Create an Azure service principal using Azure Portal

To securely access resource and data on your Azure account, proper Azure account credentials must be used.  These credentials are available using a special programmatic account — an Azure service principal — to generate the required credentials.

A service principal for Azure cloud services is analogous to a Microsoft Windows service account that enables Windows processes to communicate with each other within an Active Directory domain.

Assumptions

1. Account must have Microsoft.Authorization/*/Write access.

Steps to create a Service Pricipal are as follows:

1. Log in to the Azure portal and click Azure Active Directory.  

2. In the Azure Active Directory Blade, click on "App registrations". 

3. Click on "New registration" on the top . 

4. Enter the information infomation. 

    a. Name (Required). This is the name of the Service Principal

    b. Supported account types  (Required). This is the scope of the application

    c. Redirect URI (optional).

5. Click on Register and a new page will open. 

6. Copy the Application (client) ID (1).

7. Copy the Directory (tenant) ID (2).

8. Click on the "Certificate & secrets" (3) as shown in the above diagram.

8. Under "Client secrets", click on 

9. Specify the following values and click Save.

    a. Description. Description of the key.

    b. Expires. Select the appropriate duration.  

10. The key is saved and the key value appears in the VALUE column.

11.  Copy the key VALUE and store it in a secure place.

NOTE: Do not leave the page until you have copied and saved the key value. The value will not appear again. A new key will have to be created.