Azure Account and Services Setup

Creating an Azure account is a preliminary task for creating and managing data factories in Azure. Account creation is a simple process, and Microsoft offers different ways of managing an Azure subscription, including a free tier. In this lesson, we’ll walk you through the steps needed for creating an Azure account and storing credentials using Azure Key VaultAzure Key Vault is a cloud service for securely storing and accessing secrets. A secret is anything that you want to tightly control access to, such as API keys, passwords, certificates, or cryptographic keys. for future use.

Create an Azure account

Follow these steps to create an Azure account.

Step 1: Go to the Azure website

First, navigate to the Azure website at azure.microsoft.com.

Step 2: Click the “Start free” button

On the Azure home page, click the “Start free” button. This will redirect to the Azure free account sign-up page.

Step 3: Sign in with a Microsoft Account

All Azure services are connected to a central Microsoft account. Sign in with an existing account or create a new Microsoft account to continue with the creation of an Azure account.

Step 4: Fill in the details

When creating a new account, personal details, including name, email address, country, and phone number, will be required. Upon completion of the details, Microsoft will request a password creation.

Step 5: Identity verification

Microsoft uses a two-factor identity verification method, where a numeric OTP will be sent to the email and phone number registered above. This OTP needs to be put on the Azure account creation page to complete identity verification.

Step 6: Choose a subscription

After complete identity verification, the setup will get redirected to the Azure subscription page. Azure offers both free and paid subscriptions to get started. The free subscription comes with a credit of $200 for the first 30 days and includes access to many of Azure’s services, such as Virtual Machines, App Services, and Storage. Upgrade to a paid subscription is also available, providing access to additional services and features like more computing power and selected machine learning services.

Step 7: Enter payment information (for paid subscription only)

Payment information is required for opting into the paid tier of an Azure subscription. Azure accepts a variety of payment methods, including credit cards and PayPal, that will be charged only for the services used. There are options to set up alerts and spending limits to track unexpected charges.

Step 8: Review and confirm the terms of service

Before creating an Azure account, review and agree to the Azure terms of service and privacy policy. Once reviewed, click the “Create” button to complete the Azure account creation.

Step 9: Access the Azure portal

After account creation is complete, users can access the Azure portal by clicking the “Go to Portal” button. The Azure portal is a web-based user interface for managing Azure resources, including virtual machines, storage accounts, and databases.

Below are the steps to sign in to a Microsoft account and access the Azure portal: