Find Azure Marketplace image information using the Azure CLI
Caution
This article references CentOS, a Linux distribution that is End Of Life (EOL) status. Please consider your use and plan accordingly. For more information, see the CentOS End Of Life guidance.
Applies to: ✔️ Linux VMs ✔️ Windows VMs ✔️ Flexible scale sets
This topic describes how to use the Azure CLI to find VM images in the Azure Marketplace. Use this information to specify a Marketplace image when you create a VM programmatically with the CLI, Resource Manager templates, or other tools.
You can also browse available images and offers using the Azure Marketplace or Azure PowerShell.
Terminology
A Marketplace image in Azure has the following attributes:
- Publisher: The organization that created the image. Examples: Canonical, RedHat, SUSE.
- Offer: The name of a group of related images created by a publisher. Examples: 0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy, RHEL, sles-15-sp3.
- SKU: An instance of an offer, such as a major release of a distribution. Examples: 22_04-lts-gen2, 8-lvm-gen2, gen2.
- Version: The version number of an image SKU.
These values can be passed individually or as an image URN, combining the values separated by the colon (:). For example: Publisher:Offer:Sku:Version. You can replace the version number in the URN with latest to use the latest version of the image.
If the image publisher provides extra license and purchase terms, then you must accept those terms before you can use the image. For more information, see Check the purchase plan information.
List popular images
You can run the az vm image list --all to see all of the images available to you, but it can take several minutes to produce the entire list. A faster option is the use az vm image list, without the --all option, to see a list of popular VM images in the Azure Marketplace. For example, run the following command to display a cached list of popular images in table format:
az vm image list --output table
The output includes the image URN. If you omit the --all option, you can see the UrnAlias for each image, if available. UrnAlias is a shortened version created for popular images like Ubuntu2204.
The Linux image alias names and their details outputted by this command are:
Architecture Offer Publisher Sku Urn UrnAlias Version
-------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------- ---------
x64 CentOS OpenLogic 8_5-gen2 OpenLogic:CentOS:8_5-gen2:latest CentOS85Gen2 latest
x64 Debian11 Debian 11-backports-gen2 Debian:debian-11:11-backports-gen2:latest Debian-11 latest
x64 flatcar-container-linux-free kinvolk stable-gen2 kinvolk:flatcar-container-linux-free:stable-gen2:latest FlatcarLinuxFreeGen2 latest
x64 opensuse-leap-15-4 SUSE gen2 SUSE:opensuse-leap-15-4:gen2:latest OpenSuseLeap154Gen2 latest
x64 RHEL RedHat 8-lvm-gen2 RedHat:RHEL:8-lvm-gen2:latest RHELRaw8LVMGen2 latest
x64 sles-15-sp3 SUSE gen2 SUSE:sles-15-sp3:gen2:latest SLES latest
x64 0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy Canonical 22_04-lts-gen2 Canonical:0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy:22_04-lts-gen2:latest Ubuntu2204 latest
The Windows image alias names and their details outputted by this command are:
Architecture Offer Publisher Sku Urn Alias Version
-------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------- ---------
x64 WindowsServer MicrosoftWindowsServer 2022-datacenter-azure-edition MicrosoftWindowsServer:WindowsServer:2022-datacenter-azure-edition:latest Win2022AzureEdition latest
x64 WindowsServer MicrosoftWindowsServer 2022-datacenter-azure-edition-core MicrosoftWindowsServer:WindowsServer:2022-datacenter-azure-edition-core:latest Win2022AzureEditionCore latest
x64 WindowsServer MicrosoftWindowsServer 2019-Datacenter MicrosoftWindowsServer:WindowsServer:2019-Datacenter:latest Win2019Datacenter latest
x64 WindowsServer MicrosoftWindowsServer 2016-Datacenter MicrosoftWindowsServer:WindowsServer:2016-Datacenter:latest Win2016Datacenter latest
x64 WindowsServer MicrosoftWindowsServer 2012-R2-Datacenter MicrosoftWindowsServer:WindowsServer:2012-R2-Datacenter:latest Win2012R2Datacenter latest
x64 WindowsServer MicrosoftWindowsServer 2012-Datacenter MicrosoftWindowsServer:WindowsServer:2012-Datacenter:latest Win2012Datacenter latest
Find specific images
You can filter the list of images by --publisher or another parameter to limit the results.
