How to migrate files into Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines

A virtual machine (VM) is a software simulation of a physical computer. It allows you to have a computer within your computer. It creates a virtualized environment that behaves like a standalone computer, complete with its own operating system, applications, and resources.

Leverage Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines

With Azure’s flexible and scalable infrastructure, it can help provision computing resources on-demand, optimizing costs and improving operational efficiency. Azure VMs support a wide range of operating systems and seamlessly integrate with Azure’s ecosystem of services, enabling businesses to build robust, interconnected solutions. Backed by Azure’s global network of data centers, VMs ensure high availability, reliability, and advanced security features, making them suitable for mission-critical workloads. Furthermore, Azure’s hybrid cloud capabilities enable organizations to seamlessly extend their on-premises infrastructure to the cloud, unlocking new possibilities for innovation and growth.

Prerequisites

1. Create a Storage Account

Follow the steps below to create a storage account:

1. Log into your Azure Subscription at https://portal.azure.com.
2. Click New → Data + Storage → Storage Account.
3. Click Create and type in a name for your storage account.
4. Choose a Pricing tier. This is the replication level of your storage across Azure’s physical data center locations, which helps increase redundancy in case of a data center outage.
5. Choose a Resource Group. This groups your related services together in Azure. If you don’t have any other services running yet, click Create a new resource group.
6. Choose the Subscription. You can only have one.
7. Choose the Location of the data. This is the physical location of the data centers that will hold your storage account. If you choose Geo Replication, your data will also be replicated outside of this location.
8. Choose whether you want to use Diagnostics. Diagnostics will disable the regular monitoring charts and alerts for your storage resource and instead will send diagnostic data into a storage account for your own monitoring.
9. Select the parameters according to your necessities.
10. Now, click Create.

To make use of the new Storage account, click Keys on the settings blade to retrieve the storage account name and primary access key.

2. Create a Storage Container

Follow the steps below to create a storage container:

1. You must already have an Azure subscription and existing Azure Storage account.
2. Open your storage account by signing into https://portal.azure.com.
3. Click Blob → Containers (in the Blob service blade).
4. Click + Container then choose a Name and Access type for it.
5. You can now refer to this container from other services.

3. Download AzCopy

Steps to Migrate Files into Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines

If you have all of these prerequisites, follow the steps below to migrate files into Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines:

1. Open the Command Prompt and locate where AzCopy is installed. The location is usually “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\AzCopy”.
2. Paste the following code to send the local data to Azure Blob Storage:

3. Install AzCopy on the Destination Server.
4. Run the following code to send the local data from Azure Blob Storage to the destination (e.g., E:\ABC):

By following the steps, you can efficiently and securely move your data to Azure, leveraging the platform’s robust and scalable infrastructure for your business needs.