Azure Portal: Navigating Your Cloud Resources
Welcome to the Azure Portal
The Azure portal is a unified, browser-based, cloud management experience. It allows you to create, manage, and monitor all your Azure resources. Whether you're a developer, IT administrator, or business user, the portal provides a powerful interface to interact with the Azure platform.
Key Features and Navigation
The Azure portal is designed for intuitive navigation. Here are some of its core components:
- Global Search: Quickly find resources, services, and documentation.
- Azure Services: A comprehensive list of all available Azure services.
- Favorites: Pin frequently used services and resources for quick access.
- All Resources: A centralized view of all your Azure subscriptions and resources.
- Resource Groups: Logical containers for managing related Azure resources.
- Cloud Shell: An interactive, authenticated, browser-accessible shell for managing resources with Bash or PowerShell.
- Notifications: Stay updated on service health, alerts, and important announcements.
- User Settings: Customize your portal experience, manage subscriptions, and access directories.
Getting Started with the Portal
- Sign In: Access the Azure portal at portal.azure.com.
- Explore Services: Browse the Azure Services menu to discover available offerings.
- Create Resources: Use the "+" button to create new virtual machines, storage accounts, web apps, and more.
- Monitor: Utilize dashboards and alerts to monitor the health and performance of your resources.
- Manage: Configure settings, scale resources, and manage access for your Azure environment.
Managing Resources
Once you've created resources, you can manage them through their dedicated overview pages. These pages typically include:
- Overview: A summary of the resource's status and key metrics.
- Settings: Configuration options for the resource.
- Monitoring: Metrics, diagnostic logs, and alerts.
- Automation: Options for scripting and automated management.
- Access Control (IAM): Manage who has access to the resource.
For example, to manage a virtual machine:
// Example of navigating to a Virtual Machine in the portal
1. Go to "Virtual machines" in the portal menu.
2. Select your desired VM from the list.
3. Use the left-hand menu on the VM's page to access settings, monitoring, etc.
Best Practices
- Organize resources using Resource Groups.
- Implement strong access control policies (RBAC).
- Utilize Azure Advisor for recommendations.
- Set up monitoring and alerts for critical resources.
- Regularly review security recommendations.