Windows Azure: Accessing Your SharePoint VM from a Local Browser

If you have created a Virtual Machine in Windows Azure for SharePoint and would like to be able to access the SharePoint site from your local browser instead of on the server itself via remote desktop, just follow these simple easy steps to make it happen.

First navigate to your Windows Azure management portal and select the Virtual Machines:

 

Select the SharePoint VM top open up the Dashboard. Click the ENDPOINTS link:

 

At the bottom of the Endpoints screen, click on ADD ENDPOINT. The Add Endpoint dialog appears.

 

Click the Next arrow on the the first page of the dialog wizard:

 

Enter a name and 80 for the ports. Click the Complete Check button:

 



 

The VM is updated with the endpoint which takes about 30-60 seconds:

 

 

When the update is complete, a green check mark appears next to the name. When this happens, click on the DASHBOARD link to return to the VM dashboard:

 

 

Back on the VM dashboard page, locate and copy the public virtual IP address located on the right hand side of the page under the quick glance section:

 

Using Windows Explorer on your local machine, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. Locate the Hosts file and double click to open. Open with Notepad.

 

Inside the hosts file, paste the IP address and add the host name. The host name could be the server name, a host header name, and/or your SharePoint root URL. 

 

 

Open a browser on the local machine and enter http://hostname. When prompted enter your SharePoint VM credentials (don't forget the domain name). Your browser should render your SharePoint VM root site collection accordingly: