Azure SDK Documentation

Welcome to the comprehensive documentation for the Azure SDK. This guide will help you leverage the power of Azure services in your applications across various languages and platforms.

Overview

The Azure SDK provides a consistent, idiomatic, and well-documented set of libraries for interacting with Azure services. These SDKs are designed to simplify the development experience, enabling you to build robust and scalable cloud applications efficiently.

Key features of the Azure SDK:

• Language Idiomatic: Designed to feel natural in the language you're using.
• Consistent API Design: Predictable patterns across different services.
• Authentication: Securely connect to Azure resources using various authentication methods.
• Asynchronous Operations: Support for modern asynchronous programming models.
• Error Handling: Robust error handling and diagnostics.
• Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, Linux, macOS, and more.

Getting Started

To begin using the Azure SDK, you'll typically need to:

1. Create an Azure Account: If you don't have one, sign up for a free Azure account.
2. Install the SDK: Use your language's package manager (e.g., pip for Python, npm for Node.js, NuGet for .NET).
3. Authenticate: Configure your application to authenticate with Azure.
4. Instantiate a Client: Create an instance of the client for the Azure service you want to use.
5. Make Calls: Use the client to interact with Azure services.

For example, to install the Azure Blob Storage SDK for Python:

pip install azure-storage-blob

Authentication Methods

Securely authenticating your application is crucial. The Azure SDK supports several methods:

• Environment Variables: Store credentials in environment variables.
• Managed Identities: For applications running on Azure services.
• Service Principals: For applications connecting from outside Azure.
• Azure CLI Credentials: Leverage existing Azure CLI logins.

See the Authentication Details section for more information.

Core Concepts

Understanding these core concepts will help you work effectively with the Azure SDK:

• Clients: Objects that represent a connection to an Azure service.
• Transports: Libraries that handle HTTP requests.
• Policies: Mechanisms for customizing request and response behavior (e.g., retry, logging).
• Models: Data structures representing Azure resources and operations.

Key Azure Services SDKs

Explore the SDKs for popular Azure services:

Azure Storage

Interact with Azure Blob Storage, File Storage, Queue Storage, and Table Storage.

• Blob Storage
• File Storage
• Queue Storage
• Table Storage

Example: Uploading a blob (Python)

from azure.storage.blob import BlobServiceClient

connect_str = ""
blob_service_client = BlobServiceClient.from_connection_string(connect_str)

container_client = blob_service_client.get_container_client("my-container")
blob_client = container_client.get_blob_client("my-blob.txt")

with open("local-file.txt", "rb") as data:
    blob_client.upload_blob(data)
        

Azure Databases

Connect to and manage data in Azure SQL Database, Cosmos DB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and more.

• Azure Cosmos DB
• Azure SQL Database
• Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Azure Identity

Manage authentication and authorization for your applications and services.

• Azure Active Directory
• Managed Identities

Azure AI + ML

Build intelligent applications with services like Azure Cognitive Services and Azure Machine Learning.

• Cognitive Services
• Azure Machine Learning

Azure Networking

Manage virtual networks, load balancers, firewalls, and other networking resources.

• Virtual Networks
• Load Balancer

Azure Resource Management

Programmatically manage Azure resources, subscriptions, and resource groups.

• Resource Manager

Tutorials and Samples

Explore practical tutorials and code samples to get hands-on experience with the Azure SDK:

• Quickstart: Create a Web App with Azure App Service
• Tutorial: Upload and Download Blobs with Python
• Sample: Building a Serverless API with Azure Functions and Cosmos DB

API Reference

Detailed API documentation for all Azure SDKs. You can find:

• Method Signatures: Understand available operations and their parameters.
• Return Types: Know what data to expect from service calls.
• Error Codes: Learn how to handle potential issues.

Access the full API Reference for your specific language and service.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Encountering problems? Here are some common issues and their solutions:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)