Recently in preparation for a project, I was pointed to the Azure MMC.
This is a great tool, while the portal gives you the capabilities that come with managing the creation and basic upkeep of the environment, the MMC tool gives you the option of looking at metrics and understand performance elements of what you are running and running against in terms of performance.
Give it a download and then try it out. When you download, it is an executable files that will deploy a project. When that deployment is done you will come to find an open folder with 3 folders in it, and a command script called StartHere, double click and the actual MMC snap-in deployment takes place then. http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsazuremmc
Take some time (about 15 minutes) to review the feature and configuration video. Click here to watch the video.