Manage resource groups with the Azure SDK for Go

Article
08/06/2024

In this article, you learn how to create and manage a resource group with the Azure SDK for Go management library.

1. Set up Azure resources

To complete the steps in this article, you need the following Azure resources and identifiers:

Azure subscription: If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.
Get the Azure subscription ID.
Get the Microsoft Entra tenant ID.
Create a service principal. Note the service principal's application (client) ID and secret. Make sure you also follow the instructions to assign the Contributor role on your subscription to the application. The Contributor role is a privileged administrator role that grants permission to manage all resources in your subscription.

Before moving on to the next section, make sure you've noted down your subscription ID (Guid), tenant ID (Guid), and the client/application ID (Guid) and secret for your service principal.

2. Set authentication environment variables

Using your Azure authentication information, set the appropriate environment variables so that your code can authenticate to Azure.

Bash
Windows

Set the following environment variables. Replace the placeholders with the appropriate values from the previous section.

export AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID="<azure_subscription_id>"
export AZURE_TENANT_ID="<active_directory_tenant_id>"
export AZURE_CLIENT_ID="<service_principal_appid>"
export AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET="<service_principal_password>"

Set the following environment variables. Replace the placeholders with the appropriate values from the previous section.

set AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID="<azure_subscription_id>"
set AZURE_TENANT_ID="<active_directory_tenant_id>"
set AZURE_CLIENT_ID="<service_principal_appid>"
set AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET="<service_principal_password>"

3. Create a resource group

Create a directory in which to test and run the sample Go code and make it the current directory.
Run go mod init to create a module in the current directory.
```
go mod init <module_path>
```
Key points:
- The <module_path> parameter is generally a location in a GitHub repo - such as github.com/<your_github_account_name>/<directory>.
- When you're creating a command-line app as a test and won't publish the app, the <module_path> doesn't need to refer to an actual location.
Run go get to download, build, and install the necessary Azure SDK for Go modules.
```
go get github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/azcore
go get github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/azcore/to
go get github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/azidentity
go get github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/resourcemanager/resources/armresources
```
Important

The packages for the current version of the Azure resource management libraries are located in sdk/**/arm**. The packages for the previous version of the management libraries are located under /services. If you're using the older version, see the Azure SDK for Go Migration Guide.

Create a file named main.go and add the following code. Each section of code is commented to explain its purpose.

package main

// Import key modules.
import (
	"context"
	"log"
	"os"

	"github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/azcore"
	"github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/azcore/to"
	"github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/azidentity"
	"github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-go/sdk/resourcemanager/resources/armresources"
)

// Define key global variables.
var (
	subscriptionId    = os.Getenv("AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID")
	location          = "eastus"
	resourceGroupName = "myResourceGroup" // !! IMPORTANT: Change this to a unique name in your subscription.
	ctx               = context.Background()
)

// Define the function to create a resource group.
func createResourceGroup(subscriptionId string, credential azcore.TokenCredential) (armresources.ResourceGroupsClientCreateOrUpdateResponse, error) {
	rgClient, _ := armresources.NewResourceGroupsClient(subscriptionId, credential, nil)

	param := armresources.ResourceGroup{
		Location: to.Ptr(location),
	}

	return rgClient.CreateOrUpdate(ctx, resourceGroupName, param, nil)
}

// Define the standard 'main' function for an app that is called from the command line.
func main() {

	// Create a credentials object.
	cred, err := azidentity.NewDefaultAzureCredential(nil)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("Authentication failure: %+v", err)
	}

	// Call your function to create an Azure resource group.
	resourceGroup, err := createResourceGroup(subscriptionId, cred)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("Creation of resource group failed: %+v", err)
	}

	// Print the name of the new resource group.
	log.Printf("Resource group %s created", *resourceGroup.ResourceGroup.ID)
}

Key points:

The subscriptionId value is retrieved from the AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID environment variable.
The location and resourceGroupName strings are set to test values. If necessary, change those values to something appropriate for your location and subscription.

Run go mod tidy to clean up the dependencies in the go.mod file based on your source code.
```
go mod tidy
```
Run go run to build and run the app.
```
go run .
```

4. Verify the results

Browse to the Azure portal.
Sign in and select your Azure subscription.
In the left menu, select Resource groups.
The new resource group is listed among your Azure subscription's resource groups.

Run az group show to display the resource group.

az group show --name <resource_group>

Run Get-AzResourceGroup to display the resource group.

