Launching Your Free Trial

Transcription

1 Launching Your Free Trial SoftNAS offers you two methods to try out our product, SoftNAS Cloud, on Microsoft Azure. SoftNAS offers a free test drive, which provides a quick, pre-configured instance designed to allow you to navigate and learn about SoftNAS Cloud. However, while the test drive provides a good sense of the many features, along with the look and feel for SoftNAS Cloud, it does not allow the time or resources required to test the complete solution for that, SoftNAS offers a Free 30-Day Trial. The SoftNAS Cloud free trial offers you two 30-day licenses for the full-featured product. While these SoftNAS Cloud licenses are separate from the USD $200 credit and free account offered by Microsoft Azure, as a new user, these separate offers can be leveraged together, ensuring a completely free trial, without incurring costs from SoftNAS or Microsoft Azure. Select "Path A: Free Trial, New Subscription" if you are a new user, without an active Azure subscription If you are a current Azure subscriber, you will be financially responsible for the underlying Azure resources used but will still benefit from the free licenses provided by the SoftNAS Cloud free trial. Select "Path B: Azure Subscriber" if you already have an Azure subscription. Path A: Free Trial, New Subscription To launch your SoftNAS Cloud free trial, simply click the Create Virtual Machine button. This will take you to the Azure Portal Login screen, where you can log in with your Microsoft account credentials.

2 If you have not accessed the Azure portal previously or have entered a non-microsoft address, you will most likely be directed to a separate Microsoft Account login page. Login as usual if you have a Microsoft account; otherwise, you will have the option to create one from this page. Upon your successful login, you will then be taken to the Azure Portal, and if you already have an existing Azure subscription, you can immediately begin creating your free SoftNAS Cloud Instance. In order to test all the available features, ensure that "Resource Manager" is selected and click Create.

3 If you are a new user, you will not already have an Azure subscription, and you will be prompted to create one. Click Sign Up for a New Subscription. Select Free Trial. This initiates the Azure free subscription, along with the corresponding USD $200 credit.

4 Enter the required information to receive your subscription. After you have entered your information and verified your account, you will be greeted by an Azure Subscription welcome screen. From here, you can either click Start managing my service or close the window and restart the process via the method shown in "Path B: Azure Subscriber". Note: To skip to Path B and open SoftNAS Cloud on Azure Marketplace page click here.

5 This will take you to the Azure Portal Dashboard. To verify your Azure subscription free trial is properly activated, you can check your notifications along the top bar.

6 To initiate your SoftNAS Cloud free trial, you will need to find SoftNAS Cloud through the Azure Marketplace. Click "New" from the left menu bar, and type: SoftNAS. Select SoftNAS Cloud Standard or SoftNAS Cloud Express from the listed options. To verify the instance you have chosen is part of the free trial offer, you will note Free Trial Enabled at the top of the description. Ensure Resource Manager is selected, and click: Create. You can then begin configuring your instance. For more guidance on creating an instance, you can check out a SoftNAS Cloud video: Or you can review the SoftNAS Cloud documentation:

7 configure_a_virtual_machine_in_azure.html

8 Path B: Azure Subscriber If you are an Azure subscriber, the process is even simpler since you won't have to create a new subscription to begin creating your SoftNAS Cloud instance. You can begin creating your instance immediately after login with your Azure credentials. Ensure that SoftNAS Cloud Standard or SoftNAS Cloud Express is selected and click the green button. Log into your existing Microsoft Azure account. If you have logged in and have an existing subscription, you will be taken directly to the SoftNAS Cloud Standard product. To verify the instance type you have chosen is part of the free trial offer, you will note Free Trial Enabled at the top of the description. Ensure Resource Manager is selected and click: Create.

9 You can now begin configuring your instance. For more guidance on creating an instance, you can check out the SoftNAS Cloud video: Or you can review the SoftNAS Cloud documentation: configure_a_virtual_machine_in_azure.html

10 Contact Information Sales , Opt. 1 sales@softnas.com Support Mailing Address SoftNAS, Inc West Road Ste Houston, TX 77064