Tutorial #1: create a virtual machine

• The most classic usage of cloud
• Create a copy of a real computer, virtually
• Similar to running a VM on the side on your laptop
• We will create a Linux virtual machine
• Optionally, you could also create Windows and Mac
• Continue onto page below

Start Azure tutorial to create a VM and then follow here

• Start with this tutorial, but keep this page open for modifications
• Your Azure sandbox will expire in 1 hour
• After your search in the Marketplace:
  • Instead of “Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS”, select “20.04”
• Under “Networking” tab, select the NIC network security group to None
• Stop at the end of the page after creating the VM
• Note the public IP address from Overview tab on Azure Portal

Connect to your VM

• Connect to your VM via SSH:
  • On MacOS, just open a terminal and type (replace username and IP with yours):

  ssh username@IP
  

  • On Windows, download Putty and follow instructions (enter only IP address and it will prompt for the username)
• Once you are connected, follow below in the remote terminal (stop if you fail and ask for help)

Install Node.js on VM

• Install Node.js using APT package manager on Ubuntu:

  $ sudo apt update
  $ sudo apt install nodejs
  $ sudo apt install npm
  

• Test your Node version:

  $ node -v
  

• OPTIONAL: Add the Ubuntu PPA set up for up-to-date Node.js packages (will take couple of minutes):

  $ curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_16.x -o nodesource_setup.sh
  $ sudo bash nodesource_setup.sh
  

Run a Node.js project

• Use the nano filename to edit a file and paste content into it. Press Control-X to save and exit.
• Try any of these, but set port to 8080:
  • Example Express Hello World (do npm install express)
  • Example React projects
  • Example Angular projects
• Once you run the server process, open a browser to public IP address:8080
• If you see the output of your server, you are done!
• Some more optional info below

Other tutorials: Installing a node-based web server

• If above instructions didn’t work for you, read on
• There is an older tutorial: installing a MEAN stack application
• You can skip setting up MongoDB if you will not use it
• But, it uses an ancient Ubuntu 16.04 installation with Node version 4 (currently we’re at 16)

Other uses of a VM: Node.js or your own project

• To start a blank VM with a web server, you can follow this tutorial
• Use Git Bash to run the ssh -i line
• At the end of the tutorial, you will have a static site host
• Before going further, first stop/uninstall nginx, which is hogging the web port 80
• Then, follow instructions for Node.js and Express site

Tutorial #2 Azure App Service:

Running without a VM

• Cloud systems are getting simpler
• Virtual machines are heavy and require maintenance
• App Service is available at all major cloud providers
• Allows running a specific software stack without managing an underlying VM
• All you have to do is push the source code
• Can choose between Node, .Net, Java, Python, Ruby, and PHP on Azure

Node.js example on App Service

• Start with instructions for hosting a web application on App Service
• But choose Node.js instead of .Net
• Connect your Github account or simply initialize an empty project

Tutorial #3 Azure Static Web Apps:

free web hosting without a backend

• Even lighter than App Service, this service does not even execute anything
• Like Github Pages or Netlify
• Host any files on the web
• But no backend service (such as Python, Java, .Net, etc)
• Good for Javascript-based front-end frameworks (such as Angular, React, Vue, etc.)
• Also known as single-page applications (SPA)
• Or simply upload HTML files

Publish a single-page application

• Follow instructions to set up Azure Static Web Apps
• Select from Angular, React, Svelte, or Vue.JS
• Can also push one of your current projects
• For Angular, you can select one of these examples

Tutorial #4: Azure Functions:

Serverless computing

• Static Web Apps miss benefits of backend computing and databases
• Serverless computing is the answer to that
• Allows simple functions to execute on demand and access data
• MongoDB or Firebase can be seen as a serverless solution

Create a simple serverless backend for your static site

• Go back to your static site, and add a call to a function so that you can calculate something dynamically
• For instance, you can add a persistent counter to your website
• Follow instructions to create your serverless function on Azure
• Choose between Javascript or Powershell