Azure CLI: A Comprehensive Guide to the Command Line Interface from Microsoft Azure
The Azure Command Line Interface, commonly known as Azure CLI, is an open-sourced project on GitHub dedicated to managing Microsoft Azure's comprehensive resources. The primary purpose is to enable the user community to interact more efficiently with Azure services. This project's relevance is underlined by its role in shaping, simplifying the admin's work, and transforming the development management process on the Azure platform.
Project Overview:
The Azure CLI project aims to simplify managing Azure resources by offering a set of commands that carry out specific operations. Whether handling databases, virtual machines, or any Azure services, this tool tends to cater to different user needs. It specifically targets developers, data scientists, and system administrators, who need to automate scripts in Azure.
Project Features:
Azure CLI offers an array of features that revolve around Azure resources management. Firstly, the tool incorporates commands for each Azure service, which means that users can handle any Azure service with specific instructions. Secondly, Azure CLI provides a cross-platform command line, which allows it to function seamlessly on Linux, Mac OS or Windows. Lastly, the Azure CLI supports a selection of output formats like JSON, permitting data to be presented and manipulated in formats that best suit the users.
Technology Stack:
Azure CLI is predominately built with Python, ensuring a cross-platform utility and simple, readable syntax. It uses a variety of Python libraries such as 'requests' for making HTTP calls, 'knack' for building command line applications, etc. The choice of Python and its associated libraries stems from their broad acceptance, ease of use, and capacity to integrate with the existing Azure API easily.
Project Structure and Architecture:
The Azure CLI project follows a modular architecture, where each Azure service has its command module. This structure makes it easy to understand, modify, or enhance the Azure CLI tool. Examples include some common modules like 'az group' for managing resource groups, 'az sql' for controlling SQL databases, etc.
