You just got onboarded into a cool Azure program like the Microsoft for Startups or ID@Azure and got a bunch of Azure Credits and are wondering how you can activate them? Then you are in the right place as I will explain some concepts for folks that don’t have an Azure Account yet and people that want to apply their credits to an existing subscription.
I don’t have an Azure account yet!
Now if you don’t have an Azure account yet, don’t worry getting you started is straight forward. Follow the instructions in your onboarding mail or get to your benefits portal and click on the offer to activate it. This will get you to the Azure Account creation page. This page will ask you to provide a credit card! Don’t worry Azure won’t use this to charge you, instead it is used to validate your identity.
As a new user you usually perform this operation with your personal Microsoft Account, which is fine, no worries, you still can operate as a company. Signing up will create two important things.
- Azure Active Directory (AAD) tenant
- Azure Subscription linked to your AAD
The AAD tenant is the home of user and access management towards your Azure Subscriptions as well as the Microsoft Partner Center or Azure Dev Ops. If you were already part of ID@Xbox or have a Partner Center account or have M365, you already have a AAD tenant! Make sure when signing up to user your account associate with that AAD.
After signing up with your personal Microsoft Account you will end up with a tenant account like: yourname#EXE#@yourname.onmicrosoft.com
No worries, one of the first things in your agenda, even before creating more accounts in AAD, is to assign your custom domain to AAD!
I already have an Azure Account
If you read until this paragraph changes are high that you already have an AAD and subscription setup, maybe even running services against the subscription and paying Microsoft for the use. Activating your offer will always generate a new subscription (well, almost). In this case simply move your existing resources into your new subscription (Disclaimer, moving resources across AAD tenants is a whole other beast), so that they are covered by your credits!
I have an MCA, help!
Only read this if you have an MCA! in Short, you can use your credits as a billing profile and assign your desired subscriptions against that profile and you are good to go!
Conclusion
Thats it, it looks scary, but in the end its quite simple to set up once you understand what can happen.And don’t forget, when in doubt, make sure to reach out to your partner manager! If you got credits, someone likes you and you most likely know them.