Get-AzResourceGroup -Name <resource_group>

5. Update a resource group

Return to your main.go file.

Insert the following code just above the main function.

// Update the resource group by adding a tag to it.
func updateResourceGroup(subscriptionId string, credential azcore.TokenCredential) (armresources.ResourceGroupsClientUpdateResponse, error) {
    rgClient, _ := armresources.NewResourceGroupsClient(subscriptionId, credential, nil)

    update := armresources.ResourceGroupPatchable{
        Tags: map[string]*string{
            "new": to.Ptr("tag"),
        },
    }
    return rgClient.Update(ctx, resourceGroupName, update, nil)
}

After you've added the code, move on to the next section. You run the code in a later section.

6. List an Azure subscription's resource groups

Return to your main.go file.

Insert the following code just above the main function.

// List all the resource groups of an Azure subscription.
func listResourceGroups(subscriptionId string, credential azcore.TokenCredential) ([]*armresources.ResourceGroup, error) {
    rgClient, _ := armresources.NewResourceGroupsClient(subscriptionId, credential, nil)

    pager := rgClient.NewListPager(nil)

    var resourceGroups []*armresources.ResourceGroup
    for pager.More() {
        resp, err := pager.NextPage(ctx)
        if err != nil {
            return nil, err
        }
        if resp.ResourceGroupListResult.Value != nil {
            resourceGroups = append(resourceGroups, resp.ResourceGroupListResult.Value...)
        }
    }
    return resourceGroups, nil
}

After you've added the code, move on to the next section. You run the code in a later section.

7. Delete a resource group

Return to your main.go file.

Insert the following code just above the main function.

// Delete a resource group.
func deleteResourceGroup(subscriptionId string, credential azcore.TokenCredential) error {
    rgClient := armresources.NewResourceGroupsClient(subscriptionId, credential, nil)

    poller, err := rgClient.BeginDelete(ctx, resourceGroupName, nil)
    if err != nil {
        return err
    }
    if _, err := poller.PollUntilDone(ctx, nil); err != nil {
        return err
    }
    return nil
}

After you've added the code, move on to the next section. You run the code in a later section.

8. Update the main function

In previous sections, you added code to main.go to create, update, and delete a resource group. You also added code to list all the resource groups in an Azure subscription. To run all these functions sequentially:

In main.go, replace the main function with the following code:

func main() {

    // Create a credentials object.
    cred, err := azidentity.NewDefaultAzureCredential(nil)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Authentication failure: %+v", err)
    }

    // Call your function to create an Azure resource group.
    resourceGroup, err := createResourceGroup(subscriptionId, cred)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Creation of resource group failed: %+v", err)
    }
    // Print the name of the new resource group.
    log.Printf("Resource group %s created", *resourceGroup.ResourceGroup.ID)

    // Call your function to add a tag to your new resource group.
    updatedRG, err := updateResourceGroup(subscriptionId, cred)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Update of resource group failed: %+v", err)
    }
    log.Printf("Resource Group %s updated", *updatedRG.ResourceGroup.ID)

    // Call your function to list all the resource groups.
    rgList, err := listResourceGroups(subscriptionId, cred)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Listing of resource groups failed: %+v", err)
    }
    log.Printf("Your Azure subscription has a total of %d resource groups", len(rgList))

    // Call your function to delete the resource group you created.
    if err := deleteResourceGroup(subscriptionId, cred); err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Deletion of resource group failed: %+v", err)
    }
    log.Printf("Resource group deleted")
}

Run the code and observe the output.

go run .

2024/07/31 15:29:06 Resource group /subscriptions/<subscription ID>/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup created
2024/07/31 15:29:07 Resource Group /subscriptions/<subscription ID>/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup updated
2024/07/31 15:29:07 Your Azure subscription has a total of 8 resource groups
2024/07/31 15:30:25 Resource group deleted

Note

Deleting the resource group may take a few minutes.

Troubleshooting

Check previous questions posted to Stack Overflow or ask new questions using the Azure and Go tags.
For any errors you come across, file a GitHub Issue

Next steps

Learn more about using the Azure SDK for Go

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Manage resource groups with the Azure SDK for Go

1. Set up Azure resources

2. Set authentication environment variables

3. Create a resource group

4. Verify the results

5. Update a resource group

6. List an Azure subscription's resource groups

7. Delete a resource group

8. Update the main function

Troubleshooting

Next steps

Feedback

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