Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

tahanson43206 · 2024-09-24 08:24:07

The Azure VM successfully updated patches for the second time. The new "stay awake" procedure has run for two full days.

After a year of trial and lots of error, we seem to have arrived at a stable place, just as the Azure subscription is about to go away.

Install OS update patches on virtual machine
Succeeded
a day ago
Mon Sep 23 2024 02:09:01 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1
Health Event Resolved
Resolved
4 days ago
Fri Sep 20 2024 08:24:11 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1
Health Event Resolved
Resolved
5 days ago
Thu Sep 19 2024 21:13:32 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1
Health Event Resolved
Resolved
6 days ago
Wed Sep 18 2024 10:10:19 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1
Start Virtual Machine
Succeeded
6 days ago
Wed Sep 18 2024 09:43:45 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1
newmarsmember@gmail.com
Start Virtual Machine
Succeeded
6 days ago
Wed Sep 18 2024 09:43:45 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1
newmarsmember@gmail.com
Health Event Resolved
Resolved
6 days ago
Wed Sep 18 2024 09:42:52 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1
Deallocate Virtual Machine

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tahanson43206 · 2024-09-26 06:53:51

The Azure VM updated itself successfully once again.

The "stay-awake" script has completed another full day of uneventful pings.

Install OS update patches on virtual machine
Succeeded
6 hours ago
Thu Sep 26 2024 03:09:01 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1
Health Event Resolved
Resolved
6 days ago
Fri Sep 20 2024 08:24:11 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1
Health Event Resolved
Resolved
6 days ago
Thu Sep 19 2024 21:13:32 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1

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tahanson43206 · 2024-09-30 07:52:50

The Azure VM updated itself successfully once again.

We have run past our free year, and the shoe is going to drop at some point, but I've been given only vague indications of when that might be. The VM appears to be stable and reliable at this point.

Install OS update patches on virtual machine
Succeeded
12 hours ago
Sun Sep 29 2024 22:09:01 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Azure subscription 1

I took a look at options for backup...

There are three options in the category.... backup, disaster recovery and something else.

It ** would ** be good to have a backup of this VM, since it is in good running order, after months of trial and error.

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tahanson43206 · 2024-10-11 11:31:11

The number of members who might be interested in the Azure experiment is low. It might even be just 1, but the record will (hopefully) remain available for others who may find it via the Internet.

Today's report is about the latest attempt to figure out how to deal with Microsoft's attempt to implement security. I learned how to use the new "authenticator" app on a smartphone today. The interaction was a combination of a full sized computer (a ChromeBook) and the smartphone. The full sized computer displayed a QR codes, and the smart phone was able to capture and decode the image, and somehow there must have been communication between the smart phone app and the main Azure system, because the Chromebook app signaled that access to the account had been approved. However, once I got in, I could see nothing that would allow me to connect the existing Azure VM to the new Extra ID account.

I sent this note to the Reply option of the email demanding I subscribe to the Azure VM:

I sure hope this reaches someone. I've opened an Extra ID account, and don't see a way to add my existing Azure Virtual Machiie to the Extra ID account.
I'm willing to subscribe if there is a way to make that happen. I am able to log into the Extra ID using my smartphone, and that seems to work well, but once I'm in the account I dont' see what to do next.
The account where the trial is working is open for newmarsmember@gmail.com.
Any assistance would be appreciated.

The Drop Dead date appears to be October 17th.

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tahanson43206 · 2024-10-16 06:12:51

the local Linux User Group meeting took place last night. I was able to ask for advice about the problem/challenge of how to back up the Azure Virtual Machine in case it goes away, as might happen, since the free year has expired.

The usual option of taking a backup is not useful. Microsoft offers a backup service, but the data goes somewhere in the cloud, and I expect that if the account is closed the access to the cloud backup will go away as well.

After looking at the Azure VM a while, using the Share feature of Zoom, the group came up with an idea that I think is promising.

The entire www directory can be backed up using ordinary zip, and the zipped file can be delivered to my development PC using familiar commands.

It may be possible to save other folders in a similar manner.

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NewMarsMember · 2024-11-04 07:52:55

Today's email included a notice from Microsoft...

Apparently the trial Extra ID will expire.

This account was created to try to meet requirements to keep using the Virtual Machine we've been using over the past year.

I have not yet learned how to connect the Extra ID account to the VM, so I don't see much point in keeping the Extra ID account.

