A virtual machine is a mini computer inside another computer in the cloud. Now we are deploying this virtual machine in an operating system called Linux. Linux is a free, open sourced operating system family used on computers, servers, smartphones and even supercomputers. Let me give you a hint, the very popular Android is built on the Linux Kernel.
Okay that's enough intro for now, let's get started.

Step 1: Login in to the[(https://portal.azure.com/#home)]

Step 2: Look up for virtual machine on the search bar just atop and start creating your Linux virtual machine.

select the +create icon which enables you to create a new VM

Step 3:I am assuming this is your first time creating a Linux virtual machine, it is best to create a new "resource group" as seen in the image below , one might wonder what a resource group is?. A resource group is the container that will be holding the virtual machine, so in layman terms the resource group is just like the "pot" and the Linux virtual machine is what we are cooking inside this pot.
so you create a new resource group, in my case I create one called "mylinuxvirtualmachinegroup" and I selected it, so create yours and select it.
Step 4: Configuring instance details
a: create a name for your VM that suits you
b: select a location that befits you
c: I chose the first option for the zone options, you can use the drop down and choose 'no infrastructure redundancy" required if you are on a free trial account. _
_ d: for security type; I used the Trusted launch virtual machine as this is basic security for Linux VM.
e: for Image; Ubuntu is encouraged as that is the operating system Linux works on so everything rhymes.

Step 5: Login method and Network access configuration

go to Resource to see, learn and understand everything about the Linux VM you just created

Step 6:Open the public IP address as shown

then click connect and click check access

Step 7: Now open Powershell on Windows or Terminal on Mac to connect to Linux with your IP address you just copied in image@9 above

click enter after pasting your IP address
after that a question pops up, are you sure you want to continue connecting? type in YES,
then the next prompt is to type in the password you used for your azure admin access, Linux wont show the normal asterisk ***** for password, don't be restless its working in the background, this is a security measure to protect you, if your password is type correctly, hit enter and you would see the your IP address and port 22

type in sudo su to run command as root. Becoming a root user makes our commands run smoothly.
next step is to run apt update, (Advanced Package Tool) is a command-line utility for managing software on Debian-based Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint, Kali Mint, etc. It handles installation, removal, upgrading, and dependency management of .deb packages by automating retrieval from online repositories. It also tells you the status of your Linux Virtual Machine and if everything is running very well.

next install nginx which is a high performance web server software used to host websites, serve web applications, act as reverse proxy, load balance traffic, and improve overall performance and security, nginx is one of the most widely used servers in the world.

when prompted, confirm with a Y
Although optional, you can also install Vim which is a text editor used in Linux and Unix systems which makes your layout more colorful, developers and system administrators use it to edit configuration, write code, manage servers and also modify scripts directly from terminal.
when prompted, confirm with a Y

Finally copy your IP address in image number 9 above.
load it on your browser and paste.

Voila, if you see the image above, you did everything correctly.

This is a beautiful introduction to Linux, the operating system that hosts most tech products you are using everyday like open AI, LinkedIN, YouTube etcetera.

Mr LINUX says welcome!