Azure CLI

What it is

Azure CLI (command az) is Microsoft’s cross-platform command-line tool for creating and managing Azure resources. It wraps the Azure REST API / ARM control plane, letting you script and automate everything you’d otherwise click in the Portal — useful for provisioning, configuration, and repeatable operations.

Why it exists

Administering Azure interactively-at-scale requires automation. The CLI gives you a single, scriptable interface (works on Windows/macOS/Linux, via bash or PowerShell, and in Cloud Shell) so compute tasks like creating a VM or deploying a Bicep template are repeatable and auditable.

Key ideas

• Command groups mirror services: az vm, az appservice, az acr, az aks, az container, az functionapp, az group, az deployment.
• Authentication: az login (interactive or service-principal) / az account set to pick a subscription. Output is JSON by default.
• Two styles for many VM tasks: az vm create (resource group, name, image, size, auth) and az disk/az snapshot.
• Deployment: az deployment group create --resource-group <rg> --template-file main.bicep for IaC.
• Works with PowerShell — many places PowerShell is equivalent tooling for AZ-104.

How it fits (diagram)

Diagrams courtesy of Microsoft Learn / Azure docs: azure/cli/

Exam notes

• AZ-104 wants you to know the key compute verbs: az vm, az vmss, az appservice plan, az appservice webapp, az container, az aks, az acr, az functionapp.
• az vm deallocate stops billing; az vm redeploy moves to a new host; az vm generalize + capture for images.
• Scriptable automation is the differentiator vs Portal; pair with Bicep/ARM and Azure DevOps CI/CD.
• Same outputs achievable in PowerShell — the exam mentions CLI/PowerShell together.

Related

Path MOC · azure-vm · bicep · arm-template

📘 Source: Microsoft Learn — Azure Cli