Microsoft Azure Portal – Complete Beginner Guide ☁️

🔷 What is Azure Portal?

Azure Portal is a web-based management console used to:

• Create Azure resources
• Configure & monitor services
• Manage security, billing, and users

👉 URL: https://portal.azure.com

🧭 Azure Portal Main Components

🔹 Home

• Quick access to common services
• Recent resources
• Azure Marketplace

🔹 Dashboard

• Customizable view
• Pin resources, charts, metrics

🔹 All Services

• Lists all Azure services
• Categories: Compute, Networking, Storage, Security

🔹 Resource Groups

• Logical containers for Azure resources
• Manage lifecycle together

🧱 Core Azure Resources

🖥️ Compute

• Virtual Machines (VMs)
• App Services
• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

🌐 Networking

• Virtual Network (VNet)
• Subnets
• Network Security Groups (NSG)
• Load Balancer

💾 Storage

• Storage Accounts
• Blob Storage
• File Storage

🗄️ Databases

• Azure SQL Database
• Cosmos DB

🔐 Security & Identity

• Azure Active Directory (Entra ID)
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Key Vault
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud

📊 Monitoring & Management

• Azure Monitor
• Log Analytics
• Alerts
• Advisor (best practices)

💰 Cost & Billing

• Cost Management + Billing
• Budgets & alerts
• Pay-as-you-go pricing

🧪 Example: Create a Virtual Machine (VM)

1. Login to Azure Portal
2. Click Create a resource → Virtual Machine
3. Choose:

• Subscription
• Resource Group
• Region
• OS (Windows/Linux)

1. Configure:

• Size
• Authentication (SSH / Password)

1. Networking:

• VNet
• Public IP
• NSG rules

1. Review + Create

⚙️ Common Azure Portal Actions

TaskLocationCreate VMCompute → Virtual MachinesManage UsersEntra ID → UsersAssign RolesResource → Access Control (IAM)View LogsMonitor → LogsSet AlertsMonitor → Alerts

🎯 Interview Questions

Q: What is a Resource Group?

A: A container that holds related Azure resources.

Q: What is RBAC?

A: Role-Based Access Control for permissions.

Q: Difference between Azure Portal and Azure CLI?

Portal = GUI, CLI = command line automation.

Q: What is NSG?

Controls inbound/outbound network traffic.