Full of I.T. Video Series: Build an Azure lab using ARM Templates

Hey!

How would you like to provision and then walk through some instructional hands-on labs on using Azure Resource Manager templates, using Azure Resource Manager templates?

“Huh? You’re repeating yourself.”

No, I’m not.  Not too long ago our team of US-based IT Pro Technical Evangelists delivered in-person events all about this topic.  The hands-on labs we provided were expertly hosted by our usual hosting company, and the labs themselves walked our attendees through how Azure Resource Manager template files (JSON) can quickly configure resource groups and whole infrastructures in Microsoft Azure.

A while later I had an additional opportunity to deliver this same day of Azure goodness for a training company in Des Moines.  BUT.. I wasn’t going to have our hosted lab machines available.  But I thought, “Hey! I learned how to automatically build complex infrastructures in Azure while learning these labs. How hard would it be to host the foundational lab machines also in Azure?”

The task turned out to be an excellent learning experience for me.  And so I figure; there are others of you who might like to see how this was all accomplished in order to do something similar yourself.  And at the very least you’ll have a quick way to provision these training lab machines for yourself or your teams someday.

So here they are:

• Part 0 : Introduction - How I automated a hands-on-lab infrastructure
• Part 1 : Working with JSON
• Part 2 : Create a Domain Controller
• Part 3 : Domain-Join the member servers
• Part 4 : Copy down files
• Part 5 : Additional Automations
• Part 6: The PowerShell Script and completing the build

And here are the links to the supporting resources:

• "The Links" document : https://aka.ms/AZInfraLabLinks
• Kevin's GitHub lab base repository : https://aka.ms/AZInfraLabBase
• Lab Build Guide : https://aka.ms/AZInfraLabBuildGuide
• Lab Guide (“Home Brew Edition”) : https://aka.ms/AZInfraLabs
• “Full of I.T.” home on Channel 9 : https://aka.ms/Ch9FullofIT

Enjoy! If you have questions, comments, request, or rants, feel free to leave them in the comments.