Introducing Azure Cloud Shell

One of the most convenient services, which I use daily, is Azure Cloud Shell. Azure Cloud Shell is an interactive command shell that supports Bash and PowerShell. Rather than installing the PowerShell Az module locally, we will use Azure Cloud Shell for the examples in this book. Azure Cloud Shell also includes a lightweight code editor that we will see later when we examine the code examples for this chapter.

Azure Cloud Shell requires a storage account, which can be created the first time you try to open Cloud Shell. Azure Cloud Shell can be accessed via https://shell.azure.com or by clicking the Azure Cloud Shell icon on the Azure portal's header menu (see Figure 2.6).

Figure 2.6 – Cloud Shell icon

The first time you open Azure Cloud Shell, you will be prompted to select either Bash or PowerShell as your default shell (see Figure 2.7). Select PowerShell. You can switch shells at any time.

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