Final answer:
To allow connections on TCP port 8080 for VMs in Azure, modify the Network Security Group (NSG) by adding an inbound security rule that permits traffic on that port.
Step-by-step explanation:
To allow connections to TCP port 8080 on VMs within an Azure environment, the component responsible for managing network traffic to and from Azure VMs should be modified. The correct answer is a) Network Security Group (NSG). NSGs are used to filter network traffic to and from Azure resources in an Azure Virtual Network. An NSG contains a list of Access Control List (ACL) rules that can allow or deny network traffic based on several factors like protocol, source IP address range, destination IP address range, port, and direction (inbound or outbound).
To allow traffic on TCP port 8080, you would need to configure an inbound security rule in the NSG associated with the VM or the subnet that the VM is part of. This rule would specify that traffic is allowed on port 8080 for the desired protocol, which in this case is TCP.
If the VMs were behind an Azure Load Balancer or an Azure Firewall, additional configuration on these services might also be necessary to allow traffic to flow to the VMs on the specified port. However, the primary change needed to enable the initial inbound traffic directly to the VMs is updating the NSG rules.