Microsoft's Azure service is very similar to Amazon's AWS. Both can be considered enterprise-level services, and both offer a tremendous level of flexibility and power, with a really slick UI. Surprisingly, even though it's a Microsoft product, you can spin up instances of Linux environments using Azure, as well as host your Node.js and MongoDB apps.
The first thing you will need, like with any other service, is a registered account at http://azure.microsoft.com. You can use an existing Microsoft Live login if you have one; otherwise, you can register for a new account fairly easily. Once you're logged in to the Azure service, the first thing you'll be presented with is your primary dashboard. The icons to the left are all ...
