Azure Portal represents the main web interface for managing cloud resources on Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform, recognized as one of the leaders in the sector. Azure Portal provides centralized and intuitive access to a wide range of services offered by Azure, allowing users to easily create, configure, monitor and optimize resources in their cloud environment. In this article, we'll explore what Azure Portal is, its key features, and answer some of the most frequently asked questions about its use.
If you have followed the world of technology even marginally in the last fourteen years, you have certainly heard of Microsoft Azure, the cloud computing platform offered by the Redmond company. Azure allows for the rapid storage, access, transformation and manipulation of large amounts of data on the Internet.
Azure Portal is Microsoft Azure's centralized web interface, designed to manage and monitor the platform's cloud resources and services. This unique and intuitive access point allows you to administer all your applications from a single location, making it easy to design, manage and monitor everything from simple web applications to complex cloud services.
The web interface allows users to create, configure, and monitor a wide range of resources, such as virtual machines, databases, and networks, all through a unified console. This greatly simplifies the management of cloud infrastructures, always ensuring maximum efficiency. So let's take a closer look at how Azure Portal works.
Microsoft launched Azure Portal as a single access point, characterized by a simple and intuitive graphical interface, which allows you to manage all applications, create new resources, store and manipulate data, and transform simple web applications into cloud applications.
The web interface is designed to act as a real virtual data center, always available and without the need for interruptions for maintenance or updates. Being cloud-based, Azure Portal is especially useful for businesses and developers who manage large amounts of data for various purposes.
Developers can create and deploy applications on this platform without the need for advanced hardware and software. The virtual machines available on Azure Portal can be configured according to your needs, allowing you to specify the characteristics necessary for the development work.
In addition to these capabilities, Azure Portal offers many other options, including archiving, migration, management, analysis, networking, and computing.
Azure Portal is a web application accessible through a browser, operating on the Internet. It is compatible with most modern browsers on desktop and tablet devices, provided that the browser supports JavaScript. Microsoft recommends using the following browsers to access Azure Portal:
However, Azure Portal is not limited to use through a web browser. It is also available through practical mobile applications for Android and iOS devices, offering a consistent user experience across different platforms.
To access Azure Portal, you must have or configure a new Microsoft Azure account. To do this, just visit the Azure home page and create a new account.
Next, click on the button 'Start using Azure' and then on 'Try Azure for free' This will redirect you to a new page. Here it will be enough to enter some information such as email, name and other details. Verification via SMS or email will be required upon registration.
After successfully verifying your identity, the process of creating a new subscription will begin and then, you will be directed to your account dashboard, where you can create and manage your Azure resources.
The Azure Portal main page has been designed to provide quick and organized access to all the resources and services available on the platform. It acts as a dashboard, allowing us to take full advantage of all the features offered by Azure.
It's critical to familiarize yourself with Azure Portal as soon as possible. For this reason, it's worth taking a moment to explore all the available options in detail and understand their functionality:
Azure offers users and business administrators an advanced access control system. Role-based access to the Azure portal is managed through Azure RBAC (Role-based Access Control). This system allows you to control who can access Azure resources, what they can do with those resources, and which areas they can access. Roles can be assigned at various levels of granularity, from the management group to the individual resource. To grant access to a user, you must assign them a specific role within a certain scope.
Here's how to proceed to grant access to a specific resource group.
To get started, open the section Identity and Access Management (IAM) present in the side menu of any resource (Subscription, Resource Group, Virtual Machine, etc.) and then click on the tab Role Assignment, which will show the roles currently assigned to users within the resource group.
To assign new roles, click + Add and specify the type of role you want to assign (default, co-administrator, or custom). On the new screen in the tab Role define the specific role to operate extensively in Azure (Owner, Contributor, Reader) or by job function (Network, Security, Application, etc.).
Continue to the tab Members and select your account (or the account of the person you want to authorize) as the recipient of the new role. You can assign permissions to Users, Groups, Service Principals, or Managed Identities. Finally, continue by selecting the tab Review + Assign, where it will be possible to verify the configurations one last time before proceeding with the assignment.
We have created the Infrastructure & Security team, focused on the Azure cloud, to better respond to the needs of our customers who involve us in technical and strategic decisions. In addition to configuring and managing the tenant, we also take care of:
With Dev4Side, you have a reliable partner that supports you across the entire Microsoft application ecosystem.
The wide range of management options and information offered by Azure Portal may seem confusing at first. Searching for and managing some of the most crucial information for operations on the platform requires a little patience and time to familiarize yourself properly.
In this section, we will answer some of the most frequently asked questions asked online regarding the use of Azure Portal, to help those who are new to it. In particular, we will focus on how to find the tenant ID, obtain the Client ID and Client Secret for applications, and clone a Virtual Machine using Azure Portal.
The Tenant ID, also known as Directory ID, is a unique identifier associated with your instance of Microsoft Entra ID, essential for configuring and managing resources on Azure. Finding it within the Azure Portal is simple and can be done by following a few steps.
To get started, sign in to Azure with your credentials. Once logged in, in the left panel, click on Microsoft Enter ID. If this option isn't visible, you can find it using the search bar at the top of the page. Type 'Microsoft Enter ID' and select the corresponding option from the search results.
On the Enter ID page, in the left navigation menu, click Properties. In the Properties section, you'll find a field labeled Directory ID. This is your Tenant ID, which you can copy directly by clicking on the copy icon next to the ID.
The same interface is also available through Microsoft Sign in admin center available on the web page https://entra.microsoft.com/.
