Craig Forrester
In this post, we will cover some basic commands to list some resources in Azure.
TL;DR
If you just want to see a list of commands covered in this post:
az account list
az group list
az network vnet list
az network vnet subnet list -g $resource_group --vnet-name $vnet
az network nsg list -g $resource_group
az network nsg rule list -g $resource_group --nsg-name $nsg
az network nic list
az network nic ip-config list -g $resource_group --nic-name $nic
az network public-ip list -g $resource_group
az vm list -g $resource_group
az vm list -g $resource_group --show-details
Listing Accounts
First, as always, verify that you have logged in and that the correct subscription is selected by running az account list:
$ az account list
[
{
"cloudName": "AzureCloud",
"id": "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX",
"isDefault": true,
"name": "Visual Studio Enterprise",
"state": "Enabled",
"tenantId": "XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX",
"user": {
"name": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"type": "user"
}
}
]
The currently select subscription is the one marked True under “IsDefault” in the output. If the wrong subscription is selected, see my previous post on working with subscription logins in Azure CLI.
Output Formats
As you can see from our previous command, Azure CLI outputs in JSON format by default. If you want to change the output, you can simply add the output parameter, --output or -o, to your command line:
$ az account list --output table
Name CloudName SubscriptionId State IsDefault
---------------------------------- ----------- ------------------------------------ ------- -----------
Visual Studio Enterprise AzureCloud XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX Enabled True
If you want to set another output format as your default, so that you don’t have to type, say -o table, every time you run a command, you can run az configure, which will prompt you interactively to set some default options — among them, the default output option.
Output options:
--output |
Description |
|---|---|
json |
JSON string. This setting is the default. |
jsonc |
Colorized JSON. |
table |
ASCII table with keys as column headings. |
tsv |
Tab-separated values, with no keys |
Listing Resources
There are many times when you start working on an existing subscription, or revisit it later, and you simply want to get information — what resources exist already, how they’re configured, where they reside, what’s changed since the last time you’ve worked on the subscription, etc. Azure CLI is a good way to run quick interactive queries to get a sense for what already exists or what’s changed on a subscription.
List Resource Groups
The first thing you’ll want to do is start with the base for all the deployed resources: resource groups. To list the resource groups for the selected subscription, use az group list:
$ az group list
Name Location Status
---------------------------------- -------------- ---------
cloud-shell-storage-southcentralus southcentralus Succeeded
labrg1 centralus Succeeded
labrg2 eastus2 Succeeded
Notice that we get the name and location of the resource groups, as well as their status.
Again, recall that this runs the command against the currently selected subscription. See the previous post for details on how to switch subscriptions in Azure CLI.
Listing Virtual Networks (VNets)
$ az network vnet list
Location Name ProvisioningState ResourceGroup ResourceGuid
---------- ------------ ------------------- --------------- ------------------------------------
eastus lab1-vnet Succeeded lab1rg XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
eastus lab2-vnet Succeeded lab2rg XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
eastus lab3-vnet Succeeded lab3rg XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
eastus lab4-vnet Succeeded lab4rg XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
eastus lab5-vnet Succeeded lab5rg XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
eastus lab6-vnet Succeeded lab6rg XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
Listing Subnets
Here is an example show how to list subnets within specific VNets:
$ az network vnet subnet list -g lab2rg --vnet-name lab2-vnet
AddressPrefix Name ProvisioningState ResourceGroup
--------------- ----------- ------------------- ---------------
10.0.0.0/24 subnet-1 Succeeded lab2rg
Listing Network Security Groups (NSGs)
Likewise, for Network Security Groups:
$ az network nsg list -g lab2rg
Location Name ProvisioningState ResourceGroup ResourceGuid
---------- ---------- ------------------- --------------- ------------------------------------
eastus2 labvm1-nsg Succeeded lab2rg XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
And NSG Rules, which require you specify the related NSG:
$ az network nsg rule list -g lab2rg --nsg-name ubuvm1-nsg
Access DestinationAddressPrefix DestinationPortRange Direction Name Priority Protocol ProvisioningState ResourceGroup SourceAddressPrefix SourcePortRange
-------- -------------------------- ---------------------- ----------- ------ ---------- ---------- ------------------- --------------- --------------------- -----------------
Allow * 22 Inbound SSH 300 TCP Succeeded lab2rg * *
Notice that this output does not show us the default NSG rules, only those we specifically added after the intial deployment, such as the SSH-Allow rule here.