Microsoft
Your trial is ending—buy a subscription to keep using your product
You have a trial that will expire on November 11, 2024. To continue using your products, buy a paid subscription in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Purchase a subscription >
If you don’t purchase a new subscription by November 11, 2024, your trial data will be available to all people in your organization for about 30 days. At that time, the subscription status changes to Disabled, and only admins will have access to trial data for about another 90 days. After that, your trial is permanently deleted.
Your trial that will expire:
Product Total licenses Start date
Microsoft Entra Id P2 Trial 100 October 11, 2024

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tahanson43206 · 2024-11-04 14:58:28

As readers may have noticed, the Microsoft Azure environment is comparable to a labyrinth. I've been lost in the maze for weeks, but today I stumbled upon a link t a chat service and Lo!... it turned out to have a real live human at the end of the chain of unhelpful computer programs. The real live human was able to quickly understand the problem, and then to efficiently walk me through the solution. Here is a transcript of the process, in case anyone is curious to know what is involved in upgrading from a free trial to a paid subscription:

Info: Hi there. I'm an Azure chatbot. I'll connect you to the right resource. Select 'Start' to
begin.
15:01, Nov 4
You: Start
15:01, Nov 4
Microsoft Sales: Privacy
15:01, Nov 4
Microsoft Sales: << Sent Rich Content >>
15:02, Nov 4
You: Business/Personal
15:02, Nov 4
Microsoft Sales: << Sent Rich Content >>
15:02, Nov 4
You: Live Chat with Sales
15:02, Nov 4
Microsoft Sales: I'll connect you with the Azure sales team now.
Info: Just a minute while I transfer you.
Info: You can correspond with us at your convenience during this conversation. Chris
John will be with you shortly.
15:02, Nov 4
Chris John: Hello, Welcome to the Microsoft Azure Sales Team. My name is Chris, may I
get your name please?
15:03, Nov 4
You: Hi Chris! Thanks for helping. My name is Tom
15:03, Nov 4
Chris John: Nice to meet you Tom, how are you doing today?
15:04, Nov 4
You: Please forgive my chuckle. It is nice of you to ask. I'm doing ﬁne, but I do have a
small puzzle to give you.
15:04, Nov 4
Chris John: No worries at all! I'm glad to hear you're doing ﬁne. I'd love to help with your
puzzle. What do you have for me?
15:06, Nov 4
You: I've been running a VM for the past year, and after the trial year elapsed, everything
is working beautifully. I can see by the sales chart that I might be to subscribe for A1v2
VM for $32 per month, which I could aﬀord. I am currently paying about $14 per month
for usage, so the total would be under $50. I am unable to ﬁgure out how to convert from
the free trial account. I created an Extra ID account, and it seems to oﬀer no way to
convert to bring my little VM over to a paid status.
15:08, Nov 4
Chris John: I'm glad to hear your VM is running smoothly! It sounds like you're ready to
transition to a paid subscription. To help you with this, could you let me know if you
already have an Azure account? If not, I can guide you through the sign-up process.
15:09, Nov 4
11/4/24, 15:42Firefox
2 of 4
about:blank
You: Chris, please forgive my question here, but how could I be running a VM without an
account?
15:11, Nov 4
Chris John: Sorry for that, just want to conﬁrm it via words from you just for
documentation purposes. I can help you to transition from the free trial to Pay Go
subscription. I'll just need your email that you use for free trial to help you upgrade it.
15:11, Nov 4
You: Excellent! <snip>
15:13, Nov 4
Chris John: Thank you very much, just one moment please while I generate your Pay Go
Upgrade link from our system.
15:13, Nov 4
You: In my earlier text, I reported creating an Extra ID account. It is about to expire. I
appear to need that to achieve authentication.
15:15, Nov 4
Chris John: Understood, preserving your data is crucial. To ensure a smooth transition,
we can upgrade your subscription without losing any data.
15:16, Nov 4
You: That would be good! It is not the data I'm worried about. It is all the software we've
installed.
15:17, Nov 4
You: Chris, what did my observation about authentication have to do with preserving
data? I need to be able to meet the new Microsoft requirements for authentication.
15:18, Nov 4
Chris John: I see, thanks for pointing that out! Ensuring you meet the new authentication
requirements is indeed important. Let's focus on that. To meet the new Microsoft
authentication requirements, you might need to set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
or use Azure Active Directory (AD) for enhanced security.
15:19, Nov 4
You: I already reported creating an Extra ID account. It is about to expire.
15:19, Nov 4
You: Extra ID is the new name for Active Directory
15:20, Nov 4
Chris John: Appreciate the wait for this. Kindly open this link to an incognito browser or
InPrivate window. You can right click on the hyperlink below Azure Pay Go - Tom After
you open this. Hit sign in using your email with Azure free trial account and follow the
steps. Once you're done with the registration process you will reach the Quick Start
Center. Just let me know once you get there. I will be here waiting if you have questions
or need assistance. Thanks!
15:21, Nov 4
You: OK ... thanks! I'll; give it a try!
15:22, Nov 4
Chris John: Thank you for clarifying that! Since your Extra ID (formerly Active Directory)
account is about to expire, it's essential to ensure continuous access and authentication
11/4/24, 15:42
3 of 4
for your VM. To extend or renew your Extra ID account, you can: Sign in to the Azure
portal with your current credentials. Navigate to "Azure Active Directory". Look for
options to renew or extend your subscription.
15:29, Nov 4
You: Hi Chris! I am seeing FluxBB in the page after completing the process. That is the
correct VM. What now?
15:30, Nov 4
Chris John: Are you able to use the link and ﬁnish the upgrade? May I have the
susbcription ID? it has a long number and letters. You can get it by typing subscription on
the search bar of your Azure Portal.
15:32, Nov 4
You: <snip>
15:32, Nov 4
Chris John: Thanks very much
15:32, Nov 4
Chris John: Great to hear that you're seeing FluxBB on your VM page! It sounds like
everything is set up correctly. To ﬁnalize the transition and ensure your VM continues
running smoothly, you should: Verify your subscription status: Make sure your
subscription has been successfully upgraded from the free trial to a paid plan. Check
your billing details: Conﬁrm that your payment method is set up correctly to avoid any
interruptions. Review your authentication settings: Ensure that your Extra ID (Azure AD)
is properly conﬁgured and not expiring soon.
15:32, Nov 4
Chris John: If everything looks good, your VM should continue running without any
issues.
15:33, Nov 4
You: Thanks! I hope this worked !!! Best wishes for similar success helping your many
other customers!
15:33, Nov 4
Chris John: Great! Thanks Tom! Is there anything else I can help?
15:34, Nov 4
You: Only the authentication problem. Is that something you can help with?
15:34, Nov 4
Chris John: Absolutely, I can help with the authentication issue! To address the
authentication problem, let's ensure your Extra ID (Azure AD) is properly conﬁgured and
renewed. Here are the steps you can follow: Sign in to the Azure portal with your current
credentials. Navigate to "Azure Active Directory". Check the status of your Extra ID
account and look for any notiﬁcations about expiration. If your account is expiring,
follow the prompts to renew or extend your subscription.
15:35, Nov 4
Chris John: Are to able to do this steps?
15:35, Nov 4
You: Hi Chris! The problem is that the Extra ID account does not know about the VM we
just converted to paid. How can I adjust the Extra ID to see the VM?
15:37, Nov 4
11/4/24, 15:42Firefox
4 of 4
about:blank
You: By the way... the Extra ID account required me to load an app on my smart phone
and we went through an authentication process. That seems to be working
15:37, Nov 4
Chris John: I understand. It sounds like we need to ensure your Extra ID (Azure AD)
account is properly linked to your VM. Here’s how you can do that: Sign in to the Azure
portal with your Extra ID account. Navigate to "Azure Active Directory". Go to "Enterprise
applications" and ensure your VM is listed there. If not, you may need to add it manually.
To add your VM, go to "New application" and follow the prompts to register your VM with
Azure AD.
15:37, Nov 4
Chris John: Yes, that should be working as well
15:39, Nov 4
You: OK ... it sounds as though "New Application" is what I need to look for. That account
is on a diﬀerent computer. Let's close this session. Thanks ** very ** much for your help. I
literally could NOT have done this without your help
15:39, Nov 4
Chris John: Great! Is there anything else?
15:39, Nov 4
You: That will do it! Can I get a transcript of our session?
15:40, Nov 4
Chris John: Yes, you can save this transcript by clicking the + sign on the chatbox then
click print then click save as.

