Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure you have the following:

• An active Azure account (you can create one for free).
• Azure Bicep installed on your local machine.
• Azure PowerShell (see: Install Azure PowerShell).
• A resource group set up in your Azure subscription.

Solution Overview

We will create a Bicep template that provisions the necessary resources to illustrate the use case for the cross-region load balancer. The solution will involve the following files:

• 📄 main.bicep: The primary Bicep template.
• 📄 azuredeploy.parameters.json: This parameter file contains values for deploying your Bicep template.

Creating the Azure Bicep Template — Parameters

Create a new file in your working directory named main.bicep. Within this file, we will define the following parameters:

@description('Specifies a project name that is used for generating resource names.')

param projectName string = 'azinsider'

@description('Specifies the location for the cross-region load balancer.')

param location string = 'eastus2'

@description('Specifies the location for the regional load balancer.')

param locationR1 string = 'eastus'

@description('Specifies the location for the regional load balancer.')

param locationR2 string = 'westus2'

@description('Specifies the virtual machine administrator username.')

param adminUsername string

@description('Specifies the virtual machine administrator password.')

@secure()

param adminPassword string

@description('Size of the virtual machine')

param vmSize string = 'Standard_DS1_v2'

Creating the Azure Bicep Template — Variables

Next, we define the necessary variables:

var publicIPAddressType = 'Static'

var lbSkuName = 'Standard'

var vmStorageAccountType = 'Premium_LRS'

var lbR1Name = '${projectName}-lb-r1'

var lbPIPR1Name = '${projectName}-lbPublicIP-r1'

var lbPIPOutboundR1Name = '${projectName}-lbPublicIPOutbound-r1'

var lbFrontEndR1Name = 'LoadBalancerFrontEnd-r1'

var lbBackendPoolR1Name = 'LoadBalancerBackEndPool-r1'

var lbProbeR1Name = 'loadBalancerHealthProbe-r1'

var nsgR1Name = '${projectName}-nsg-r1'

var vnetR1Name = '${projectName}-vnet-r1'

var vnetAddressPrefixR1 = '10.0.0.0/16'

Creating the Azure Bicep Template — Resources

We will then define the resources needed for our load balancer setup, including network interfaces, VMs, and security groups.

For example, to create network interfaces, the following code will be used:

resource nicVmR1 'Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces@2023-02-01' = [for i in range(0, 3): {

name: 'vm-r1-${(i + 1)}-networkInterface'

location: locationR1

properties: {

ipConfigurations: [

{

name: 'ipconfig1'

properties: {

privateIPAllocationMethod: 'Dynamic'

subnet: {

id: vnetSubnetR1.id

}

loadBalancerBackendAddressPools: [

{

id: resourceId('Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers/backendAddressPools', lbR1Name, lbBackendPoolR1Name)

}

]

}

}

]

networkSecurityGroup: {

id: nsgR1.id

}

}

dependsOn: [

vnetR1

lbR1

]

}]

The first video provides insights into building scalable applications using Azure's cross-region Load Balancer, outlining strategies and best practices.

Creating the Azure Bicep Template — Deployment

Once the template is ready, you will deploy it using Azure PowerShell. The following command can be utilized for deployment:

az deployment group create --resource-group <YourResourceGroup> --template-file main.bicep --parameters azuredeploy.parameters.json

To visualize the deployment process, you can use the Azure Portal, which displays previews and output information.

The second video discusses using Azure's Cross-region Load Balancer for high availability scenarios, demonstrating its configuration and operational benefits.