What is Azure's Cloud Shell?
To work proficiently with Azure as an Azure Developer, Azure Administrator, or any other position related to Azure, you must be familiar with two tools: Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell.
Azure provides an alternative, where you don’t have to install Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell on your local machine, known as Azure Cloud Shell.
Azure Cloud Shell
Azure Cloud Shell is an extension that helps you run Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell commands from within your browser. You get the option to run the command-line as
Additionally, the Cloud Shell automatically authenticates you with your Azure account. Below is a snapshot, where you can see where the Cloud Shell option is present in the Azure Portal.
The first option, which involves a greater than sign followed by an underscore, is the Azure Cloud Shell extension. It is located at the top right corner of the Azure Portal.
When you start the Azure Cloud Shell for the first time, you need to mount Azure storage to run the Cloud Shell. The shell reads the profile information from the storage account.
How to set up Azure Cloud Shell
Once you start Azure Cloud Shell for the first time, you will be asked to create a storage account, as shown in the snapshot below.
If you want to know what’s created in detail, click on Show advanced settings. You will get something similar to the snapshot below.
Once you have verified all the details, click on Create Storage. Then, wait for a few seconds and voila! You are now ready to use
As you can see in the snapshot above, the Cloud Shell automatically logs in to the Azure account. We are then ready to run all the Azure commands from right within the browser. Below is a sample snapshot to list all the resources available.
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