Module 6: Hands-On Labs

🚧 Labs Under Development
All lab content is complete but hands-on exercises are currently being validated and refined.
Expected Release: Q1 2026
You can review the lab steps and prepare your environment in advance.

Overview

This module provides practical, hands-on labs to reinforce the concepts covered in Modules 1-5. Each lab is designed to be completed in 2-4 hours and builds progressively toward a complete sovereign cloud deployment with compliance and security controls.

Prerequisites

  • Completion of Level 200 Modules 1-5
  • Azure subscription (free tier acceptable for most labs)
  • Familiarity with PowerShell, Azure CLI, or Azure Portal
  • Basic networking knowledge (subnets, firewalls, VPNs)

Learning Objectives

By completing all labs, you will:

  • Deploy and configure Azure Local in connected mode
  • Onboard hybrid infrastructure to Azure Arc
  • Implement Edge RAG with vector database and LLM inference
  • Enforce governance policies at scale using Azure Policy
  • Configure comprehensive monitoring and alerting

Lab Environment Architecture 

HANDS-ON LAB ENVIRONMENT
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Lab Progression Flow:

Lab 1: Azure Local Foundation
├─ Simulate Azure Local deployment
├─ Configure connected mode
├─ Deploy demo application
└─ Verify connectivity

    ↓ (Lab 1 resources used in Lab 2)

Lab 2: Azure Arc Governance
├─ Onboard Lab 1 resources to Arc
├─ Create multi-resource groups
├─ Implement Arc management
└─ Enable monitoring

    ↓ (Lab 2 Arc setup used in Lab 3 & 4)

Lab 3: Edge RAG Deployment
├─ Deploy vector database (Weaviate)
├─ Configure LLM inference engine
├─ Implement RAG pipeline
└─ Test end-to-end

    ↓ (Lab 1, 2, 3 enable Lab 4)

Lab 4: Policy & Governance
├─ Create custom policies
├─ Apply compliance standards
├─ Implement enforcement
└─ Generate compliance reports

    ↓ (All labs aggregated in Lab 5)

Lab 5: Monitoring & Observability
├─ Collect metrics from Labs 1-4
├─ Configure alerting rules
├─ Create dashboards
└─ Run incident simulation

FINAL ARCHITECTURE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Azure Local (Lab 1)                             │
│ ├─ Demo application running                     │
│ ├─ Connected to Arc (Lab 2)                     │
│ └─ Running Edge RAG inference (Lab 3)           │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                        ↓
        ┌───────────────┴────────────────┐
        │                                │
┌───────▼──────────┐      ┌──────────────▼──────────┐
│ Azure Arc (Lab 2)│      │ Azure Monitor (Lab 5)   │
│ ├─ Policy (Lab 4)│      │ ├─ Metrics              │
│ ├─ Governance    │      │ ├─ Alerts               │
│ └─ Management    │      │ └─ Dashboards           │
└──────────────────┘      └───────────────────────┘

Time Estimates

Lab Topic Duration Difficulty
1 Azure Local Deployment 2-3 hours Intermediate
2 Azure Arc Onboarding 2-3 hours Intermediate
3 Edge RAG Setup 3-4 hours Advanced
4 Policy & Governance 2-3 hours Intermediate
5 Monitoring & Alerts 2-3 hours Intermediate
Total All Labs 11-16 hours Mixed

Lab Structure & Format

Each Lab Includes

Pre-Lab Checklist:

  • Prerequisites and required resources
  • Estimated time and difficulty level
  • Learning outcomes
  • Resource cost estimates

Step-by-Step Instructions:

  • Numbered steps with detailed commands
  • Expected output for verification
  • Screenshots and examples
  • Troubleshooting tips

Validation Steps:

  • How to verify each step succeeded
  • Common errors and solutions
  • Checkpoint verification

Post-Lab Review:

  • What you accomplished
  • Key learning points
  • How this applies to production
  • Next steps

Labs at a Glance 

LAB 1: Azure Local Deployment (2-3 hours)
────────────────────────────────────────
Objective: Deploy and configure Azure Local

Topics covered:
├─ Azure Local architecture
├─ Connected mode setup
├─ Networking and connectivity
├─ Demo workload deployment
└─ Validation and testing

Skills gained:
✓ Understand Azure Local deployment model
✓ Configure network connectivity
✓ Deploy applications on Azure Local
✓ Monitor Azure Local health

Estimated cost: $0-20 (Azure credits / free tier)

LAB 2: Azure Arc Onboarding (2-3 hours)
────────────────────────────────────────
Objective: Onboard resources to Azure Arc

Topics covered:
├─ Arc agent deployment
├─ Machine onboarding
├─ Kubernetes cluster registration
├─ Arc server management
└─ Governance enablement

Skills gained:
✓ Deploy Arc agents
✓ Onboard hybrid infrastructure
✓ Use Arc for centralized management
✓ Apply policies across infrastructure

Estimated cost: $0-30 (Azure credits / free tier)

LAB 3: Edge RAG Implementation (3-4 hours)
───────────────────────────────────────────
Objective: Deploy complete Edge RAG solution

Topics covered:
├─ Vector database setup (Weaviate)
├─ Embedding model deployment
├─ LLM inference configuration
├─ RAG pipeline implementation
└─ Performance optimization

Skills gained:
✓ Deploy vector databases
✓ Configure LLM inference
✓ Implement RAG patterns
✓ Optimize inference performance

