Managing a Bring Your Own (BYO) Azure Cloud Account

Overview

Heropa supports the use of your own Microsoft Azure subscription for provisioning virtual machines and resources. This article explains how to configure a Bring Your Own (BYO) Azure Cloud Account, including prerequisites, credential setup, and regional configuration within the Heropa Admin Portal.

Prerequisites in Azure

Creating a BYO Azure Cloud Account in Heropa

Prerequisites in Azure

Before creating your Azure Cloud Account in Heropa, you must prepare your Azure tenancy with the required resources and permissions.

Create an Azure App Registration and Role

You will need to:

• Create an Azure App Registration for Heropa. 
• Create a custom role that grants the necessary permissions. 
• Assign the custom role to the App Registration.

📄 Contact Heropa Support for the configuration document that provides step-by-step instructions your IT team can follow to set up the App Registration and role assignment correctly.

💡 Recommendation:

For best results, use a dedicated Azure subscription for Heropa to ensure permissions and policies can be configured in line with the platform’s requirements.

Create Storage Accounts and Containers

In each Azure region that you plan to use, create:

• A resource group 
• A storage account 
• A storage container for storing and managing VHD images used when launching virtual machines.

📄 Contact Heropa Support if you require detailed instructions for creating these storage resources.

Creating a BYO Azure Cloud Account in Heropa

Once your Azure environment is prepared, you can set up the Cloud Account in the Heropa Admin Portal.

Steps

1. Log in to the Heropa Admin Portal as a Full Admin. 
2. Navigate to Administration → Cloud Accounts. 
3. Click Add in the top-right corner. 
4. Select Azure as the Cloud Account type. 
5. Provide the following details: 
   1. Subscription ID 
   2. Tenancy ID 
   3. App ID 
   4. App Secret
6.  Click Test to verify that: 
   1. The Azure App details have been configured and saved correctly 
   2. The Azure App has been assigned a role with the required permissions. 
7. Once the test passes successfully, click Save.

Configuring Regions for Your Azure Cloud Account

After saving your Azure Cloud Account, you’ll need to configure the regions associated with it.

Steps

1. Navigate to Administration → Cloud Accounts, then select your Azure Cloud Account. 
2. Click on the Regions tab. 
   You’ll see a list of Azure regions assigned to your Heropa account. 
3. Each will initially show: 
   1. Resource Group: Undefined 
   2. Storage Account: Undefined 
   3. Storage Container: Undefined 
4. Click on the first region you want to configure. 
5. Enter: 
   1. Resource Group Name 
   2. Storage Account Name 
   3. Storage Container Name 
   4. Storage Account Key 
6. Click Save. 
7. Click Test to validate regional permissions. 
   A modal will appear allowing you to run a test to confirm storage access.

✅ If successful, the region is now ready for provisioning within Heropa.

Managing and Updating Account Details

Update Account Credentials

If you need to update your Azure App credentials:

1. Go to Administration → Cloud Accounts. 
2. Click on your Azure Cloud Account. 
3. Update the Subscription ID, App ID, Tenant ID, or App Secret as needed. 
4. Click Test to verify the configuration.

Set Secret Expiration Reminder

When creating your Azure App Secret, it will have an expiration date.

You can record this date in the Cloud Account details within Heropa, to help track when the secret is due for rotation.

Internal Notes

Admins can add internal notes in the Cloud Account’s details page for internal documentation or handover purposes.

Editing Cloud Account Information

You can rename your Cloud Account or add a description.

1. Go to Administration → Cloud Accounts. 
2. Select your Azure Cloud Account. 
3. Click the Action button in the top-right corner, then select Edit Information. 
4. Update the Name and Description, then click Save.

Editing Region Descriptions

You can also edit the description of each region (but not the region name).

1. Open the Regions tab under your Cloud Account. 
2. Click the region name. Click Action → Edit Information. 
3. Enter a Description and click Save.

The region description appears beneath the region name on your public Compatibility Test page at:
https://companyname.heropa.com/test
This can be used to help students understand which region test result is relevant to them.