Azure-Advanced-Networking

M04-Unit 4 Create and configure an Azure load balancer

In this exercise, you will create an internal load balancer for the fictional Contoso Ltd organization.

Estimated time: 60 minutes (includes ~45 minutes deployment waiting time)

The steps to create an internal load balancer, are very similar to those you have already learned about in this module, to create a public load balancer. The key difference is that with a public load balancer the front end is accessed via a public IP address, and you test connectivity from a host which is located outside your virtual network; whereas, with an internal load balancer, the front end is a private IP address inside your virtual network, and you test connectivity from a host inside the same network.

The diagram below illustrates the environment you will be deploying in this exercise.

In this exercise, you will:

• Task 1: Create the virtual network
• Task 2: Create backend servers
• Task 3: Create the load balancer
• Task 4: Create load balancer resources
• Task 5: Test the load balancer

Task 1: Create the virtual network

In this section, you will create a virtual network and a subnet.

1. Log in to the Azure portal.

2. On any Azure Portal page, in Search resources, services and docs, enter virtual network, and then select Virtual networks from the results.

3. On the Virtual networks page, select +Create.

Important Note:

If the CREATE VIRTUAL NETWORK - TAB menu order is:
“Basics | Security | IP Addressess | Tags | Review + Create”. Use Option 1 instructions.

If the CREATE VIRTUAL NETWORK - TAB menu order is:
“Basics | IP Addressess | Security | Tags | Review + Create”. Scroll down and use Option 2 instructions.

Option 1 instructions

1. On the Create virtual networks blade, on the Basics tab, use the information in the following table to create the VNet:

   Setting	Value
   Subscription	Select your subscription
   Resource group	Select Create new Name: IntLB-RG
   Name	IntLB-VNet
   Region	(US) East US

2. Click Next.

3. On the Create virtual networks blade, on the Security tab select the Enable Azure Bastion tickbox, then enter the information from the table below.

   Setting	Value
   Azure Bastion host name	IntLB-Vnet-Bastion
   Azure Bastion Public IP address	Select: Create a public IP address - Accept the default name and click OK

4. Click Next.

5. On the Create virtual networks blade, on the IP addresses tab: In the existing Address space section, under Subnets, select the default link.

6. On the Edit subnet blade, under Subnet details: Change the Name to MyBackendSubnet.

7. Click Save

8. In the Address space section. Click Add a subnet

9. Create a subnet with the following Subnet settings (leave other settings with their default values):

   Setting	Value
   Subnet template	Default
   Name	MyFrontendSubnet
   Starting address	10.0.2.0
   Subnet size	/24 (32 addresses)

10. Click Add

11. Click Review and Create. Let validation occur, and click Create again to submit your deployment.

Option 2 instructions

1. On the Azure portal home page, navigate to the Global Search bar and search Virtual Networks and select virtual networks under services.

2. Select Create on the Virtual networks page.

3. On the Basics tab, use the information in the table below to create the virtual network.

   Setting	Value
   Subscription	Select your subscription
   Resource group	Select Create new Name: IntLB-RG
   Name	IntLB-VNet
   Region	(US) East US

4. Select Next : IP Addresses.

5. On the IP Addresses tab, select + Add subnet.

6. In the Add subnet pane, provide a subnet name of myBackendSubnet, and a subnet address range of 10.0.0.0/24.

7. Select Add.

8. Select Add subnet, provide a subnet name of myFrontEndSubnet, and a subnet address range of 10.0.2.0/24. Select Add

9. Select Next : Security.

10. Under BastionHost select Enable, then enter the information from the table below.

    Setting	Value
    Bastion name	myBastionHost
    AzureBastionSubnet address space	10.0.1.0/24
    Public IP address	Select Create new Name: myBastionIP

11. Select Review + create.

12. Select Create.

Task 2: Create backend servers

In this section, you will create three VMs, that will be in the same availability set, for the backend pool of the load balancer, add the VMs to the backend pool, and then install IIS on the three VMs to test the load balancer.

1. On the Azure portal, open the PowerShell session within the Cloud Shell pane.

2. On the toolbar of the Cloud Shell pane, select the Upload/Download files icon, in the drop-down menu, select Upload and upload the following files azuredeploy.json, azuredeploy.parameters.vm1.json, azuredeploy.parameters.vm2.json and azuredeploy.parameters.vm3.json into the Cloud Shell home directory one by one.

3. Deploy the following ARM templates to create the VMs needed for this exercise:

Important Note: When prompted for the User Password: For Example Use: Pa55w.rd1234 and add your initials to the end to make it unique. (i.e: Pa55w.rd1234AB) If you use any other complex password, make sure that you take note of it, it will be required in later steps,

   $RGName = "IntLB-RG"
   
   New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -ResourceGroupName $RGName -TemplateFile azuredeploy.json -TemplateParameterFile azuredeploy.parameters.vm1.json
   New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -ResourceGroupName $RGName -TemplateFile azuredeploy.json -TemplateParameterFile azuredeploy.parameters.vm2.json
   New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -ResourceGroupName $RGName -TemplateFile azuredeploy.json -TemplateParameterFile azuredeploy.parameters.vm3.json
   Write-Host "Deployment complete"

Note It may take 10-20 mins to create these three VMs. Wait for the deployment to finish before moving to the next task

Task 3: Create the load balancer

In this section, you will create an internal Standard SKU load balancer. The reason we are creating a Standard SKU load balancer here in the exercise, instead of a Basic SKU load balance, is for later exercises that require a Standard SKU version of the load balancer.