Listing NICs (Network Interfaces)
$ az network nic list
Location Name Primary ProvisioningState ResourceGroup ResourceGuid
---------- ----------------- --------- ------------------- --------------- ------------------------------------
eastus2 ubuvm1000 True Succeeded lab2rg XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
To list their related IP configurations, you’ll need to supply the NIC:
$ az network nic ip-config list -g lab2rg --nic-name ubuvm1000
Name Primary PrivateIpAddress PrivateIpAddressVersion PrivateIpAllocationMethod ProvisioningState ResourceGroup
--------- --------- ------------------ ------------------------- --------------------------- ------------------- ---------------
ipconfig1 True 10.0.0.4 IPv4 Dynamic Succeeded lab2rg
Listing Public IPs
Public ips are listed at the same subcommand level as NICs are:
$ az network public-ip list -g lab2rg
Name ResourceGroup Location Zones AddressVersion AllocationMethod IdleTimeoutInMinutes ProvisioningState
--------- --------------- ---------- ------- ---------------- ------------------ ---------------------- -------------------
ubuvm1-ip lab2rg eastus2 IPv4 Dynamic 4 Succeeded
Listing Virtual Machines
Listing virtual machines only gives us the name, resource group, and location:
$ az vm list -g lab2rg
Name ResourceGroup Location
------- --------------- ----------
server1 lab2rg eastus
However, if we add the --show-details switch, we only get marginally more information:
$ az vm list --resource-group lab2rg --show-details
Name ResourceGroup PowerState PublicIps Fqdns Location
------- --------------- ------------ ------------- ------------------------------- ----------
server1 lab2rg VM stopped 10.10.110.110 lab1.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com eastus
So, if your default output format is table, then you’ll only see a limited number of columns, like the output showing here. If you want more detail, you’ll need to either use JSON output, or perform a query. I’ll show you how to do both.
$ az vm list --resource-group lab2rg --show-details -o json
[
{
"additionalProperties": {},
"availabilitySet": null,
"diagnosticsProfile": null,
"fqdns": "",
"hardwareProfile": {
"additionalProperties": {},
"vmSize": "Standard_B1s"
},
"id": "/subscriptions/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/resourceGroups/lab2rg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/ubuvm1",
"identity": null,
"licenseType": null,
"location": "eastus2",
"macAddresses": "",
"name": "ubuvm1",
"networkProfile": {
"additionalProperties": {},
"networkInterfaces": [
{
"additionalProperties": {},
"id": "/subscriptions/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/resourceGroups/lab2rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/ubuvm0001",
"primary": null,
"resourceGroup": "lab2rg"
}
]
},
"osProfile": {
"additionalProperties": {},
"adminPassword": null,
"adminUsername": "ubuntu",
"computerName": "ubuvm1",
"customData": null,
"linuxConfiguration": {
"additionalProperties": {},
"disablePasswordAuthentication": true,
"ssh": {
"additionalProperties": {},
"publicKeys": [
{
"additionalProperties": {},
"keyData": "ssh-rsa ",
"path": "/home/devadmin/.ssh/authorized_keys"
}
]
}
},
"secrets": [],
"windowsConfiguration": null
},
"plan": null,
"powerState": "VM deallocated",
"privateIps": "10.10.10.10",
"provisioningState": "Succeeded",
"publicIps": "",
"resourceGroup": "lab2rg",
"resources": null,
"storageProfile": {
"additionalProperties": {},
"dataDisks": [],
"imageReference": {
"additionalProperties": {},
"id": null,
"offer": "UbuntuServer",
"publisher": "Canonical",
"sku": "16.04-LTS",
"version": "latest"
},
"osDisk": {
"additionalProperties": {},
"caching": "ReadWrite",
"createOption": "FromImage",
"diskSizeGb": 30,
"encryptionSettings": null,
"image": null,
"managedDisk": null,
"name": "ubuvm1",
"osType": "Linux",
"vhd": {
"additionalProperties": {},
"uri": "https://ubuvm1.blob.core.windows.net/vhds/ubuvm100000000000000.vhd"
},
"writeAcceleratorEnabled": null
}
},
"tags": null,
"type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines",
"vmId": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
"zones": null
}
]
As you can see, the JSON output is detailed. The JSON output will come in handy when we begin performing queries. In my next post, we will take a look at how to query for specific resources or their properties using criteria we specify, and how to construct those queries based on the structure of the objects Azure contructs for each resource type, which the JSON output shows us.
Additional Reading
- Documentation: Output formats for Azure CLI 2.0
- Documentation: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)