Azure CLI (az)

The Azure CLI manages Microsoft Azure resources from the terminal. Compare AWS CLI and gcloud (Google Cloud CLI); for provisioning as code see Terraform.

Documentation: Azure CLI docs

Install #

PLATFORM	COMMAND
Debian / Ubuntu	`curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb \| sudo bash`
macOS	`brew install azure-cli` (Homebrew)
Windows	`winget install Microsoft.AzureCLI` or `choco install azure-cli` (Chocolatey)
Container	`docker run -it mcr.microsoft.com/azure-cli` (Docker)

az upgrade updates the CLI. az version shows versions.

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
`az login`	Browser sign-in
`az login --use-device-code`	Sign in on a headless machine
`az login --service-principal -u <APP-ID> -p <SECRET> --tenant <TENANT>`	Service principal (automation)
`az account list -o table`	List subscriptions
`az account set --subscription "<NAME-OR-ID>"`	Choose the active subscription
`az account show`	Current subscription
`az logout`	Sign out

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
`az group create -n myrg -l westeurope`	Create
`az group list -o table`	List
`az group delete -n myrg --yes --no-wait`	Delete a group and everything in it
`az resource list -g myrg -o table`	Resources in a group

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
`az vm image list -o table`	Common images
`az vm list-sizes -l westeurope -o table`	Sizes in a region
`az vm create -g myrg -n myvm --image Ubuntu2204 --size Standard_B2s --admin-username azureuser --generate-ssh-keys`	Create a Linux VM
`az vm list -g myrg -d -o table`	List with power state and IPs
`az vm start\|stop\|deallocate\|restart -g myrg -n myvm`	Power actions (use `deallocate` to stop billing for compute)
`az vm open-port -g myrg -n myvm --port 80`	Open a port in the NSG
`az vm delete -g myrg -n myvm --yes`	Delete

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
`az aks create -g myrg -n myaks --node-count 2 --generate-ssh-keys`	Create a cluster
`az aks get-credentials -g myrg -n myaks`	Add to kubeconfig (see Kubectl)
`az aks list -o table`	List clusters
`az aks scale -g myrg -n myaks --node-count 3`	Scale
`az aks delete -g myrg -n myaks --yes --no-wait`	Delete
`az acr create -g myrg -n myregistry --sku Basic`	Create a container registry
`az acr login -n myregistry`	Log Docker in to it

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
`az storage account create -g myrg -n mystorageacct --sku Standard_LRS`	Create (name is globally unique, lowercase)
`az storage container create --account-name mystorageacct -n data --auth-mode login`	Create a blob container
`az storage blob upload --account-name mystorageacct -c data -f ./file -n file --auth-mode login`	Upload
`az storage blob list --account-name mystorageacct -c data --auth-mode login -o table`	List

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
`az ad sp create-for-rbac --name myapp --role Contributor --scopes /subscriptions/<SUB>/resourceGroups/myrg`	Service principal limited to one group
`az role assignment create --assignee <ID> --role Reader --scope <SCOPE>`	Grant a role
`az role assignment list --assignee <ID> -o table`	List roles
`az keyvault secret show --vault-name myvault -n mysecret --query value -o tsv`	Read a secret

OPTION	DESCRIPTION
`-o table` / `-o json` / `-o tsv` / `-o yaml`	Output format (`tsv` is good for scripts)
`--query "[].{Name:name, Size:hardwareProfile.vmSize}"`	JMESPath filter
`--query "[?location=='westeurope'].name" -o tsv`	Filter rows
`az config set defaults.group=myrg defaults.location=westeurope`	Default group and location
`az find "az vm create"`	Example commands
`az <group> --help`	Help for any command group

Written from knowledge of the CLI and not run against a subscription. Check az <command> --help, as parameter names and image aliases change.