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Azure Surf Viewer Quick Start

Follow this quick start guide to deploy Surf Viewer from Azure Marketplace, complete the initial bootstrap, onboard your organization, ingest DICOM studies, open a collaborative workspace, and share it with both internal and external participants.

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Prerequisites

Use an Azure subscription. If you do not already have one, you can create an Azure free account.
Make sure you have Azure deployment permissions and at least one administrator account ready for bootstrap and onboarding.
Confirm Azure Health Data Services are available in the region you plan to use by checking the Azure products by region table.
Before deployment, sign in to Azure CLI, select the target subscription, and register the required resource providers. For the command list, see the Azure landing page prerequisites.
1
Marketplace

Find the Surf Viewer offer in Azure Marketplace

  1. Open Azure Marketplace and locate the Surf Viewer offer.
  2. Review the offer summary to confirm you are deploying the correct managed application.
  3. Select the offer to start deployment.
Surf Viewer offer in Azure Marketplace
Surf Viewer listed in Azure Marketplace.
2
Deployment

Start creation of the managed application

  1. Select Create from the offer page.
  2. Open the Marketplace deployment form for Surf Viewer.
  3. Begin the guided setup for your Azure environment.
Use a naming convention your operations team can easily recognize later for support, automation, and audit work.
Surf Viewer create button in Azure Marketplace
Start creation from the Marketplace offer page.
3
Configuration

Create a resource group, select the region, and set the prefix

  1. Choose the subscription and create a new resource group if needed.
  2. Select the Azure region where you want Surf Viewer deployed.
  3. Set the deployment prefix used to name the created resources.
Create a new resource group, select a region, and set the deployment prefix
Set the resource group, region, and deployment prefix for the managed application.
4
Configuration

Provision a new Azure DICOM service

  1. Choose the option to Provision a new Azure DICOM service for this deployment.
Provision a new Azure DICOM service during Surf Viewer deployment
Azure DICOM service.
5
Configuration

Set the provisioned notification email

  1. Choose the option to Provision a new Azure-managed email communication service.
Set the provisioned email address during Surf Viewer deployment
Email communication service.
6
Review

Accept terms and create the deployment

  1. Review the final configuration summary.
  2. Accept the Marketplace terms.
  3. Launch the managed application deployment.
Agree to terms and create Surf Viewer deployment
Final review and terms acceptance before deployment.
7
Azure Resources

Open the deployed resources

  1. After deployment completes, select Go to resource.
  2. Review the managed application, resource group, and function app created for Surf Viewer.
  3. Capture the Function App URL you will use for first-time bootstrap.
Surf Viewer function app in Azure
The function app hosts the Surf Viewer application entry point.
8
Bootstrap

Run first-time administrator bootstrap

  1. Open the Function App URL. This will take you to the bootstrap page.
  2. Download and extract the toolkits. Sign in as an Azure administrator and run the bootstrap PowerShell command.
  3. Refresh the browser afterward.
This is the handoff point from infrastructure deployment to application enablement. Your app URL is https://my-surfviewer-app.azurewebsites.net, and your admin tool is at https://my-surfviewer-app.azurewebsites.net/admin.
Surf Viewer administrator bootstrap
Administrator bootstrap appears automatically when setup is not yet complete.
9
Onboarding

Onboard your organization

  1. Continue to Identity Onboarding.
  2. Enter "Operator Email" and select "Generate Commands".
  3. Run the generated commands for the operator for the appropriate roles.
  4. Repeat the process for each operator.
Surf Viewer administrator onboarding
Organization identity onboarding.
10
Ingestion

Bulk ingest imaging studies

  1. Open the Ingestion Setup page.
  2. Enter "Operator Email" and select "Generate Commands".
  3. Run the generated commands.
  4. Important note: due to a recent Azure CLI update, run "az login --tenant tenant_id --allow-no-subscriptions" instead of "az login --tenant tenant_id --use-device-code".
  5. Important note: choose the source folder for the studies to be ingested.
Surf Viewer bulk ingestion
Bulk ingestion brings your study data into the platform.
11
Viewer Access

Open the viewer in the browser and sign in

  1. Open the Surf Viewer application URL in your browser.
  2. Sign in as a viewer using the account you onboarded for the environment.
  3. Confirm that the study list loads successfully after sign-in.
Surf Viewer sign-in and study list in the browser
Open Surf Viewer in the browser, sign in, and confirm the study list is available.
12
Viewer

Open a study and start a workspace

  1. From the study list, open the ingested study you want to review.
  2. Work with the study in Surf Viewer.
Surf Viewer study workspace
The basic viewer.
13
Workspace Sharing

Open the sharing panel for internal and external access

  1. From the active study session, open the sharing panel.
  2. Input emails of your organization internal and approved external participants that we want to share with your workspace.
  3. Select "Create Share".
  4. "Enter Live Session" afterward.
Surf Viewer sharing panel for internal and external users
Open the sharing workflow to invite participants.
14
Sharing Invitation

Invitation sent to participants

  1. Open the workspace sharing invitation email. (Check for junk or spam folders.)
  2. Follow the link and instructions to join the shared workspace.
This is the step that turns the deployed platform into an operational collaboration environment across institutional boundaries.
Surf Viewer workspace invitation
Invite participants into the workspace.
15
Collaboration

Realtime collaboration in the shared workspace

  1. Join the shared workspace as invited users.
  2. Review the same study together and collaborate within the workspace.
  3. One participant may request control of the viewer, select hanging protocols, create annotations and measurements, and manipulate the viewport image.
  4. Changes are immediately visible to all participants so they can discuss the case in real time.
At this point, your Azure deployment is fully operational as an enterprise-grade medical imaging collaboration platform.
Multiple collaborators in a Surf Viewer workspace
Shared workspace collaboration after invitations are accepted.