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tahanson43206 · 2024-11-05 06:51:40

This email from Microsoft appears to confirm the NewMars account is upgraded from trial to paid. It is showing a "new" account, which is a stretch because the account has been in use for a year.

Welcome—get started with your new Azure account
Microsoft Azure <azure-noreply@microsoft.com>
Mon, Nov 4, 3:28PM (16 hours ago)
to me
Microsoft Azure
Go to the portal >
Build your first project with your new Azure account
Welcome to your new Azure account. With pay-as-you-go pricing, take advantage of your monthly free amounts of services and only pay for what you use beyond your free amounts.
Sign in to start building your first project in Azure.
Go to the Azure portal >
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tahanson43206 · 2024-11-06 13:47:35

Things are definitely looking up on the Azure front...

Yesterday I decided to attempt to replicate the flask application that allows a Python program to serve the open Internet

You can see that early effort at 40.75.112.55/flask

The duplication went well until it came time to implement the connection between the Apache2 web server and the application.

After some trouble shooting that failed, I gave up for the day and resumed work today.

It turns out that a feature of Apache that allows multiple web sites to be served from one IP address does NOT work for flask applications.

The solution was to cascade the new flask site inside the default web site configuration file, which worked immediately.

You can see the new test duplicate at: 40.75.112.55/flask2

My immediate next step is to document (ie, make notes in the transcript) the procedure to duplicate a flask application.

After that, I'm hoping to resume work on the Python program running in Flask1.

That program is intended to run software to give expression to GW Johnson's course material.

It's going to be a big jump from the current starter web site to anything useful.

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New Mars Forums

Announcement

#201 2024-09-24 08:24:07

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#202 2024-09-26 06:53:51

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#203 2024-09-30 07:52:50

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#204 2024-10-11 11:31:11

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#205 2024-10-16 06:12:51

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#206 2024-11-04 07:52:55

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#207 2024-11-04 14:58:28

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#208 2024-11-05 06:51:40

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

#209 2024-11-06 13:47:35

Re: Azure Test Environment for Software upgrades

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