The “az vm” command is a powerful feature of the Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) that allows you to manage virtual machines (VMs) in Azure. Virtual machines are a fundamental building block of cloud computing and provide the ability to run applications and services in a scalable and flexible manner.
With the “az vm” command, you can perform a wide range of operations to manage your Azure virtual machines. These operations include creating and deleting VMs, starting and stopping VMs, managing VM extensions, configuring networking and storage settings, scaling VMs, and managing VM images and disks.
The “az vm” command enables you to automate and script VM management tasks, making it easier to provision, configure, and manage VMs in Azure. You can use the command to create VMs based on various Azure-provided images or your own custom images, specify the desired VM size, define networking and storage configurations, and customize the VM environment.
Furthermore, the “az vm” command allows you to manage VM extensions, which are optional software components that provide additional functionality to VMs. You can install, update, or remove extensions to customize the capabilities of your VMs, such as installing monitoring agents, configuring diagnostics, or enabling specific features.
In addition to basic VM management tasks, the “az vm” command also provides advanced features such as VM scale sets. VM scale sets allow you to deploy and manage a group of identical VMs, automatically scaling them up or down based on demand. This is particularly useful for scenarios that require high availability, load balancing, or autoscaling capabilities.
By utilizing the Azure CLI and the “az vm” command, you can streamline your VM management workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and integrate VM management into your deployment pipelines or scripts. The command provides a comprehensive set of options and parameters to handle all aspects of VM configuration and administration.
az vm Command Examples
1. List details of available Virtual Machines:
# az vm list
2. Create a virtual machine using the default Ubuntu image and generate ssh keys:
# az vm create --resource-group rg --name vm_name --image UbuntuLTS --admin-user azureuser --generate-ssh-keys
3. Stop a Virtual Machine:
# az vm stop --resource-group rg --name vm_name
4. Deallocate a Virtual Machine:
# az vm deallocate --resource-group rg --name vm_name
5. Start a Virtual Machine:
# az vm start --resource-group rg --name vm_name
6. Restart a Virtual Machine:
# az vm restart --resource-group rg --name vm_name
7. List VM images available in the Azure Marketplace:
# az vm image list
Summary
Overall, the “az vm” command, as part of the Azure CLI, is a versatile tool for managing virtual machines in Azure. It empowers you to provision, configure, and scale VMs, customize their capabilities through extensions, and automate VM management tasks, allowing you to efficiently deploy and manage your applications and services in the Azure cloud.