Getting Started with Azure

In this section, we'll then have a quick look around the Azure portal and understand the services we are going to use to run our app.

Signing up to Azure

If you already have an Azure account, there's never been a better time to sign up and give Azure a try. As of June 2023, you can sign up to Azure and get 12 months of free services.

We'll need a Microsoft account to sign up for Azure, which is free to create if you haven't already got one. You are then required to complete a sign-up form that contains the following personal information:

• Country of origin

• Name

• Email address

• Phone number

• You then need to go through two different verification processes. The first is verification via a text message or a call on your phone. The second is to verify your credit card details.

Note: Note that your credit card won't be charged unless you upgrade from the free trial.

The last step in the sign-up process is to agree to the terms and conditions.

Understanding the Azure services

After we have an Azure account, we can sign in to the Azure portal using our Microsoft account. The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for the portal is https://portal.azure.com.

When we log in to the Azure portal, we'll see that it contains a wide variety of services, as illustrated in the following screenshot: