Are you looking for a way to host your website and/or application? You can do so easily on the open-source platform called Azure Cloud Server. Launched in June 2023, Azure Cloud Server is a completely free service created by Microsoft to provide a simple, yet reliable and secure way for website owners to host their content. Just like Google Cloud Server, which it was inspired by, Azure Cloud Server is a fully managed service. This basically means you won’t have to worry about any of the technicalities of operating a server. The service is completely secure and offers features such as free bandwidth and data transfers, automated backups, free daily site updates, and more.
Creating Your Free Account
To get started, all you need is a valid email address. Then, click the button below to create your free Azure Cloud Server account:
You’ll then be brought to the dashboard, where you can view all the details about your new account. From here, you can configure basic account settings, such as the name of your website or application, the email address associated with the account, and the password.
As mentioned, the name of your website (or application) is one of the key fields. You can name it anything you want, but you should pick a name that is easy for people to remember and doesn’t violate any trademark laws. Keep in mind that the name you choose will be displayed on your public website (more on this later).
The email address associated with the account is also crucial. This will be the address that others will use to contact you, so it is important to choose a unique and memorable email address. Remember, this is the email address that will be linked to your account, so try to avoid using any kind of email service that may randomly generate email addresses for you (like a Hotmail or a Gmail account).
The last step is to set a strong password for the account. You can do this by clicking the Change Password button on the right side of the dashboard.
Once you’ve set a strong password, you’ll be able to log in to your account and access all the features of Azure Cloud Server. Don’t worry — you’re not required to make any changes at this point as everything else will be handled for you. But if you want to get the most out of the service, you’ll need to do a little more manually. For example, you can use the free Automatic Backups feature to create daily backups of your website or application, or use the free CDN (Content Delivery Network) to accelerate your site’s performance. These are just a few examples of the features that can be useful for anyone who uses this service to host their websites or applications.
Managing Your Free Account
As mentioned before, all the technicalities of operating a server are handled automatically for you on Azure Cloud Server. This means you don’t need to worry about any of that stuff. What you need to do is simply add content to your website (or application) and enjoy the benefits.
To add content to your website, simply log in to your account and click the Plus sign to the right of the Home page. This will take you to a dashboard where you can add websites, blogs, and galleries to your account. Each of these can then be used to host content that can be accessed from all over the world. You can add as many of these content types as you want, and can edit their settings (including the name) from here. Once you’ve added all the content you want, simply click the Save button at the top of the dashboard to save your changes.
You can add blogs to your account using a service called WordPress.com. Just click the WordPress.com link at the top of the dashboard to log in and create a new blog. You’ll then be presented with a dashboard where you can simply add content to the blog.
Adding content to your application is a lot simpler than adding content to your website. To do this, click the Add new app button on the right side of the screen to launch the app browser. Now that you’re in the app browser, simply search for the name of the application or drag the icon for the application to the dashboard.
When you add an app to your account, a new menu option will appear in the dashboard under the plus sign. This will let you access all the features of the application. You can log in to the application using the email address associated with your Azure account, and the password you set when you created your account. This is also where you can modify settings for your app, including the DNS (Domain Name System) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) pointers. These settings can be useful for anyone who wants to use this service to host their application.
You can use the dashboard to manage all the features of your free account. From here, you can click on any item to access more information about that feature.
To create a backup of your website or application, click the Backup button on the right side of the dashboard. You’ll then be presented with a list of all the websites or applications you have access to through the service. Simply select the ones you want to back up and click the Next button. This will take you to a screen where you can set a name for the backup and choose whether to back up all the files or just the database.
Setting up automatic backups is easy and only takes a few minutes. To do this, click the Backup button and then the Add backup button to the right of the screen. You’ll then be brought to a screen where you can enter a name and description for the backup. After this, all you have to do is select the frequency of the backup (daily, weekly, or monthly) and whether to back up all the files or just the database. Click the Next button to continue adding more backups.
Using Your Free Account
Once you’ve added all the content you want to to your website or application, you can start using them immediately by simply going to the URL for your site/application in a web browser.
If you add a blog to your account, you’ll be able to read and write blogs just as you would on any other WordPress-based site. You can click the gear icon to the right of the Quick Add menu to access the WordPress settings for your site. From here, you can configure various options for your blog, including the name, email address, and even the password for the site.
As mentioned before, the DNS and SSL settings (if you opted to use these with your blog) can be found in the app browser under the DNS and SSL tabs. You can configure these settings here to point to your own custom domain (such as blog.martinhq.com), or use Google’s public DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) if you don’t have a custom domain.
You can access all the files for your site or application directly through the dashboard. Just click on the file menu for the website or application and you’ll be brought to your repository where you can see all the files. You can download any of these files directly from here.
If you have a paid account with Microsoft, you can use this to access your Azure Cloud Server-based websites and applications from anywhere. Simply log in to your account and click the green button to the right of the screen. This will present you with a list of all the sites and applications you have access to through the service. Alternatively, you can use the search bar at the top of the dashboard to search for specific sites and applications.
Last but not least, we have the option to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for your account. This is important because it adds an extra layer of security to your account, preventing unauthorized access. All you have to do to enable 2FA is click the two-factor authentication button and add a security code to your account via email or a text message.
After adding the security code, you’ll be prompted to visit a page on the service to validate the code. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to log in to your account with two-factor authentication in place.
Pro-rated Billing
Azure Cloud Server is a free service, so Microsoft doesn’t want you to have to worry about spending any money. This is why they’ve provided an option for you to pay only for what you use. This option is called Pro-rated Billing and can be found at the bottom of the Billing section in your dashboard.