint?

First, use az network nic create to create myWinNIC like myNIC. Then az vm create with --nics myNIC --image UbuntuLTS --generate-ssh-keys for SSH VM and --nics myWinNIC --image Win2019Datacenter --admin-password for RDP VM.