Microsoft Azure provides the capability to use command line tools such as PowerShell without having it installed on your computer. This is accomplished via Azure Cloud Shell. Azure Cloud Shell can help you get working in Azure quickly on different platforms, or even from a loaner machine. There are many situations where you might not have your normally loaded computer, but you still need to work in Azure. Azure Cloud Shell can be quite handy.

There are a few different ways to get at the shell.

Method 1 - Access from Azure Portal

The Azure Cloud Shell can be launched by selecting the icon on the toolbar in the Azure portal.

While this method works, it’s a probably best for just running a few commands as it takes up a bit of screen real estate within the Azure Portal browser window.

Method 2 - Direct Link

The second method is one I recommend if you plan to do longer tasks such as writing and debugging scripts, troubleshooting, etc. The second method is to launch the cloud shell from the link https://shell.azure.com/ . I recommend running this either in a separate tab, or in an independent window altogether based on your work style.

Accessing Azure Cloud Shell from a New Window

Resources

Jluk. (n.d.). Azure Cloud Shell overview. Retrieved from https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-shell/overview