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I'm basically a total novice in the area of VPN's and DNS servers.

I have an Azure VM which I have created and I need to connect it to the internet, and googling sends me to pages where peoples existing solutions are failing. I need to know in laymans terms how to set this up from scratch really.

Do I need a VPN or DNS server? And is anybody able to provide a good walkthrough of how to set this up? (explanation of the steps would be fantastic so I can understand what is going on.)

Apologies for what I'm sure is a ridiculously simple/obvious question for most but I've never had any experience setting up a VM and Azure helps you out on so much stuff I guess I've ended up sheltered from having to learn setup procedures.

EDIT**

I didn't mention that the VM was created automatically by Microsoft Lifecycle Services and is a deployment of Microsoft Dynamics AX. So a lot of stuff will have been done automatically without my knowing. A Virtual Network has been created automatically, any advice on how to use the VM's default connection for internet access as opposed to whatever it is trying at the moment?

JK

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There is nothing preventing your VM to access the internet. VMs in Azure are deployed in a Cloud Service, which is the layer responsible for assigning a public ip among other features. All routes are created automatically as well and as long as you don't mess with the adapter configuration inside your VM, you should be able to connect to the internet.

Make sure to keep the network configuration inside your Azure VM as automatic (DHCP). Don't set anything by hand. You should also configure a Virtual Network prior VM provisioning to organize your infrastructure and make sure other VMs can communicate with each other.

Create a Virtual Network

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/virtual-networks-create-a-vnet/

If you need a fixed private IP or reserved public IP:

https://azure.microsoft.com/documentation/articles/virtual-networks-reserved-public-ip/

Maybe you are asking this because you are familiar with Amazon AWS. In Amazon you have to deploy a NAT server and assign an Elastic IP to it but in Azure you don't need to do anything to get internet connectivity and a public ip.

Update:

Microsoft Lifecycle Services - Azure Demo Deployment

This specific demo deployment relies on a Domain Controller. Probably the DNS server running on this machine is not configured to forward external dns requests. RDP to this VM and open the DNS Manager console. Right click your server name >> Select Properties >> Select Forwarders Tab >> Add Google DNS 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 and see if you have can browse the internet now.

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  • Thanks for the reply. I'm not familiar with Amazon AWS, I'm just a real novice in setting these things up, used to using existing VM's wherever I've been. So anyway my VM won't connect to the internet, and I haven't changed any settings. How would I ensure the network config is automatic? And are there any other things you can think of that would cause my VM not to be connecting? May 29, 2015 at 16:43
  • Did you create a Virtual Network by any chance? If you created the VNET and configured a DNS server to it that doesn't exist (or work) and later assigned this VNET to your VM you won't be able to translate internet names to ip. That could make you think your VM can't access the internet. If that's the case just remove the dns servers from the virtual network configuration and Azure will assign their own DNS servers for your VM. May 29, 2015 at 16:47
  • Thanks again, please see my edit. The VM was an automatic deployment of Microsoft Dynamics AX, and in the automatic configuration it seems a virtual network was created. I don't know how to fix this/revert to whatever the default VM connection would be? May 29, 2015 at 16:53
  • <strike>Can you provide the link you used to deploy the environment? I can test on my subscription</strike> Found it. May 29, 2015 at 16:58
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    i've updated the answer based on what's likely causing the problem. Your virtual machines are routed to the internet but they are probably using the domain controller DNS server which is not forwarding anything outside of it's domain setup. The forced DNS configuration can be found in Azure portal >> virtual network >> configure tab. You should find an entry pointing to your DC private ip address. May 29, 2015 at 17:34
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Any Azure VM should be able to connect to the Internet out-of-the-box, no additional configuration is required.

The only thing that could be preventing that is if you have created a virtual network for your VMs and you have mangled its configuration so badly that it doesn't work properly anymore (f.e. you configured it to use your own DNS servers, but you set them to invalid values); otherwise, Internet access from Azure VMs should work just fine.

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  • Thanks for the response. Please see my edit and let me know your thoughts. The VM was an automated deployment of Microsoft Dynamics AX, and in the automatic configuration of the VM it seems a virtual network was created. This is probably the issue, do you have any idea how I would go about resolving it? May 29, 2015 at 16:54
  • It's very likely to be a DNS issue. Check if there are DNS servers configured in the virtual network. If there are some, they must point to actual DNS servers (your own or public ones), and they must be able to resolve Internet names.
    – Massimo
    May 29, 2015 at 18:06

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