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Project timeline Eight implementations, shown in the order they were built.St. Louis area · Open to cloud support roles
Explore the Azure projects, lessons, and hands-on work behind my cloud journey.
I started with the pieces around one Windows Server VM: VNet, NIC, NSG, public IP, and managed disk. The useful lesson was not the VM itself; it was narrowing RDP to one trusted source instead of leaving the service open to the internet.
Project outcome Core Azure networking and a concrete security boundary.
VM networking repositoryThe next project kept a Blob container private and granted read-only access with a SAS limited by expiration and source IP. It was my first close look at giving someone exactly enough access without handing over the account key.
Project outcome Scoped access, expiration, and storage security.
Storage SAS repositoryThis site became the delivery layer: custom DNS in Azure, apex and www records, HTTPS through Azure Static Web Apps, and a GitHub Actions workflow that publishes changes from source control.
Project outcome A public endpoint, automated delivery, and a place to show the work.
Website sourceOvision pushed beyond infrastructure into a Shopify embedded app using Remix, Prisma, Polaris, OAuth, Docker, and PostgreSQL. It made the infrastructure work more concrete because an application now depended on the deployment choices.
Project outcome Application concerns, authentication, containers, and data persistence.
Ovision repositoryI worked through Entra ID users and groups, scoped built-in and custom RBAC roles, Azure Policy, management groups, and resource tags. The goal was to understand who can change what, and where that authority stops.
Project outcome Identity scope, policy enforcement, and governance.
Identity and RBAC repositoryThis project tied together Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, KQL, metric alerts, action groups, Network Watcher, and Azure Backup. It also included the less tidy work of replacing the retired Log Analytics agent with Azure Monitor Agent.
Project outcome Detection, investigation, alert routing, and recovery.
Monitoring repositoryTwo zone-redundant Linux VMs sit behind a Standard Load Balancer with health probes, NAT Gateway egress, and cloud-init provisioning. I tested traffic distribution and then stopped a backend to confirm that the site stayed available.
Project outcome Health-aware routing, outbound design, and tested failover.
Load balancer repositoryThe newest build turns the earlier networking lessons into reusable Terraform modules: a secured hub, two isolated spokes, Azure Firewall, Bastion, forced routing, and private workload VMs. A 32-resource plan makes the full change visible before deployment.
Where the work is now Reusable modules, centralized inspection, and deployment from code.
Project index
From the first secured VM to a reusable Terraform network.
8 projects shown
01
Compute & security
Windows Server, VNet, NIC, NSG, managed disk, and source-restricted RDP.
Repository02
Storage & access
Private Blob storage with a read-only SAS constrained by time and source IP.
Repository03
DNS & delivery
Azure DNS, HTTPS delivery through Static Web Apps, and GitHub Actions deployment.
Source04
Application delivery
A Shopify app using Remix, Prisma, Polaris, OAuth, Docker, and PostgreSQL.
Repository05
Identity & governance
Entra ID, scoped RBAC, custom roles, Azure Policy, management groups, and tags.
Repository06
Monitoring & response
Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, KQL, alerts, Network Watcher, and Backup.
Repository07
High availability
Zone-redundant VMs, health probes, NAT egress, traffic testing, and failover.
Repository08
Infrastructure as Code
Reusable Terraform modules for a secured hub, isolated spokes, and forced routing.
RepositoryI am moving beyond isolated deployments and concentrating on the operational side of Azure: identity boundaries, monitoring, recovery, repeatability, and what happens after a resource is live.
The AZ-104 study path is the framework. Building and documenting these projects is how I make the material stick.
How I got here
I spent years in restaurants and construction before I got serious about cloud work. Those jobs taught me how to handle problems in real time, talk with people when things are not going smoothly, and keep moving when the plan changes.
When I started learning Azure, I found that I liked tracing a problem until it finally made sense. One question kept leading to another: networking opened the door to identity, monitoring, automation, and the systems connecting them.
Azure was the starting point, but that curiosity keeps pulling me toward new tools, platforms, and advances across technology. These projects are where I turn questions into working systems, troubleshoot the gaps, and document what I learned.
I learn best when I can build it, break it, and figure out what I missed.
Terraform, Infrastructure as Code, Azure Virtual Machines, hub-and-spoke VNets, peering, route tables, NSGs, Azure Firewall, Bastion, Load Balancer, NAT Gateway, DNS, and Storage.
Microsoft Entra ID, RBAC, custom roles, Azure Policy, management groups, private containers, scoped SAS access, and least privilege.
Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, KQL, alerts, action groups, Network Watcher, Azure Backup, Recovery Services Vaults, AMA, and DCRs.
Git, GitHub, GitHub Actions, Azure CLI, Cloud Shell, Docker fundamentals, JSON, technical writing, and repeatable runbooks.
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