Estimated cost: $50-100 (GPU resources if using)

LAB 4: Policy & Governance (2-3 hours)
────────────────────────────────────────
Objective: Implement compliance policies

Topics covered:
├─ Azure Policy basics
├─ Custom policy definition
├─ Policy assignment and scope
├─ Compliance monitoring
└─ Remediation automation

Skills gained:
✓ Create custom policies
✓ Enforce compliance at scale
✓ Monitor policy compliance
✓ Generate compliance reports

Estimated cost: $0-10 (Policy evaluation free)

LAB 5: Monitoring & Observability (2-3 hours)
──────────────────────────────────────────────
Objective: Configure comprehensive monitoring

Topics covered:
├─ Azure Monitor setup
├─ Metrics and logging
├─ Alert configuration
├─ Dashboard creation
└─ Incident response simulation

Skills gained:
✓ Configure monitoring
✓ Create effective alerts
✓ Build operational dashboards
✓ Respond to incidents

Estimated cost: $20-50 (Log Analytics ingestion)

Resource Requirements

Azure Subscription

  • Azure subscription (free tier acceptable for testing)
  • Owner or Contributor role on subscription
  • Resource quota for:
    • Virtual Machines (2-4)
    • Azure Container Registry (1)
    • Virtual Networks (1)
    • Storage Accounts (1)

Local Tools Required 

Required:
├─ Azure CLI (latest version)
├─ PowerShell 7+
├─ kubectl (Kubernetes CLI)
├─ Docker (for container images)
└─ Text editor (VS Code recommended)

Optional:
├─ Azure Portal access
├─ Postman (API testing)
├─ Git (for script version control)
└─ Azure Storage Explorer

Estimated Costs 

LAB COST ESTIMATION (Azure Resources)
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Per Lab Breakdown:

Lab 1 (Azure Local Simulation):
├─ Compute: Standard_B2s VM × 2 (4 hours) = ~$1
├─ Storage: 100 GB LRS = ~$2
└─ Total: ~$3-5

Lab 2 (Azure Arc):
├─ Arc agents: Free (agent software)
├─ Extension costs: ~$0-5 (optional extensions)
└─ Total: ~$0-5

Lab 3 (Edge RAG):
├─ GPU compute: Standard_NC6s_v3 (optional) = $0.90/hour
├─ Storage: 50 GB = ~$1
└─ Total: ~$10-50 (depends on GPU usage)

Lab 4 (Policy & Governance):
├─ Azure Policy: Free (included in subscription)
├─ Policy evaluations: No additional cost
└─ Total: ~$0

Lab 5 (Monitoring):
├─ Azure Monitor: Free (basic)
├─ Log Analytics: ~0.03 per GB ingested
├─ Estimated logs: 100 GB = ~$3
└─ Total: ~$3-10

TOTAL ESTIMATED COST: $16-70 USD
(Highly dependent on Lab 3 GPU usage and duration)

COST OPTIMIZATION TIPS:
├─ Use free tier resources where possible
├─ Shut down VMs between lab sessions
├─ Use spot instances for non-critical workloads
├─ Clean up resources immediately after labs
└─ Set up budget alerts in Azure

Success Criteria

Lab Completion Checklist 

✓ All 5 labs completed
✓ All validation steps passed
✓ All expected outputs confirmed
✓ Post-lab review completed
✓ Screenshots/evidence captured
✓ Lessons documented

GRADING SCALE:
└─ Beginner: 1-2 labs completed
└─ Intermediate: 3-4 labs completed
└─ Advanced: All 5 labs completed ← Target
└─ Expert: All labs + additional challenges

Learning Validation

After completing all labs, you should be able to:

Technical Skills: ✓ Deploy and configure Azure Local in connected mode ✓ Onboard hybrid resources to Azure Arc ✓ Implement Edge RAG with LLM inference ✓ Create and enforce Azure Policy for governance ✓ Configure comprehensive monitoring and alerting ✓ Generate compliance reports and dashboards ✓ Respond to security incidents

Business Skills: ✓ Explain sovereign cloud deployment architecture ✓ Articulate compliance and data residency requirements ✓ Discuss cost-benefit of edge vs. cloud deployment ✓ Plan governance strategy for hybrid infrastructure ✓ Present monitoring and security dashboards to stakeholders

Lab Navigation

Module Navigation

Troubleshooting & Support

Common Issues

Issue: “Subscription quota exceeded”

  • Solution: Check resource usage in Azure Portal
  • Action: Delete unused resources or request quota increase

Issue: “Command not found (Azure CLI)”

  • Solution: Azure CLI not installed or not in PATH
  • Action: Reinstall Azure CLI from https://docs.microsoft.com/cli/azure/install-azure-cli

Issue: “Authentication failed”

  • Solution: Not authenticated with Azure
  • Action: Run az login and follow prompts

Issue: “Resource group not found”

  • Solution: Wrong subscription or resource group name
  • Action: Run az group list to see available groups

Getting Help

Documentation:

  • Azure Documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure
  • Azure CLI Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/cli/azure
  • kubectl Documentation: https://kubernetes.io/docs

Support Options:

  • Azure Support Portal (paid support plans)
  • Azure Community Forums
  • Stack Overflow (tag: azure)
  • GitHub Issues (for tool-specific issues)

Last Updated: October 21, 2025