Simulated Cloud Labs

The LabIT PRO Suite is a collection of simulated cloud labs that you can use to learn how to complete all kinds of deployment and management tasks.

NO AZURE SUBSCRIPTION NECESSARY!

Current Lab Collections

Free Azure Lab Collection

This collection of FREE hands-on Microsoft Azure labs provides you an opportunity to try out our labs and to familiarize yourself with Azure tasks without having to pay for an Azure subscription.

A free membership is required to access the labs.

Azure Skillbuilder Collection

This PREMIUM AZURE LAB COLLECTION teaches you how to deploy and configure numerous common Azure features and resources without having to pay for an Azure subscription.

Available through Udemy or labITpro direct-pay.

Azure Administrator Series

This PREMIUM AZURE LAB COLLECTION consists primarily of hands-on labs that align with the skills specified in the AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam guide.

This is a Udemy-exclusive collection.

Securing Storage for Azure Files and Blobs

This PREMIUM AZURE LAB COLLECTION is a useful tool for those attempting to earn the Microsoft Applied Skills credential that demonstrates mastery of the skills needed to effectively secure storage for Azure Files and Blobs.

This is a Udemy-exclusive collection

Building Redundant Cloud Solutions in Azure

This PREMIUM COLLECTION of interactive and interconnected hands-on Azure labs guides you through the end-to-end deployment of a fully redundant, multi-region web application—an essential skill set for cloud engineers, architects, and IT professionals.

Available through Udemy or labITpro direct-pay.

Deprecated Labs

The labs found here are planned for retirement. Updated labs will be added to current and new collections as they are deprecated.

This feature is available to labITpro Supporters only.

Azure VM Scale Sets — Quick Reference

Fast lookup for orchestration modes, autoscaling, load balancing, updates & CLI.

Core Benefits

Create & manage groups of identical or heterogeneous VMs.
Automatic scaling based on demand or schedule.
Load balance traffic across instances.
HA across fault domains & availability zones.
Pay only for VMs; no charge for scale set itself.

Scale sets can handle up to 1,000 VMs (Marketplace/Gallery images).

Orchestration Modes

Mode	Profile	Best For
Flexible	Standard Azure VMs	New workloads (default)
Uniform	Identical VMs	Legacy large-scale workloads

Flexible: Full standard VM APIs, dynamic mixing (Spot+on-demand), 1,000 VMs. Uniform: Locked after creation; up to 1,000 VMs (Marketplace) or 600 (custom images).

Orchestration Comparison

Feature	Flexible	Uniform
Standard VM APIs	Yes	No
Mix instance types	Yes	No
RBAC per VM	Yes	No
Azure Backup	Yes	No
Site Recovery	Yes	No
Fault domains	1–3	1–5

Autoscaling Metrics

Host metrics: CPU, memory, disk (no agent needed).
Guest metrics: Custom counters (Azure Diagnostics Extension).
App Insights: Application-level performance metrics.
Rules: Min/max capacity, scale-out/in thresholds, cooldown periods.

Autoscale rules use metrics from Load Balancer, Diagnostics, or App Insights.

Load Balancing

Type	Layer	Best For
Internal LB	L4	Backend pools
Public LB	L4	External traffic
App Gateway	L7	HTTP/HTTPS + WAF

Large scale sets (>100 VMs) require Load Balancer Standard SKU.

Availability & Zones

Single zone: All VMs in one availability zone.
Zone-redundant: VMs spread across 1, 2, or 3 zones in region.
Zone balance: Auto-spread VMs evenly across zones (±1 VM).
Fault domains: 1–3 per zone for best-effort resilience.

Use availability zones for datacenter-level failure protection.

Upgrade Policies (Uniform)

Policy	Rollout	Use
Automatic	Batch	App can tolerate disruption
Rolling	Controlled	Gradual, managed updates
Manual	On-demand	Full control; explicit API calls

Flexible mode uses standard VM updates; no built-in rolling.

Application Deployment

Custom image: Preinstall app; faster provisioning.
Custom Script Extension: Download & run scripts post-deploy.
Azure VM Applications: Package & manage centrally (new).
PowerShell DSC: Desired State Configuration for consistency.

Custom images: 600 VMs max; Marketplace images: 1,000 VMs.

Planned Maintenance & Health

Azure Patch Manager: Automated guest OS patching.
Application Health Extension: Monitor app heartbeat; auto-replace unhealthy.
Health probes (Uniform): Monitor via load balancer.
Platform updates coordinated; typically brief interruption.