Publishing Azure Marketplace Custom Services

  • Article

This article defines the basic concepts of Azure Marketplace custom services and explains in detail how to publish custom services on the CPP (Cloud Partner Portal). Custom services are customized solutions based on the Azure Cloud platform that are designed by service providers for users. They do not include any images or ARM templates that can be directly deployed on Azure Marketplace, so any customer wishing to use a custom service should contact the service provider directly for assistance.

Within this article, scope of “Azure Marketplace” is limited to China.

Once a custom service has been published, the customer will be able to view it in the Azure Marketplace.

1. Prerequisites and Preparations

1.1 You must have an Azure account and have registered as an Azure Marketplace service provider. Please refer to the Azure Marketplace Publisher Guide.

1.2 The main materials that need to be prepared before publication are text and images.

2. Sign in to the Cloud Partner Portal and create a custom service

  • Sign in to the CPP (Cloud Partner Portal).

  • As shown below, click "New Offer" -> "Custom Service" in the left-hand navigation bar, then start the custom service publishing process.

The custom service publication content includes three forms: "Offer Settings", "Custom Services", and "Support". Each form consists of a set of text fields to be filled in. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk (*). After each form is filled out, you must click "Save" to prevent content loss.

2.1 Offer Settings and Custom Services

The publisher and custom service ID exclusively define a custom service within the Azure Marketplace. A single publisher may have multiple custom services.

An Offer is displayed under Offers in the Azure Marketplace. Please consider Offer IDs carefully as they will be displayed in the URL:

https://market.azure.cn/marketplace/apps/{Publisher}.{OfferIdentifier}?tab=Overview

2.2 Support

Support includes Support Department contact details and technical support information.

These three sections are described in detail below.

3. Offer Settings

Offer ID

The Offer ID is the unique identifier that represents the Offer within Azure Marketplace. The Offer ID is generally the name of the product or service that the seller intends to sell on the Azure Marketplace.

The Offer ID can only include lowercase letters, numbers, dashes or underscores, may only end with lowercase letters or numbers, and may not exceed 50 characters in length. This identifier will be displayed in the product URL and ARM template. Note that once the Offer request is submitted, the field cannot be modified.

Publisher ID

The Publisher ID dropdown box allows you to select the publisher that will publish the Offer. Note that once the Offer request is submitted, the field cannot be modified.

Name

Offer names are used to identify offers on the Azure Marketplace platform. They are only displayed within the Publishing Platform, and are not displayed externally or to users. Offer names must be no longer than 50 characters or 25 Chinese characters. If possible, please include an identifiable trademark. The offer name may be the same as the title in section 4.

Select “Save” to save your progress. You will add the SKUs for your Offer in the next tab.

4. Custom Services

Title

The custom service name is the name that appears publicly in the Azure Marketplace and Azure portal. It cannot exceed 25 Chinese characters or 50 characters. If possible, please include an identifiable trademark and avoid including the company name.

Summary

The summary is visible to customers, so it should be easy to read and no longer than 100 characters or 50 Chinese characters.

Description

The description field is visible to customers. It is displayed on the product page in the Azure portal. Descriptions generally contain a simple explanation of the custom service. The recommended length is up to 100 characters.

You can add up to five links to useful information such as user guides. These links will be displayed after the ARM user guide.

Choose categories

Select as many as three categories related to the image from the category list. The selected categories will be used to match your offer to the product categories in the Azure Marketplace and Azure portal.

Marketing materials

All logos uploaded to Cloud Partner Portal must comply with the following rules:

  • The Azure layout uses a simple color palette, so please keep the number of main and secondary colors in the logo to a minimum.
  • The main colors in the Azure portal are black and white, so you should avoid using these colors as your logo background, and instead choose colors that will make your logo stand out in Azure portal. We recommend that you use a simple main color, and if you are using a transparent background, please ensure that the logo or text are not in black, white or blue.
  • Avoid using gradient backgrounds in your logo background.
  • Avoid putting any text on your logo, even if the text consists of your company or brand name. The logo should appear “smooth”, and gradients should be avoided.
  • The logo should not be stretched.
  • The logo must conform to the pixel sizes (small 40x40, large 115x115).

For screenshots, the first “cover” image will appear on both the Azure portal and Azure Marketplace image details page. Any further images will only be displayed on the Azure Marketplace image details page. You can upload a maximum of five images. Please refer to Marketing materials in the previous section for details of image specifications. Images must also conform to the 533x324 resolution requirement.

Privacy Policy URL

We suggest that the privacy statement URL address be placed on the service provider website.

Terms of use URL

We suggest that the End User License Agreement URL address is placed on the service provider company website.

Product Authorization Certificate

Product authentication files are not mandatory but uploading them speeds up approval.

5. Support

Please note that the technical and customer support information for this service is displayed on the Offer details page. The contact information that you supplied when you registered for Azure Marketplace will not be displayed on the Offer details page.

Fill in the technical support information

Please provide contact information for Technical Support. As far as possible, contact details should be given for the selected company rather than personal details, to prevent this information becoming invalid due to personal changes.

Fill in customer service support information

Please provide contact details for Customer Support. As far as possible, contact details should be given for the selected company rather than personal details, to prevent this information becoming invalid due to personal changes.

After you finished entering the information, please select “Save” to save your progress.

Next steps

After you have finished creating a custom service, the next steps are to submit onboard requests for Onboard requests and administrator approval.

Feedback

  • If you have any questions about this documentation, please submit user feedback in the Azure Marketplace.
  • You can also look for solutions in the FAQs.