1. On the Azure portal home page, select Create a resource.

2. On the search box at the top of the page, type Load, then select Load Balancers from the Services list.

3. In the Load Balancing Blade, make sure that Load Balancer is selected.

4. Select + Create.

5. On the Basics tab, use the information in the table below to create the load balancer.

   Setting	Value
   Subscription	Select your subscription
   Resource group	IntLB-RG
   Name	myIntLoadBalancer
   Region	(US) East US
   SKU	Standard
   Type	Internal
   Tier	Regional

6. Select Next: Frontend IP configurations.

7. Select + Add a frontend IP configuration

8. On the Add frontend IP address blade, enter the information from the table below.

   Setting	Value
   Name	LoadBalancerFrontEnd
   Virtual network	IntLB-VNet
   Subnet	myFrontEndSubnet
   Assignment	Dynamic
   Availability zone	No Zone

9. Click Add

10. Select Next : Backend pools.

11. Select + Add a backend pool

12. On the Add backend pool blade, enter the information from the table below.

    Setting	Value
    Name	myBackendPool
    Virtual network	IntLB-VNet
    Backend Pool Configuration	NIC

13. Under IP Configurations, select + Add.

14. On the Add IP configurations to backend pool blade.

15. Select the checkboxes for all 3 VMs (myVM1, myVM2, and myVM3), then select Add.

16. Back on the Add backend pool blade: Select Save

17. On the Create load balancer blade: Select Next : inbound rules

18. On the Inbound rules tab, under Load balancing rule: Select + Add a load balancing rule

19. On the Add load balancing rule page, enter the information from the table below.

    Setting	Value
    Name	myHTTPRule
    IP Version	IPv4
    Frontend IP address	Select LoadBalancerFrontEnd from drop-down list
    Backend pool	Select myBackendPool from drop-down list
    High Avaialability Ports	Unchecked
    Protocol	TCP
    Port	80
    Backend port	80
    Health probe	Select: Create new

20. On the Add health probe pop-up blade: Enter the information in the table below.

    Setting	Value
    Name	myHealthProbe
    Protocol	TCP
    Port	80
    Path	/
    Interval	5

21. Select OK

22. Back on the Add load balancing rule blade: click Add

23. Back on the Create load balancer blade: click Review + create

24. Wait for validation to complete.

25. Click Create

26. Wait for deployment to complete.

Task 5: Test the load balancer

In this section, you will create a test VM, and then test the load balancer.

Create test VM

1. On the Azure portal home page, select Create a resource, then virtual, then select Virtual machine (if this resource type is not listed on the page, use the search box at the top of the page to search for it and select it).

2. On the Create a virtual machine page, on the Basics tab, use the information in the table below to create the first VM.

   Setting	Value
   Subscription	Select your subscription
   Resource group	IntLB-RG
   Virtual machine name	myTestVM
   Region	(US) East US
   Availability options	No infrastructure redundancy required
   Image	Windows Server 2019 Datacenter - Gen 2
   Size	Standard_DS2_v3 - 2 vcpu, 8 GiB memory
   Username	TestUser
   Password	Pa55w.rd1234?? Where (??) is your initails to make the password Unique
   Confirm password	Pa55w.rd1234??

3. Select Next : Disks, then select Next : Networking.

4. On the Networking tab, use the information in the table below to configure networking settings. Leave all other settings at their default settings.

   Setting	Value
   Virtual network	IntLB-VNet
   Subnet	myBackendSubnet
   Public IP	Change to None

5. Select Review + create.

6. Select Create.

7. Wait for this last VM to be deployed before moving forward with the next task.

Connect to the test VM to test the load balancer

1. On the Azure portal home page, select All resources, then select on myIntLoadBalancer from the resources list.

2. On the Overview page, make a note of the Private IP address, or copy it to the clipboard. Note: you may need to select See more in order to see the Private IP address field.

3. Select Home, then on the Azure portal home page, select All resources, then select on the myTestVM virtual machine that you just created.

4. On the Overview page, select Connect, then Bastion.

5. Select Use Bastion.

6. In the Username box, type TestUser and in the Password box, type TestPa$$w0rd!, then select Connect. If popup blocker is preventing the new window, allow popup blocker and Connect again.

7. The myTestVM window will open in another browser tab.

8. If a Networks pane appears, select Yes.

9. Select the Internet Explorer icon in the task bar to open the web browser.

10. Select OK on the Set up Internet Explorer 11 dialog box.

11. Enter (or paste) the Private IP address (e.g. 10.0.0.4) from the previous step into the address bar of the browser and press Enter.

12. The default web home page of the IIS Web server is displayed in the browser window. One of the three virtual machines in the backend pool will respond.

Clean up resources

Note: Remember to remove any newly created Azure resources that you no longer use. Removing unused resources ensures you will not see unexpected charges.

1. On the Azure portal, open the PowerShell session within the Cloud Shell pane.

2. Delete all resource groups you created throughout the labs of this module by running the following command:

   Remove-AzResourceGroup -Name 'IntLB-RG' -Force -AsJob
   

   Note: The command executes asynchronously (as determined by the -AsJob parameter), so while you will be able to run another PowerShell command immediately afterwards within the same PowerShell session, it will take a few minutes before the resource groups are actually removed.