Popular Lesson
1.1 – Getting Started With Azure Lesson
What you'll learn
Understand how Azure accounts, tenants, and directories relate to each other for secure access.
Identify the role and purpose of subscriptions and how they help organize resources in Azure.
Recognize the importance of resource groups for managing and structuring your Azure resources.
Distinguish various Azure resources you’ll use, including virtual machines, databases, and machine learning workspaces.
Set up a free Azure account with $200 in credits as your starting point for learning and experimentation.
Evaluate what each account option offers before deciding what best matches your project or learning goals.
Lesson Overview
This lesson introduces Microsoft Azure’s structure and the key building blocks needed before you can run any AI model in the cloud. If you’re new to Azure or coming from another cloud platform, understanding its hierarchy—like tenants, subscriptions, and resource groups—will help you confidently set up your environment and avoid common mistakes.
You’ll learn why Azure groups resources in layers and how this impacts who can access your tools and data. The lesson explains how each part, such as the tenant (your private “house” in Azure), directory (where users and groups are managed), and subscriptions (which can separate projects or teams), fit together. You’ll also get a first look at resource groups, which help you stay organized as your projects grow.
The lesson is especially useful if you want to create new AI solutions or experiment with Azure’s services, and it compares Azure’s structure to what you might know from other cloud providers to clear up confusion. Real-world uses include team-based project management, student exercises in setting up workspaces, or independent evaluation of Azure’s free tier for development purposes.
Who This Is For
Getting started with Azure is a must for anyone setting out to build AI models or cloud-based applications on Microsoft’s platform. This lesson is especially relevant if you are:
- Data scientists new to Microsoft Azure looking to run experiments in the cloud.
- Developers or engineers preparing to set up scalable infrastructure for AI or machine learning.
- Educators or students seeking a sandbox for hands-on practice in cloud AI tools.
- IT managers evaluating Azure’s security and organization for team projects.
- Independent learners or entrepreneurs wanting to take advantage of Azure’s free trial for initial experimentation.
- Comprehensive, Business-Centric Curriculum
- Fast-Track Your AI Skills
- Build Custom AI Tools for Your Business
- AI-Driven Visual & Presentation Creation
Where This Fits in a Workflow
Creating your Azure account and understanding how its resources are organized comes before any actual AI model development. It is the very first workflow step: before you build or deploy anything, you need a secure, structured environment. For example, a student might set up an Azure account and resource group before starting a class assignment in AI; a developer at a business might create multiple subscriptions to separate development and testing work. Once you complete this lesson, you’ll have access to the Azure portal and the basic containers where all future resources (like AI workspaces, storage, and compute) will be held.
Technical & Workflow Benefits
Setting up Azure correctly from the start saves time and prevents confusion down the line. In the past, working with on-premises servers or poorly structured cloud environments required manual management of permissions and resources, making mistakes more likely and cleanup harder. Azure’s layered model—tenants, directories, subscriptions, and resource groups—provides clear boundaries and organization. For example, separating projects into different resource groups or subscriptions makes it easier to control costs and permissions. Using the free account lets you experiment without financial risk, which is much safer than trial-and-error on a pay-as-you-go basis. As projects scale, Azure’s organization makes onboarding, handoff, and troubleshooting much more efficient, especially for teams.
Practice Exercise
To solidify your understanding, take these steps:
- Visit the official Microsoft Azure free account signup page and review both account options shown at the top: the $200 free trial and the pay-as-you-go plan.
- Sign up for the Azure free account (if you don’t already have an account), making sure to observe the initial $1 authorization.
- After signing up, locate your tenant, subscription, and default directory in the Azure portal.
Reflect: Compare Azure’s organization (tenant, subscription, resource group) to your previous experience with cloud or IT environments. Does this structure seem clearer or more complex? Why?
Course Context Recap
This is the first lesson in the “Building Your First AI Model with Microsoft Azure” advanced course. Here, you’re laying the groundwork by setting up an Azure account and learning the essential organizational concepts that every Azure project relies on. You’ll use these basics as a foundation for all later lessons, which will walk through setting up AI-specific resources, exploring tools, and running your first model. Continue with the next lesson to start building the actual environment and launching AI experiments within Azure, or revisit this lesson if you need to clarify the setup process. This is just the start—advance through the course to unlock the full workflow.