Azure Authentication for Deployment - Powershell

Question

For deployment to Azure we would need to authenticate, and we have two methods to achieve this.
1. Publish Setting File
Download the publish setting and use the Subscription Name to Set your Subscription before deployment
2. Managed Certificate
Create and upload the .cer file to the management Portal
Use the .pfx associated to be installed in the client machine, during deployment and authenticate with the thumbprints
Can some one tell me which one is better, in terms of Security, Manageability and ease of usage!
Thanks,
Pradebban Raja

Answer 1

Hi,
Based on my experience, the first way is easy to deploy, but the second way is safer.
When you use the first way, you can download an xml file, and the management certificate’s public key is also added to the management certificates collection of the selected subscription.
After saving the file to your local machine you need to run the Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile cmdlet, it updates the Windows Azure PowerShell cmdlets profile data stored in your Roaming profile folder(%appdata%/Windows Azure Powershell). It also imports
the management certificate into your Personal Certificate store so it is accessible by PowerShell.
Best regards,
Susie
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