Edit

Quickstart: Create an Azure Linux virtual machine (VM) in the Azure portal

Azure Linux for Virtual Machines provides a Microsoft-supported, Azure-optimized Linux distribution for scalable web apps, infrastructure services, and AI workloads. It integrates natively with Azure services, extensions, and tooling, and includes Microsoft-managed security response and lifecycle support. For more information, see Azure Linux for Virtual Machines.

In this quickstart, you learn how to:

  • Create an Azure Linux 4.0 VM in the Azure portal.
  • Configure SSH access and inbound port rules.
  • Connect to the VM over SSH.
  • Clean up resources.

Note

Azure Linux 4.0 is now in preview and is strictly limited to evaluation and testing purposes. It's not suitable for production use.

Prerequisites

  • An Azure subscription. If you don't have one, create a free account before you begin.

Create a virtual machine

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal.
  2. Search for Virtual machines and select Create > Virtual machine.

Configure the Basics tab

  1. Under Project details, select your Subscription and create a new Resource group named myResourceGroup.

  2. Under Instance details, configure the following settings:

    Setting Value
    VM name myVM
    Availability options No infrastructure redundancy required
    Security type Standard
    Image Azure Linux 4.0
    Size Use defaults (varies by region)

  3. Under Administrator account, configure the following settings:

    Setting Value
    Authentication type SSH public key
    Username azureuser
    SSH key source Generate new key pair
    Key pair name myKey

  4. Under Inbound port rules, set Public inbound ports to Allow selected ports and select SSH (22) and HTTP (80).

  5. Select Review + create > Create.

Download the SSH key

When prompted, select Download private key and create resource and save the myKey.pem file to an accessible location.

Get the public IP address of the VM

  1. After deployment completes, select Go to resource.
  2. On the VM's Overview page, copy the Public IP address.

Connect to the VM

  1. Set permissions on the key file (macOS/Linux):

    chmod 400 ~/Downloads/myKey.pem

  2. SSH into the VM. Replace <PUBLIC_IP> with the IP address you copied:

    ssh -i ~/Downloads/myKey.pem azureuser@<PUBLIC_IP>

    Tip

    You can reuse this SSH key for future VMs by selecting Use a key stored in Azure when creating a new VM.

Clean up resources

When you no longer need the VM, delete the resource group to remove all associated resources using the following steps:

  1. Open the Overview page for the VM in the Azure portal.
  2. Select the Resource group link.
  3. Select Delete resource group.
  4. Enter the resource group name to confirm, and then select Delete.

Tip

To avoid charges without deleting the VM, you can enable Auto-shutdown under Operations > Auto-shutdown on the VM page in the portal.

Related content

For more information about Azure Linux, see the following resources:

  • Last updated on