Azure CLI

Command line interface for Microsoft Azure.

Authentication

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az login	Login to Azure
az logout	Logout from Azure
az account list	List all accounts
az account show	Show current account
az account set --subscription <id>	Set active subscription

Resource Groups

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az group list	List resource groups
az group create --name myrg --location eastus	Create resource group
az group show --name myrg	Show resource group details
az group delete --name myrg	Delete resource group

Virtual Machines (VM)

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az vm list	List all VMs
az vm create --resource-group myrg --name myvm --image UbuntuLTS	Create VM
az vm start --resource-group myrg --name myvm	Start VM
az vm stop --resource-group myrg --name myvm	Stop VM
az vm restart --resource-group myrg --name myvm	Restart VM
az vm delete --resource-group myrg --name myvm	Delete VM
az vm show --resource-group myrg --name myvm	Show VM details
az vm list-ip-addresses --resource-group myrg --name myvm	List IP addresses
az vm open-port --resource-group myrg --name myvm --port 80	Open port

Storage Accounts

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az storage account list	List storage accounts
az storage account create --name mystorage --resource-group myrg	Create storage account
az storage account show-connection-string --name mystorage	Show connection string
az storage account delete --name mystorage --resource-group myrg	Delete storage account

Blob Storage

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az storage container list --account-name mystorage	List containers
az storage container create --name mycontainer --account-name mystorage	Create container
az storage blob list --container-name mycontainer --account-name mystorage	List blobs
az storage blob upload --container-name mycontainer --name myfile --account-name mystorage	Upload blob
az storage blob download --container-name mycontainer --name myfile --file localfile	Download blob

App Service (Web Apps)

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az webapp list	List web apps
az webapp create --resource-group myrg --name myapp --plan myplan	Create web app
az webapp up --name myapp --resource-group myrg	Deploy to web app
az webapp show --name myapp --resource-group myrg	Show web app details
az webapp log tail --name myapp --resource-group myrg	Tail web app logs
az webapp stop --name myapp --resource-group myrg	Stop web app

SQL Database

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az sql server list	List SQL servers
az sql server create --name myserver --resource-group myrg	Create SQL server
az sql db list --server myserver --resource-group myrg	List databases
az sql db create --name mydb --server myserver --resource-group myrg	Create database
az sql db show --name mydb --server myserver --resource-group myrg	Show database details

Cosmos DB

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az cosmosdb list	List Cosmos DB accounts
az cosmosdb create --name mycosmos --resource-group myrg	Create Cosmos DB account
az cosmosdb show --name mycosmos --resource-group myrg	Show Cosmos DB details

Key Vault

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az keyvault list	List key vaults
az keyvault create --name myvault --resource-group myrg	Create key vault
az keyvault secret set --vault-name myvault --name mysecret --value myvalue	Set secret
az keyvault secret show --vault-name myvault --name mysecret	Show secret
az keyvault secret list --vault-name myvault	List secrets

Network

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az network vnet list	List virtual networks
az network vnet create --name myvnet --resource-group myrg --address-prefixes 10.0.0.0/16	Create VNet
az network subnet list --vnet-name myvnet --resource-group myrg	List subnets
az network nsg list	List network security groups
az network nsg create --name mynsg --resource-group myrg	Create NSG
az network public-ip list	List public IP addresses
az network public-ip create --name myip --resource-group myrg	Create public IP

AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service)

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az aks list	List AKS clusters
az aks create --name myaks --resource-group myrg --node-count 3	Create AKS cluster
az aks get-credentials --name myaks --resource-group myrg	Get cluster credentials
az aks scale --name myaks --resource-group myrg --node-count 5	Scale cluster
az aks browse --name myaks --resource-group myrg	Open cluster dashboard

Container Registry

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az acr list	List container registries
az acr create --name myregistry --resource-group myrg --sku Basic	Create registry
az acr login --name myregistry	Login to registry
az acr build --registry myregistry --image myimage .	Build and push image

Functions

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az functionapp list	List function apps
az functionapp create --name myfunc --resource-group myrg --consumption-plan-location eastus	Create function app
az functionapp show --name myfunc --resource-group myrg	Show function app details

Monitoring

COMMAND	DESCRIPTION
az monitor metrics list --resource /subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/myrg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/myvm	List metrics
az monitor activity-log list	List activity logs
az monitor diagnostic-settings list	List diagnostic settings

Useful Queries

Get VM public IP

az vm list-ip-addresses --resource-group myrg --name myvm \
  --query "[0].virtualMachine.network.publicIpAddresses[0].ipAddress" \
  --output tsv

List all resources in resource group

az resource list --resource-group myrg

Get storage account keys

az storage account keys list \
  --resource-group myrg \
  --account-name mystorage \
  --query '[0].value' \
  --output tsv

List all running VMs

az vm list --query "[?powerState=='VM running']" --output table

Get web app URL

az webapp show --name myapp --resource-group myrg \
  --query "defaultHostName" \
  --output tsv

Best Practices

• Use resource groups to organize related resources
• Always specify resource groups for clarity
• Use output formats (json, table, tsv) for better readability
• Enable tags for cost tracking and organization
• Use Azure CLI configuration files for complex deployments
• Use --query to filter and format output
• Set up monitoring and alerts for critical resources
• Use managed identities for service-to-service authentication
• Regularly review and clean up unused resources
• Use Azure Policy to enforce organizational standards

TIP

Use --output json and --query together to filter and format JSON output easily.