The Azure Portal

The Azure Portal is the web-based, unified console you use to manage your Azure resources. It is accessible at portal.azure.com from any modern web browser. The portal provides a graphical user interface for everything from creating virtual machines to monitoring costs, configuring security settings, and reviewing audit logs.

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Accessing the Portal

To use the Azure Portal, you need a Microsoft account or a work/school account associated with an Azure subscription. You can sign up for a free Azure account at azure.microsoft.com, which gives you $200 in credit for 30 days plus a set of services that remain free for 12 months.

Once signed in, you arrive at the Home page, which provides quick access to recently used resources, popular services, and useful links.

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Portal Layout and Navigation

The portal interface is divided into several key areas:

The Top Bar

The top bar runs across the top of the portal and contains:

• Search bar — search for any service, resource, documentation, or Marketplace item. This is one of the fastest ways to navigate the portal.
• Cloud Shell — opens an integrated command-line environment (Bash or PowerShell) directly in the browser.
• Notifications — a bell icon showing recent activity, deployments, and alerts.
• Settings — configure portal preferences such as theme, language, and default directory.
• Directory + subscription filter — switch between Azure Entra ID tenants and subscriptions.

The Left Sidebar

The left sidebar provides navigation to frequently used services:

• Dashboard — your customisable home screen
• All services — browse the complete catalogue of Azure services
• Create a resource — launch the wizard to deploy new resources
• Resource groups — view and manage your resource groups
• Favourites — pin the services you use most for quick access

You can customise the sidebar by clicking the "hamburger" menu icon and pinning or unpinning services.

Resource Blades

When you select a resource, it opens in a blade — a sliding panel that appears on the right side of the screen. Blades can stack horizontally, so you can drill into sub-settings without losing context. For example, clicking a virtual machine opens its overview blade, and clicking "Networking" on that blade opens a nested blade showing network settings.

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Dashboards

Dashboards are customisable views that display tiles of information about your Azure resources. You can create multiple dashboards tailored to different purposes — one for development, one for production monitoring, one for cost tracking.

To create a dashboard:

1. Click Dashboard in the left sidebar
2. Click New dashboard and choose Blank dashboard or start from a template
3. Drag and drop tiles from the tile gallery — options include resource group overviews, metric charts, Markdown notes, and service health maps
4. Resize and arrange tiles as needed
5. Click Save and give your dashboard a name

Dashboards can be shared with other users in your organisation via Azure RBAC (Role-Based Access Control). A shared dashboard is stored as an Azure resource in a resource group, meaning you can control who can view or edit it.

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Creating a Resource

One of the most common tasks in the portal is creating a resource. The portal provides a guided wizard for each resource type. Here is a typical workflow: