Deploying Nano Server to Azure

Based on the current builds, compared to Server, Nano Server has 93 percent lower VHD size, 92 percent fewer critical bulletins and 80 percent fewer reboots!

I’ve been curious about Nano Server for a while now. And I recently noticed that it was available on Microsoft Azure. This post is definitely from a developers point-of-view. It goes through the steps required to create a functional Nano Server Virtual Machines (VM) on Microsoft Azure.

Nano Server is ideal for many scenarios:

• As a “compute” host for Hyper-V virtual machines, either in clusters or not
• As a storage host for Scale-Out File Server.
• As a DNS server
• As a web server running Internet Information Services (IIS)
• As a host for applications that are developed using cloud application patterns and run in a container or virtual machine guest operating system.

The Adventure

Nano Server is a remotely administered server operating system (OS). Wait. Let me repeat this because it’s important… Nano Server is a remotely administered server operating system (OS). Developers, Nano Server is a server OS optimized for clouds and data centers. It’s designed to take up far less disk space, to setup significantly faster, and to require far fewer restarts than Windows Server. So why does this matter? Well it means more resources, more availability and stability for our Apps. And it also means that it’s time to learn new skills, because there is no local logon capability at all, nor does it support Terminal Services. However, we have a wide variety of options for managing Nano Server remotely, including Windows PowerShell, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), Windows Remote Management, and Emergency Management Services (EMS).

Upload a VHD to Storage Using AzCopy

What’s the best way to upload a VHD to Azure Storage? This question comes up on a regular basis and I decided that it was time to share an example that uses PowerShell and AzCopy to upload a VHD to Azure Blob Storage. As you go through this post, remember that a VHD must be uploaded as a Page Blob for it to be usable as a Virtual Machine (VM) image.

Can’t Delete an Azure Resource Group

Recently, I hit a wall. I wasn’t able to delete my Azure Resource Groups and got quite frustrated… I’m writing this post, with hopes that you may save some time, frustration and energy with your ongoing challenge.

Disk UUIDs and Linux on Azure

I recently ran a few tests to figure out how UUIDs behave on Azure when we capture VM Images, copy VHDs, move Virtual Machines and re-provision them in different data centers.

It’s Getting Tight

In my last blog post I shared about how I use a Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine as my development machine. It’s been a month since I made this drastic change, and I must admit that it’s been pretty cool! The Azure Virtual Machine has provided me with more agility in my hectic schedule. I’ve been able to start my day from one machine, move to a different machine and continue from where I left off. I no longer deal with putting my machine to sleep or trying to remember where I was when I left off. When I log off from one machine, I log back in right where I left off.

As I move from project to project, the resource requirements vary, and sometimes I need more resources. Fortunately, we can scale our Virtual Machines up and down through PowerShell and the Azure Portal.