Exercise - Install the Azure CLI

10 minutes

In this unit, you learn how to determine the version of Azure CLI installed on your local machine and how to install the latest version.

Note

This exercise guides you through creating a local installation of Azure CLI. However, the remainder of this module uses Azure Cloud Shell to use the free Microsoft Learn sandbox environment. If you prefer, you can consider this exercise optional and only review the instructions.

Install Azure CLI on Windows

Download and install the latest release of the Azure CLI. When the installer asks if it can make changes to your computer, select the "Yes" box.

Latest MSI of the Azure CLI (32-bit)

Latest MSI of the Azure CLI (64-bit)

If you previously installed the Azure CLI, running either the 32-bit or 64-bit Microsoft installer (MSI) overwrites an existing installation.

After the installation is complete, close and reopen any active terminal window to use the Azure CLI.
Open a Windows Command Prompt to run the Azure CLI.

This exercise guided you through using the Microsoft Installer. For more Windows installation options, see Install Azure CLI on Windows

Install Azure CLI on Linux

Determine your version of Ubuntu
```
source /etc/os-release
```
For supported versions of Ubuntu, see Before you begin.
Install Azure CLI on Ubuntu Linux using the Advanced Packaging Tool (apt) and the Bash command line.
```
curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash
```

For more Linux installation options, including the supported versions of Ubuntu and Debian, see Install Azure CLI on Linux.

Install Azure CLI on macOS

If you don't have homebrew available on your system, install homebrew before continuing.
Update your brew repository information and run the Azure CLI install command.
```
brew update && brew install azure-cli
```

For more information, including troubleshooting in macOS, see Install Azure CLI on macOS.

Your local machine is now set up to administer Azure resources with the Azure CLI. You can now use the Azure CLI locally to enter commands or execute scripts. The Azure CLI forwards your commands to the Azure data centers, where they run inside your Azure subscription.

Get the Azure CLI version

Determine the Azure CLI version by using the az version command.

az version

You can expect the following response from Azure CLI:

{
  "azure-cli": "x.yy.z",
  "azure-cli-core": "x.yy.x",
  "azure-cli-telemetry": "x.y.z",
  "extensions": {}
}

Find Azure CLI commands

The Azure CLI lets you control nearly every aspect of every Azure resource. You can work with resource groups, storage, virtual machines, Microsoft Entra ID, containers, machine learning, and so on.

Commands in the CLI are structured in groups and subgroups. Each group represents a service provided by Azure, and the subgroups divide commands for these services into logical groupings. For example, the storage group contains subgroups including account, blob, and queue.

So, how do you find the particular commands you need? One way is to use az find. Take a quick tour of Azure CLI commands by following these examples:

Find the most popular commands related to the word blob:
```
az find blob
```
Show the most popular commands for an Azure CLI command group, such as az vm:
```
az find "az vm"
```
Show the most popular parameters and subcommands for an Azure CLI command:
```
az find "az vm create"
```

Get help on Azure CLI commands

If you already know the name of the command you want, the --help argument for that command gets you more detailed information on the command and a list of the available subcommands for a command group. Continuing with our VM examples, here's how you can get a list of the subgroups and commands for managing VM images:

az vm image --help

Connect to Azure

When you're working with a local install of the Azure CLI, you need to authenticate before you can execute Azure commands by using the Azure CLI login command.

az login

The Azure CLI typically launches your default browser to open the Azure sign-in page. If the Azure sign-in page doesn't launch, follow the command-line instructions and enter an authorization code at https://aka.ms/devicelogin.

After successfully signing in, you'll be connected to your Azure subscription.