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Quickstart: Create and encrypt a Linux VM with the Azure CLI

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Applies to: ✔️ Linux VMs ✔️ Flexible scale sets

The Azure CLI is used to create and manage Azure resources from the command line or in scripts. This quickstart shows you how to use the Azure CLI to create and encrypt a Linux virtual machine (VM).

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.

If you choose to install and use the Azure CLI locally, this quickstart requires that you are running the Azure CLI version 2.0.30 or later. Run az --version to find the version. If you need to install or upgrade, see Install Azure CLI.

Create a resource group

Create a resource group with the az group create command. An Azure resource group is a logical container into which Azure resources are deployed and managed. The following example creates a resource group named myResourceGroup in the eastus location:

az group create --name "myResourceGroup" --location "eastus"

Create a virtual machine

Create a VM with az vm create. The following example creates a VM named myVM.

az vm create \
    --resource-group "myResourceGroup" \
    --name "myVM" \
    --image "Canonical:UbuntuServer:20.04-LTS:latest" \
    --size "Standard_D2S_V3"\
    --generate-ssh-keys

Note

Any ADE supported Linux image version could be used instead of an Ubuntu VM. Replace Canonical:UbuntuServer:20.04-LTS:latest accordingly.

It takes a few minutes to create the VM and supporting resources. The following example output shows the VM create operation was successful.

{
  "fqdns": "",
  "id": "/subscriptions/<guid>/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/myVM",
  "location": "eastus",
  "macAddress": "00-0D-3A-23-9A-49",
  "powerState": "VM running",
  "privateIpAddress": "10.0.0.4",
  "publicIpAddress": "52.174.34.95",
  "resourceGroup": "myResourceGroup"
}

Create a Key Vault configured for encryption keys

Azure disk encryption stores its encryption key in an Azure Key Vault. Create a Key Vault with az keyvault create. To enable the Key Vault to store encryption keys, use the --enabled-for-disk-encryption parameter.

Important

Every key vault must have a name that is unique across Azure. Replace <your-unique-keyvault-name> with the name you choose.

az keyvault create --name "<your-unique-keyvault-name>" --resource-group "myResourceGroup" --location "eastus" --enabled-for-disk-encryption

Encrypt the virtual machine

Encrypt your VM with az vm encryption, providing your unique Key Vault name to the --disk-encryption-keyvault parameter.

az vm encryption enable -g "MyResourceGroup" --name "myVM" --disk-encryption-keyvault "<your-unique-keyvault-name>"

After a moment the process will return, "The encryption request was accepted. Use 'show' command to monitor the progress.". The "show" command is az vm show.

az vm encryption show --name "myVM" -g "MyResourceGroup"

When encryption is enabled, you will see "EnableEncryption" in the returned output:

"EncryptionOperation": "EnableEncryption"

Clean up resources

When no longer needed, you can use the az group delete command to remove the resource group, VM, and Key Vault.

az group delete --name "myResourceGroup"

Next steps

In this quickstart, you created a virtual machine, created a Key Vault that was enabled for encryption keys, and encrypted the VM. Advance to the next article to learn more about more Azure Disk Encryption for Linux VMs.

Azure Disk Encryption overview