Common Azure CLI commands for managing Azure resources
Applies to: ✔️ Linux VMs ✔️ Windows VMs ✔️ Flexible scale sets
The Azure CLI allows you to create and manage your Azure resources on macOS, Linux, and Windows. This article details some of the most common commands to create and manage virtual machines (VMs).
This article requires the Azure CLI version 2.0.4 or later. Run az --version to find the version. If you need to upgrade, see Install Azure CLI. You can also use Cloud Shell from your browser.
Basic Azure Resource Manager commands in Azure CLI
For more detailed help with specific command line switches and options, you can use the online command help and options by typing az <command> <subcommand> --help.
Create VMs
| Task | Azure CLI commands |
|---|---|
| Create a resource group | az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus |
| Create a Linux VM | az vm create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM --image LinuxImageName |
| Create a Windows VM | az vm create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM --image win2016datacenter |
Manage VM state
| Task | Azure CLI commands |
|---|---|
| Start a VM | az vm start --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM |
| Stop a VM | az vm stop --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM |
| Deallocate a VM | az vm deallocate --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM |
| Restart a VM | az vm restart --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM |
| Redeploy a VM | az vm redeploy --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM |
| Delete a VM | az vm delete --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM |
Get VM info
| Task | Azure CLI commands |
|---|---|
| List VMs | az vm list |
| Get information about a VM | az vm show --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM |
| Get usage of VM resources | az vm list-usage --location eastus |
| Get all available VM sizes | az vm list-sizes --location eastus |
Disks and images
| Task | Azure CLI commands |
|---|---|
| Add a data disk to a VM | az vm disk attach --resource-group myResourceGroup --vm-name myVM --disk myDataDisk --size-gb 128 --new |
| List attached disks to a VM | az vm show --resource-group groupName --name vmName --query "storageProfile" |
| Remove a data disk from a VM | az vm disk detach --resource-group myResourceGroup --vm-name myVM --disk myDataDisk |
| Resize a disk | az disk update --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myDataDisk --size-gb 256 |
| Snapshot a disk | az snapshot create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name mySnapshot --source myDataDisk |
| Create image of a VM | az image create --resource-group myResourceGroup --source myVM --name myImage |
| Create VM from image | az vm create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myNewVM --image myImage |
Next steps
For additional examples of the CLI commands, see the Create and Manage Linux VMs with the Azure CLI tutorial.