Azure PowerShell and Azure CLI

Azure Basics · Azure Resources – Tools, Resource Manager and ARM Templates · Lesson 2 of 4

Azure PowerShell uses Verb-AzNoun cmdlets; Azure CLI uses `az <group> <subgroup> <command> --flag`; both run on Windows, Linux, macOS and in Cloud Shell.

	Azure PowerShell	Azure CLI
Command shape	`Verb-AzNoun` cmdlets	`az group subgroup command --flag value`
Sign-in	`Connect-AzAccount`	`az login`
Example	`Restart-AzVM -ResourceGroupName rg-devops-lab -Name vm-web-01`	`az vm restart -g rg-devops-lab -n vm-web-01`
Line continuation	Backtick `	Backslash `\` (Bash)
Results	PowerShell objects	JSON (change with `-o table/tsv/yaml`)

flowchart LR
  U["You"] --> PS["Azure PowerShell<br/>New-AzVM, Get-AzResourceGroup"]
  U --> CLI["Azure CLI<br/>az vm create, az group list"]
  PS --> ARM["Azure Resource Manager"]
  CLI --> ARM

Both call the same Azure Resource Manager, so the results are the same; pick by team habit and script environment (PowerShell or Bash). Both work interactively and in scripts.

Looking commands up

az find "az vm" suggests popular commands and examples.
az vm create --help (or -h) lists parameters, required ones and examples.
PowerShell: Get-Help New-AzVM -Examples.

Traps: do not mix the syntaxes (az New-AzVM or Get-AzVM -g); and the old image alias UbuntuLTS is gone — use Ubuntu2204 (or a full URN):

New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName rg-devops-lab -Name vm-test -Image Ubuntu2204

Command	Meaning
`az find "az vm"`	Suggest VM commands
`az vm create --help`	Parameters of `az vm create`

Installing and updating

Tool	Install	Update
Azure CLI	Windows installer or `winget install Microsoft.AzureCLI`, `brew install azure-cli`, Microsoft's apt/dnf repository	`az upgrade`
Azure PowerShell	`Install-Module -Name Az -Scope CurrentUser`	`Update-Module -Name Az`

Both run on Windows, macOS, and Linux; Azure PowerShell needs PowerShell 7 for cross-platform use.

Signing in for automation

Interactive az login opens a browser. Scripts and pipelines use non-interactive options instead: az login --service-principal -u <app-id> --tenant <tenant-id> with a certificate or federated credential, or az login --identity on a VM or container that has a managed identity. PowerShell has Connect-AzAccount -Identity for the same purpose. Avoid storing passwords or client secrets in scripts.

Context and defaults

az account set and Set-AzContext choose the subscription. az config set defaults.group=rg-devops-lab defaults.location=southeastasia saves you from repeating -g and -l. Get-AzContext shows the current PowerShell context.

Shaping output

--query takes a JMESPath expression to filter the JSON before printing:

az vm list --query "[?location=='southeastasia'].{name:name, size:hardwareProfile.vmSize}" -o table
az group show -n rg-devops-lab --query id -o tsv

-o tsv gives bare values that drop straight into shell variables, and -o jsonc adds colour. In PowerShell, pipe objects into Where-Object and Select-Object instead.

Extensions and troubleshooting

Some command groups ship as extensions; az extension list-available -o table shows them and many install on first use. --debug prints the underlying REST calls, and --only-show-errors hides warnings in scripts.