Mastering Azure CLI-1
Updated: Sep 12, 2022
Azure Cloud administration using Cloud Shell and Azure CLI - tips and tricks.
This is a multi-part series of posts. In the series of posts you will learn and master how to use azure cli for manging Azure cloud.
Why Azure Cloud Shell?
In this post I am going to show how to use Azure Cloud Shell
Command line is undisputable choice for most of the seasoned administrators. The reason - it's sleek, controlled and you exactly know what you are doing.
Azure Cloud Shell is :
interactive
authenticated
browser-accessible shell
Integration with several environment / clients such as
Azure cloud shell provides flexibility of choosing the shell experience between PowerShell (if you come from Windows OS administrative background or Bash (if you come from Linux/Unix OS background).
Why Cloud Shell is my favorite?
One of the reason why cloud shell is my favorite interface is it's seamless integration with several open-source tools. It saves me from
Downloading and installing tools from different sources (which may sometime lead to installing malicious code on my system).
Installing these tools locally leaves lots of foot print
Many of them require administrative privileges to update registry etc. which may crash my system).
Treasure of Tools Integrated with Cloud Shell
Look at the list below - you will find a list of tools that are available and have built-in integration with most useful and needed open-source and Microsoft provided tools.
Category | Name |
Linux | bash zsh sh tmux dig |
Azure | |
Text Editors | code (Cloud Shell editor) vim nano emacs |
source control | git |
| |
Build Tools | make maven npm pip |
Containers | |
Databases | |
Other |
Let us now start and explore cloud shell and then we will
Getting Started with Azure CLI
Azure CLI is has simple syntax. Do pay special attention to order :
$az [ group ] [ subgroup ] [ command] {parameters
Let us break down the above command template
Componet | Meaning |
az | CLI executable |
group | represents the Azure service name (why group ? it is called as group because a service may have several sub component) |
subgroup | represents sub component of service (group) |
command | action such as create, list etc. |
parameters | additional information needed to perform the action or complete the action. |
Practice Now
It will make more sense if we see this in action.
Start cloud shell by clicking on Cloud Shell icon
If you are starting cloud for the first time you will be asked to select between Bash or PowerShell.
After the first launch you can switch between the shell type by using shell type drop-down.