🚀 Day 1: Azure Zero to Hero Series - Setting up Your Azure Account and Deploying Your First Virtual Machine

Welcome to Day 1 of the Azure Zero to Hero series!
Today, we’ll walk through:

• Creating your Azure free account

• Exploring the Azure Portal

• Launching your first Virtual Machine (VM) using the Portal

Let’s get started! 🔧

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☁️ Step 1: Create Your Free Azure Account

Microsoft offers $200 free credits for 30 days when you sign up, plus free tier services for 12 months (like Linux/Windows VMs, storage, databases, and more).

👉 Go to: https://azure.microsoft.com/free

🔑 You’ll need:

• Microsoft account (Gmail/Outlook/etc.)

• Mobile number

• Credit/debit card (for identity verification only – no charges!)

✅ After sign-up, you’ll land on the Azure Portal – your cloud dashboard.

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💻 Step 2: Explore the Azure Portal

Azure Portal: A web-based UI for creating, managing, and monitoring Azure resources.

Here’s what you’ll see:

• Dashboard: Customizable view of your services

• All Services: List of over 200 Azure services

• Search Bar: Quickly find services (e.g., "Virtual Machines")

• Cloud Shell: Browser-based CLI for running Azure commands

🔍 Explore some core services like:

• Virtual Machines

• Storage Accounts

• App Services

• Resource Groups

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🧱 Step 3: Create a Resource Group

A Resource Group is a container to hold related Azure resources (VMs, storage, IPs, etc.).

📌 Steps:

1. In the Portal, click “Resource Groups”

2. Click “+ Create”

3. Fill details:

   • Subscription: Free Trial

   • Resource Group Name: my-first-rg

   • Region: Choose nearest to your location (e.g., East US, Central India)

4. Click “Review + Create” → “Create”

✅ Done! Now, let’s launch a VM inside it.

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⚙️ Step 4: Deploy Your First Virtual Machine

We’ll create a basic Ubuntu Linux VM using the Azure Portal.

🧭 Steps:

1. In the search bar, type “Virtual Machines”

2. Click “+ Create” → “Azure Virtual Machine”

   

3. Basics tab:

   • Subscription: Free Trial

   • Resource Group: my-first-rg

   • VM name: myfirstvm

   • Region: Same as Resource Group

   • Availability options: No infrastructure redundancy required (for now)

   • Image: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

   • Size: Select B1s (Free tier eligible)

   • Authentication type: Password

   • Username: azureuser

   • Password: (create a strong password)

   • Public inbound ports: Allow selected ports → SSH (22)

4. Click “Review + Create” → “Create”

Azure will begin deploying your VM. It usually takes 2–3 minutes.

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🌐 Step 5: Connect to Your VM

Once deployed:

1. Go to your VM → Click “Connect” → “SSH”

2. Copy the SSH command:

    ssh azureuser@<public-ip>
   

3. Paste it into your local terminal (Linux/macOS) or use PuTTY on Windows

✅ You’re now logged into your first cloud-hosted VM!

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📌 Cleanup and save credits

To avoid using free credits:

• Go to Resource Groups → my-first-rg

• Click “Delete Resource Group”

• Type the name and confirm deletion

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✅ Summary

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💡 What’s Next?

In Day 2, we’ll explore:

• Azure CLI vs PowerShell

• Installing Azure CLI

• Creating resources using command-line tools

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🗨️ Got stuck or have questions? Drop a comment!
📢 Follow for more days in the Azure Zero to Hero journey!

🔗 Stay tuned for Day 2: Working with Azure CLI – Automate Your Infrastructure