Deployment prerequisite
An active paid Azure subscription
GovConvert runs inside your own Azure tenant. Azure creates resources under a subscription, so the deployment needs an active subscription with a valid payment method before the Marketplace wizard runs.
What the deployment needs
A Microsoft Entra ID tenant
Your Microsoft 365 tenant already includes one. GovConvert uses it for single sign-on, so the deployment belongs in the same tenant your team signs in to.
An active Azure subscription with a payment method
A subscription is the billing container for Azure resources. GovConvert provisions App Service, PostgreSQL, Key Vault, and Storage inside it. Without an active subscription, the Marketplace Create wizard has no place to deploy.
Owner rights on that subscription
The admin who runs the deployment needs the Owner role, or the Contributor and User Access Administrator roles together. Those rights let the wizard create the resource group and assign the managed identity its permissions.
Create a subscription
Follow these steps if your organization has no Azure subscription yet. The sign-up takes about 15 minutes.
- 1
Sign in to the Azure portal
Go to portal.azure.com and sign in with a Global Administrator account from your Microsoft 365 tenant. Confirm the directory in the account menu is your organization tenant.
- 2
Open Subscriptions
Search for Subscriptions in the portal search bar and open it. Existing subscriptions are listed with their status. A status of Active means the subscription is ready to use.
- 3
Add a Pay-As-You-Go subscription
Select Add, then choose the Pay-As-You-Go offer. Organizations with an Enterprise Agreement, a Microsoft Customer Agreement, or a CSP partner add a subscription under that agreement instead.
- 4
Enter your billing details
Provide the company billing address, a credit card or another approved payment method, and a phone number for identity verification. Microsoft bills you directly for the Azure resources at your rates.
- 5
Name the subscription
Give the subscription a name your admins recognize, such as GovConvert Production. The name appears in the Marketplace Create wizard when you pick the deployment target.
- 6
Confirm the subscription is active
Return to Subscriptions and check that the new entry shows a status of Active. Activation is usually immediate, and it can take a few minutes.
- 7
Check your role on the subscription
Open the subscription, select Access control (IAM), then View my access. Confirm you hold Owner, or both Contributor and User Access Administrator. Grant the deploying admin those roles if they are missing.
If you already have a subscription
Most organizations that use Microsoft 365 already hold an Azure subscription. Confirm three items before the deployment date.
- The subscription status is Active and the payment method is current.
- The subscription sits in the same tenant your team uses for Microsoft 365 sign-in.
- The deploying admin holds Owner, or Contributor with User Access Administrator.
Points to plan for
Free accounts and trial credit
An Azure free account includes a credit for the first 30 days. The credit can cover early usage, and the subscription must be upgraded to Pay-As-You-Go before the credit period ends. A subscription that is disabled for an expired credit stops the running deployment.
Azure Government
Azure Government subscriptions are bought through Microsoft or an authorized reseller, and they require an eligibility review. Start that process early, because the review takes longer than a commercial sign-up. GovConvert deploys to Azure Commercial and Azure Government.
What the subscription costs
The subscription itself carries no fee. You pay for the Azure resources GovConvert runs. Base Azure costs are about $55 a month depending on options and settings, billed by Microsoft at your rates. The GovConvert license is billed separately at $105 per seat.
Next step
With an active subscription in place, the Marketplace Create wizard provisions the GovConvert stack in about 15 minutes.