How I Built a Cloud Infrastructure on Microsoft Azure

The Design Process

Before touching Azure, I designed the full architecture using draw.io, mapping out how every component would connect — from the store terminals all the way through the firewall, load balancer, application servers and database.

The Challenges

Nothing ever goes perfectly! The Azure free trial had regional restrictions that blocked certain VM sizes in UK South, so I had to adapt and deploy across Central US and Australia East instead. It was a good reminder that real cloud engineers constantly troubleshoot and adapt.

What I Learned

This project taught me how cloud infrastructure actually works in practice — not just theory. I now understand IaaS, virtual networking, database management, security groups, and cloud cost estimation. More importantly, I learned how to problem-solve when things don’t go to plan.

Technologies Used

Microsoft Azure · Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS · MySQL 8.4 · Azure Blob Storage · Network Security Groups · Azure Monitor · draw.io