Azure Management Documentation

Introduction to Azure Management

Welcome to the official documentation for managing your Azure resources. This section provides an overview of the core concepts, tools, and best practices for efficiently deploying, managing, and governing your cloud infrastructure on Microsoft Azure.

Azure management encompasses a wide range of activities, from creating and configuring virtual machines to setting up complex networking solutions and ensuring security and compliance. Understanding the fundamental building blocks of Azure management is crucial for any cloud professional.

Azure Resource Manager (ARM)

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is the deployment and management service for Azure. It provides a management layer that enables you to create, update, and delete resources in your Azure subscription. You can use familiar tools, templates, and APIs to build and deploy Azure solutions.

Key Features of ARM:

• Declarative Syntax: Define your infrastructure in JSON templates.
• Orchestrated Resource Deployment: Deploy resources in a predictable and repeatable manner.
• Resource Grouping: Organize related resources for unified management.
• Access Control: Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for fine-grained permissions.
• Tagging: Categorize resources for better organization and billing.

Learn more about Azure Resource Manager templates.

Resource Groups

A resource group is a logical container for Azure resources. You can create, delete, or manage resources as a group. Resources can be distributed across resource groups, but all resources in a resource group must belong to the same Azure region.

Best Practices for Resource Groups:

• Organize resources that share a common lifecycle.
• Apply RBAC permissions at the resource group level.
• Tag resource groups for cost allocation and management.

For example, a resource group might contain all the resources for a specific application, such as a web server, database, and virtual network.

Resource Providers

Azure resources are exposed through resource providers. Each resource provider offers a set of Azure resources, such as compute, storage, and networking. You interact with resource providers through ARM to deploy and manage resources.

Common resource providers include:

• Microsoft.Compute for virtual machines.
• Microsoft.Storage for storage accounts.
• Microsoft.Network for virtual networks and load balancers.

You can view available resource providers and their supported resources in the Azure portal or via the Azure CLI/PowerShell.

Azure CLI

The Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) is a cross-platform tool used to manage Azure resources. With the CLI, you can quickly create and manage resources, deploy applications, and automate tasks.

Getting Started with Azure CLI:

First, install the Azure CLI for your operating system:

# Example for installing on Windows (using npm)
npm install -g azure-cli

Then, log in to your Azure account:

az login

Here are some common commands:

• az group create --name MyResourceGroup --location eastus - Create a resource group.
• az vm create --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyVM --image UbuntuLTS --admin-username azureuser --generate-ssh-keys - Create a virtual machine.

Azure PowerShell

Azure PowerShell provides a set of cmdlets for managing Azure resources. It's a powerful tool for scripting and automating Azure deployments, especially for users familiar with Windows PowerShell.

Getting Started with Azure PowerShell:

Install the Azure PowerShell module:

Install-Module -Name Az -Scope CurrentUser -Repository PSGallery -Force

Connect to your Azure account:

Connect-AzAccount

Here are some common cmdlets:

• New-AzResourceGroup -Name "MyResourceGroup" -Location "East US" - Create a resource group.
• New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName "MyResourceGroup" -Name "MyVM" -Location "East US" -ImageName "UbuntuLTS" - Create a virtual machine.

Azure Portal

The Azure portal is a web-based interface that allows you to manage Azure resources. It provides a graphical user interface for creating, configuring, and monitoring your Azure services.

Key Areas in the Azure Portal:

• Dashboard: A customizable view of your most important resources and services.
• All Resources: A comprehensive list of all resources in your subscription.
• Resource Groups: View and manage resources by group.
• Marketplace: Discover and deploy new Azure services.

The portal is excellent for exploratory tasks and visual management.

Azure Management API Reference

For programmatic access to Azure resources, you can use the Azure REST API. This API allows you to interact with Azure services directly, enabling deep integration into custom applications and automation workflows.

The Azure REST API documentation provides detailed information about endpoints, request and response formats, and authentication methods.

Explore the Azure REST API documentation to learn more about specific resource provider APIs.