Getting started with Azure
As a first-time user, the following will be needed before you can get started:
- An email account (this does not have to be a Microsoft account). I will presume you have one already.
- A Microsoft 365 Business Basic account. This is what was originally referred to as an Office 365 account. It gives you access to the Microsoft Office suite, but also adds your user account into an authentication service called Azure AD, which is used to define what you can access and your level of access. Visual Studio Code, Dynamic 365, and DevOps also form part of the suite of applications available to you, as well as Visio and Project. We will look at how to set this up in the next section.
- An Azure subscription. We will also set this up in the next section.
Setting up a Microsoft 365 Business Basic account
In this section, you will learn how to set up a Microsoft 365 Business Basic account.
Please navigate to the following link to get the most up-to-date instructions, as the sign-up process is subject to regular changes:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/setup/setup-business-basic?view=o365-worldwide
The sign-up instructions are listed underneath an explanatory video. Please use these to set up the account.
Your Microsoft Azure account is a collection of all the cloud objects you will create. Some of these will be used by your account for Power Automate (https://flow.microsoft.com/). The following website will also be used by power users, and users wishing to get started straight away, to create apps and objects that support users with your cloud infrastructure: https://make.powerapps.com/. The actual objects, however, are stored in the Azure account.
Getting started with Azure
Now that you have a Microsoft account and access to end user resources, we need to create a cloud environment to create your projects and logic. For this, navigate to https://portal.azure.com/ and click the Start for free button to begin the enrollment process.
From the Azure welcome page, please take a moment to look at what is possible with the variety of Azure demo videos available here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/get-started/video/.
Setting up Azure
You will first be required to sign in, using the Microsoft account you created in the previous section. If you have a third-party email account linked to a GitHub account, you could use that, so long as it is not already tied to a Microsoft account.
Next, you will be asked to create your free Azure account. You will notice that credit is applied for your first 30 days.
Important note
If the services you create do not incur any charges, the account will be deleted after 6 months of inactivity.
The next step will require you to verify your identity using your phone.
This is then followed by financial authorization. Your card details are checked; however, you will not be charged unless you upgrade to a paid account.
Finally, read all the terms and conditions, and if you are happy, click on Agree.
The account will be generated, and you will then be presented with a home screen.
Before we can get started, you will need to attach a subscription to the account. Initially, you might wish to start with a pay-as-you-go subscription, although the credit provided on sign-up will also apply first. For myself, I already have a Microsoft MSDN Developer account, so have attached this as my Azure subscription, as shown in the following figure:
The Subscriptions page explains spending as it relates to the Azure subscription, which focuses on background objects and tasks. Any Flows or Power Automate apps (logic apps for frontend IT users) may not feature in this calculation.