For example, the following command displays all Debian offers:
az vm image list --offer Debian --all --output table
You can limit your results to a single architecture by adding the --architecture parameter. For example, to display all Arm64 images available from Canonical:
az vm image list --architecture Arm64 --publisher Canonical --all --output table
Look at all available images
Another way to find an image in a location is to run the az vm image list-publishers, az vm image list-offers, and az vm image list-skus commands in sequence. With these commands, you determine these values:
List the image publishers for a location. In this example, we're looking at the West US region.
az vm image list-publishers --location westus --output tableFor a given publisher, list their offers. In this example, we add RedHat as the publisher.
az vm image list-offers --location westus --publisher RedHat --output tableFor a given offer, list their SKUs. In this example, we add RHEL as the offer.
az vm image list-skus --location westus --publisher RedHat --offer RHEL --output table
Note
Canonical has changed the Offer names they use for the most recent versions. Before Ubuntu 20.04, the Offer name is UbuntuServer. For Ubuntu 20.04 the Offer name is 0001-com-ubuntu-server-focal and for Ubuntu 22.04 it's 0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy.
For a given publisher, offer, and SKU, show all of the versions of the image. In this example, we add 9_1 as the SKU.
az vm image list \ --location westus \ --publisher RedHat \ --offer RHEL \ --sku 9_1 \ --all --output table
Pass this value of the URN column with the --image parameter when you create a VM with the az vm create command. You can also replace the version number in the URN with "latest", to use the latest version of the image.
If you deploy a VM with a Resource Manager template, you set the image parameters individually in the imageReference properties. See the template reference.
Check the purchase plan information
Some VM images in the Azure Marketplace have extra license and purchase terms that you must accept before you can deploy them programmatically.
To deploy a VM from such an image, you'll need to accept the image's terms the first time you use it, once per subscription. You'll also need to specify purchase plan parameters to deploy a VM from that image
To view an image's purchase plan information, run the az vm image show command with the URN of the image. If the plan property in the output isn't null, the image has terms you need to accept before programmatic deployment.
For example, the Canonical Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS image doesn't have extra terms, because the plan information is null:
az vm image show --location westus --urn Canonical:UbuntuServer:18.04-LTS:latest
Output:
{
"dataDiskImages": [],
"id": "/Subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/Providers/Microsoft.Compute/Locations/westus/Publishers/Canonical/ArtifactTypes/VMImage/Offers/UbuntuServer/Skus/18.04-LTS/Versions/18.04.201901220",
"location": "westus",
"name": "18.04.201901220",
"osDiskImage": {
"operatingSystem": "Linux"
},
"plan": null,
"tags": null
}
Running a similar command for the RabbitMQ Certified by Bitnami image shows the following plan properties: name, product, and publisher. (Some images also have a promotion code property.)
az vm image show --location westus --urn bitnami:rabbitmq:rabbitmq:latest
Output:
{
"dataDiskImages": [],
"id": "/Subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/Providers/Microsoft.Compute/Locations/westus/Publishers/bitnami/ArtifactTypes/VMImage/Offers/rabbitmq/Skus/rabbitmq/Versions/3.7.1901151016",
"location": "westus",
"name": "3.7.1901151016",
"osDiskImage": {
"operatingSystem": "Linux"
},
"plan": {
"name": "rabbitmq",
"product": "rabbitmq",
"publisher": "bitnami"
},
"tags": null
}
To deploy this image, you need to accept the terms and provide the purchase plan parameters when you deploy a VM using that image.
