Creating Virtual Machines
All of the Microsoft Dynamics GP components, along with the required software like Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, will be installed on Windows Server virtual machine instances in Windows Azure. Depending on your deployment needs, you will use one or more virtual machine instances. For example, you may have a SQL Server virtual machine, a Web Server virtual machine and an Active Directory virtual machine.
 
A virtual machine instance can be created from a VHD template image available in the Windows Azure platform image gallery or from an image or VHD disk you created and uploaded. You also have the ability to capture a configured virtual machine instance as a template image for creating additional virtual machine instances. Refer to the article Virtual Machines for additional information. 
Follow the steps in the article Create a Virtual Machine to create the virtual machines. Use the following guidelines when creating the virtual machine instances for Microsoft Dynamics GP. The remaining sections in this part provide information that applies to the virtual machine configuration for each of the server roles used in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

1.	Use a unique name that identifies the virtual machine. (Example: GPSQLServer)

2.	Select the virtual machine instance size based on the information provided in the System Requirements section.

3.	Enter a name and password for the virtual machine’s administrator account.

4.	Indicate whether the virtual machine will be a standalone virtual machine or whether it will be connected with other virtual machines to provide load balancing and high availability. 

Standalone Virtual Machine
Selecting the “Create a new cloud service” option for the Cloud Service field will create a new  cloud service for the virtual machine using the DNS name provided in the cloud service DNS name field. The cloud service, along with endpoints created on the virtual machine, provide external communication to the virtual machine. Communication from machines not on the virtual network is considered external communication. You can use this option to set up a virtual machine for any of the server roles in your Microsoft Dynamics GP deployment. You will also use this option to set up the first virtual machine in a load-balanced configuration. 

Connect to existing Virtual Machine
Selecting an existing cloud service name in the Cloud Service drop down will configure this virtual machine to work with an existing virtual machine for load balancing. When selecting this option, all virtual machines connected together will be load balanced by a single cloud service using the DNS name provided. You can use this option for virtual machines that serve the following roles in your Microsoft Dynamics GP deployment.

1.	Web Client Web Server (Only possible if using a scale out deployment with separate Session Host servers.) 
2.	Web Services for Microsoft Dynamics GP
3.	SQL Server Reporting Services 
4.	Tenant Services (Requires the Tenant Services be configured for external communication.)
5.	Business Portal
6.	Workflow

5.	If you have selected to create a new cloud service, provide the DNS name that will be used for external communication to the virtual machine. The name will be in the format of *.cloudapp.net. If you selected an existing cloud service, the DNS name for the cloud service will default in and can’t be changed. If you will be using a domain name other than the provided cloudapp.net DNS name, you will need to create a CNAME record to map your custom domain name to the DNS name selected during the creation of the virtual machine. Another alternative is to add an A record to the virtual IP address of the virtual machine. Refer to the article Configuring a custom domain name for a Windows Azure cloud service or storage account for additional information. 

6.	If you are an administrator for more than one Windows Azure Subscription, select the subscription you want the virtual machine created in.

7.	Select the virtual network and subnet to put the VM in. All of the virtual machines used in a single Microsoft Dynamics GP deployment must be created on the same virtual network.

8.	Select to have a storage account automatically created or select and existing storage account for the virtual machine’s VHD file.

9.	If you are connecting multiple virtual machines together in a cloud service to perform an action like load balancing, provide the name for an availability set. The availability set can be created with the first virtual machine created in a cloud service. Select the existing availability set for each additional virtual machine being added to the cloud service. The availability set ensures that the virtual machine instances are created in different fault and update domains. Using this option provides further protection against a single point of failure, such as a failing network switch, that could affect the entire cloud service.

10.	Add any endpoint you know will be required for the virtual machine. Endpoints can also be added as needed after the creation of the virtual machine.