In addition to the graphical interface, it is possible to use PowerShell for faster feedback, provided that the specific Az module for managing Azure has been installed first. Once authenticated with the command Connect-AZAccount, it will be enough to type Get-Astenant | Select-Object Id to obtain the account's Tenant ID.
The Client ID And the Client Secret are two fundamental components for authenticating applications. The Client ID is a unique identifier assigned to each application registered with Microsoft Entra ID and is used to identify the application during the authentication process. The Client Secret, on the other hand, is a secret credential, similar to a password, used together with the Client ID to authenticate the application and obtain the access tokens necessary to interact with Azure resources.
The Client ID and Client Secret are used in various authentication scenarios, including OAuth 2.0 workflows and access to protected APIs. These elements are crucial for configuring an application's access to protected services within the Azure ecosystem.
To locate the Client ID, we log in to the Azure portal using our credentials. Once logged in, we navigate to Microsoft Enter ID from the left navigation menu. In the section Manage, let's select the option App registrations, where we can view the list of applications registered in our directory. Let's select the card All applications and click on the application for which we want to obtain the Client ID. Once the application has been selected, on the overview page, we will find the Client ID (also known as “Application ID”) under the application details.
If the application is not yet registered, you can proceed to register a new application by clicking on New registration and by completing the registration form.
To obtain the Client Secret, from the application page, go to the section Certificates & Secrets in the menu on the left below Manage.
Here, in the section Client Secrets, it is possible to create a new Client Secret by clicking on + New Client Secret.
Now, give the secret a descriptive name and select a duration (for example, 1 year or 2 years). Client Secrets, in fact, have a configurable expiration date. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully monitor these dates and renew secrets before they expire to avoid interruptions in the operation of the applications.
After clicking on Add, the new Client Secret will be displayed only once in the column Value. It is essential to copy it immediately to a safe place, as it will no longer be visible once you leave the page or reload the browser.
The Client Secret must be treated with the utmost caution, similar to the most critical password in your entire system. It should not be shared publicly and should be kept as securely as possible. In the event of a compromise, it is necessary to regenerate it immediately and revoke the old secret.
Cloning a virtual machine (VM) in Azure Portal can be extremely useful for rapidly replicating a development, test, or production environment. Cloned VMs can be used to experiment with changes without compromising the original environment or to facilitate the creation of multiple identical instances of a VM to handle varying workloads.
Before beginning this process, it is important to carefully consider the costs associated with creating and managing new resources, ensure that the names of the resources are unique to avoid conflicts, and verify that the network configuration is appropriate. In addition, it is essential to maintain compliance with applicable licenses and regulations for the images and software used. Once all the details have been verified, to clone the VM you will only need to follow a few short steps.
Get started by logging in to Azure Portal through the website https://portal.azure.com. After authenticating with your Azure credentials, look for the section Virtual Machines in the left navigation menu.
To clone a virtual machine (VM), let's start by selecting the desired VM. On the VM details page, we access the section Disks and select the VM's operating system disk. To create an image of this disc, we use the option Create Snapshot. You must give the snapshot a name and specify the subscription, resource group, and save location. After configuring these options, we proceed to create the snapshot by clicking on Review + create and then on Create.
After creating the snapshot, click on Go to resource.
Let's select the option Create disk, let's enter the details related to the disk and its placement: subscription, resource group, disk name, availability and size. Once all the necessary information has been entered, we complete the creation of the image by clicking on Review + create and then on Create.
After creating the disc, click again on Go to resource.
We use the option Create VM to start the process of creating a new virtual machine using this clone as the operating system disk. We'll need to provide additional details for the new VM, such as the name, resource type, region, VM size, and configurations for management and monitoring. We configure the network and storage settings according to our needs and at the end of the configuration, we complete the process by clicking on Review + create And then on Create. This will create a new cloned VM with the original VM's disk.
Azure Portal It is configured as a very useful tool for modern companies that want to manage their cloud resources in a simple and efficient way. Thanks to its centralized management offering, it facilitates the execution of complex technical operations and reduces the time needed to configure and monitor resources.
The web interface allows organizations to fully exploit the potential of Microsoft's cloud computing platform without having to delve into its more technical aspects. This allows less experienced users to use Azure services without difficulty, while veteran IT developers and administrators can benefit from a tool that centralizes and simplifies management and administration operations, allowing them to focus on more strategic tasks.
We therefore invite you to explore the potential offered by Azure Portal by registering a free account hither, try it to believe it.
The Azure Portal is a web-based interface provided by Microsoft to manage and monitor Azure cloud resources. It offers a centralized way to handle virtual machines, databases, and applications.
You can sign in to the Azure Portal using your Microsoft account credentials by visiting the Azure Portal website.
From the main dashboard, click "Create a Resource" to access a wide range of Azure services, such as virtual machines, storage, and databases.
Azure Portal offers real-time monitoring tools to track the performance of your resources, including metrics, logs, and alerts available through the "Monitoring" section.
Navigate to Microsoft Entra ID > Properties, and the Directory ID field displays your Tenant ID.
Go to Microsoft Entra ID > App Registrations, select the application, and under Certificates & Secrets, generate a new Client Secret.
To clone a VM, create a snapshot of the existing VM’s disk, then use that snapshot to create a new virtual machine.
The Infra & Security team focuses on the management and evolution of our customers' Microsoft Azure tenants. Besides configuring and managing these tenants, the team is responsible for creating application deployments through DevOps pipelines. It also monitors and manages all security aspects of the tenants and supports Security Operations Centers (SOC).
