Creating an Azure account

Microsoft Azure is one of the best cloud solutions currently available on the market. It is important to know that, inside Azure, we will find a selection of components that can help us define the architecture of twenty-first-century solutions.

If you want to check Azure’s current state, structure, and updates in a compact, digestible way, just go to https://azurecharts.com/, developed by Alexey Polkovnikov. The content is continuously updated so you can revisit it to learn, evaluate, or even just have fun with the dozens of Azure components described in this Azure encyclopedia.

This subsection will guide you in creating an Azure account. If you already have one, you can skip this part.

1. First, go to https://azure.microsoft.com. There, you will find the information you need to start your subscription. Translation to your native language is usually set automatically.
2. Once you have accessed this portal, it is possible to sign up. If you have never done this before, there is a Start free option, so you will be able to use some Azure features without spending any money. Please check the options for free plans at https://azure.microsoft.com/free/.
3. The process for creating a free account is quite simple, and you will be guided by a form that requires you to have a Microsoft account or GitHub account.
4. During the process, you will also be asked for a credit card number to verify your identity and to keep out spam and bots. However, you will not be charged unless you upgrade the account.
5. To finish the assignment, you will need to accept the subscription agreement, offer details, and privacy statement.
6. Once you have finished filling out the form, you will be able to access the Azure portal. As you can see in the following screenshot, the panel shows a dashboard that you can customize, and a menu on the left, where you can set up the Azure components you are going to use in your solution. Throughout this book, we will come back to this screen to set up the components needed to help us create modern software architecture. To find the next page, just select the hamburger menu icon and click on All services:

Figure 1.2: The Azure portal

Once you have created your Azure account, you are ready to find out how a software architect can lead a team to develop software, taking advantage of all the opportunities offered by Azure. However, it is important to keep in mind that a software architect needs to go beyond just technologies because they are expected to define how the software will be delivered.

Today, a software architect not only designs the basis of a piece of software but also determines how the whole software development and deployment process is conducted. The next section will cover some of the most widely used software development paradigms in the world. We will start by describing what the community refers to as traditional software engineering. After that, we will cover the agile models that have changed the way we build software nowadays.