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Assign a Public IP Address to an Azure Virtual Machine

Introduction

A public IP address enables you to communicate with your Azure virtual machine (VM) over the internet. This document guides you through the process of assigning a public IP address to an existing or new VM using the Azure portal and Azure CLI.

Note: Public IP addresses incur costs. Review Azure pricing for details.

Prerequisites

  • An Azure account with an active subscription.
  • An existing Azure Virtual Machine (optional, if assigning to a new VM).

Method 1: Using the Azure Portal

Assign to an Existing VM

  1. Navigate to the Azure portal: portal.azure.com
  2. In the portal, search for and select Virtual machines.
  3. Click on the VM you want to assign a public IP address to.
  4. In the VM's Overview page, under Networking, click IP configurations.
  5. Click on the existing IP configuration (usually named basic or similar).
  6. Under Public IP address, select Create new.
  7. Provide a Name for the public IP address resource.
  8. Choose the SKU (Standard is recommended for production workloads).
  9. Select the Assignment method (Static is recommended if you need a consistent IP).
  10. Click OK to save the changes.
Azure Portal VM IP Configuration

Visual representation of the IP configuration screen.

Assign to a New VM

  1. When creating a new VM in the Azure portal, navigate to the Networking tab during the creation process.
  2. Under Public IP, select Create new.
  3. Configure the public IP address as described in the previous section (Name, SKU, Assignment).
  4. Complete the VM creation process.

Method 2: Using Azure CLI

First, ensure you have the Azure CLI installed and are logged in:

az login

Create a Public IP Address Resource

Create a new public IP address resource. Replace MyResourceGroup and myPublicIP with your desired names.

az network public-ip create \
    --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
    --name myPublicIP \
    --sku Standard \
    --allocation-method Static \
    --location eastus
Note: For dynamic allocation, use --allocation-method Dynamic. The --location must match your VM's location.

Associate the Public IP with a VM Network Interface (NIC)

First, get the name of your VM's NIC. Replace MyResourceGroup and myVM.

az vm show \
    --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
    --name myVM \
    --query networkProfile.networkInterfaces[0].id \
    --output tsv

Once you have the NIC ID, associate the public IP. Replace MyResourceGroup, myNic, and myPublicIP.

az network nic ip-config update \
    --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
    --nic-name myNic \
    --name ipconfig1 \
    --public-ip-address myPublicIP
Important: The --nic-name and --name ipconfig1 might vary. You can list NICs and their IP configurations using az network nic list and az network nic show.

Verifying the Public IP Address

After assignment, you can verify the public IP address:

  • Azure Portal: Go to your VM's Overview page. The public IP address will be listed.
  • Azure CLI: 
    az vm show \
    --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
    --name myVM \
    --show-details \
    --query publicIps \
    --output tsv