Accept the terms
To view and accept the license terms, use the az vm image terms command. When you accept the terms, you enable programmatic deployment in your subscription. You only need to accept terms once per subscription for the image. For example:
az vm image terms show --urn bitnami:rabbitmq:rabbitmq:latest
The output includes a licenseTextLink to the license terms, and indicates that the value of accepted is true:
{
"accepted": true,
"additionalProperties": {},
"id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx/providers/Microsoft.MarketplaceOrdering/offertypes/bitnami/offers/rabbitmq/plans/rabbitmq",
"licenseTextLink": "https://storelegalterms.blob.core.windows.net/legalterms/3E5ED_legalterms_BITNAMI%253a24RABBITMQ%253a24RABBITMQ%253a24IGRT7HHPIFOBV3IQYJHEN2O2FGUVXXZ3WUYIMEIVF3KCUNJ7GTVXNNM23I567GBMNDWRFOY4WXJPN5PUYXNKB2QLAKCHP4IE5GO3B2I.txt",
"name": "rabbitmq",
"plan": "rabbitmq",
"privacyPolicyLink": "https://bitnami.com/privacy",
"product": "rabbitmq",
"publisher": "bitnami",
"retrieveDatetime": "2019-01-25T20:37:49.937096Z",
"signature": "XXXXXXLAZIK7ZL2YRV5JYQXONPV76NQJW3FKMKDZYCRGXZYVDGX6BVY45JO3BXVMNA2COBOEYG2NO76ONORU7ITTRHGZDYNJNXXXXXX",
"type": "Microsoft.MarketplaceOrdering/offertypes"
}
To accept the terms, type:
az vm image terms accept --urn bitnami:rabbitmq:rabbitmq:latest
Deploy a new VM using the image parameters
With information about the image, you can deploy it using the az vm create command.
To deploy an image that doesn't have plan information, like the latest Ubuntu Server 18.04 image from Canonical, pass the URN for --image:
az group create --name myURNVM --location westus
az vm create \
--resource-group myURNVM \
--name myVM \
--admin-username azureuser \
--generate-ssh-keys \
--image Canonical:UbuntuServer:18.04-LTS:latest
For an image with purchase plan parameters, like the RabbitMQ Certified by Bitnami image, you pass the URN for --image and also provide the purchase plan parameters:
az group create --name myPurchasePlanRG --location westus
az vm create \
--resource-group myPurchasePlanRG \
--name myVM \
--admin-username azureuser \
--generate-ssh-keys \
--image bitnami:rabbitmq:rabbitmq:latest \
--plan-name rabbitmq \
--plan-product rabbitmq \
--plan-publisher bitnami
If you get a message about accepting the terms of the image, review section Accept the terms. Make sure the output of az vm image accept-terms returns the value "accepted": true, showing that you've accepted the terms of the image.
Using an existing VHD with purchase plan information
If you have an existing VHD from a VM that was created using a paid Azure Marketplace image, you might need to give the purchase plan information when creating a new VM from that VHD.
If you still have the original VM, or another VM created using the same marketplace image, you can get the plan name, publisher, and product information from it using az vm get-instance-view. This example gets a VM named myVM in the myResourceGroup resource group and then displays the purchase plan information.
az vm get-instance-view -g myResourceGroup -n myVM --query plan
If you didn't get the plan information before the original VM was deleted, you can file a support request. They'll need the VM name, subscription ID and the time stamp of the delete operation.
Once you have the plan information, you can create the new VM using the --attach-os-disk parameter to specify the VHD.
az vm create \
--resource-group myResourceGroup \
--name myNewVM \
--nics myNic \
--size Standard_DS1_v2 --os-type Linux \
--attach-os-disk myVHD \
--plan-name planName \
--plan-publisher planPublisher \
--plan-product planProduct
Next steps
To create a virtual machine quickly by using the image information, see Create and Manage Linux VMs with the Azure CLI.