Scott Hanselman

Managing the Cloud from the Command Line

June 20, 2012 Comment on this post [16] Posted in Azure | Open Source
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I blogged about the Windows Azure cloud a few weeks ago. I'm digging the new stuff and trying different scenarios on Macs, PCs and Linux (I prefer Ubuntu). As a long time PowerShell and Command Line fan I'm always looking for ways to do stuff "in text mode" as well as scripting site creations and deployments.

Turns out there are a mess of ways to access Azure from the command line - more than even I thought. There's a JSON-based Web API that these tools end up talking to. You could certainly call that API directly if you wanted, but the command line tools are damn fun.

You can install the Mac Azure SDK installer to get the tools and more on a Mac, or if you install node.js on Windows or Mac or Linux you can use the Node Package Manager (npm) to install Azure tools like this:

npm install azure-cli --global

You can also use apt-get or other repository commands. After this, you can just run "azure" which gives you these commands that you link together in a very intuitive way, "azure topic(noun)verb option" so "azure site list" or "azure vm disk create" and the like.

Azure command line format

There's even ASCII art, and who doesn't like that. ;)

Seriously, though, it's slick. Here's a sample interaction I did just now. I trimmed some boring stuff but this is starting from a fresh machine with no tools and ending with me interacting with my Windows Azure account.

scott@hanselmac:~$ npm install azure-cli
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/azure
...bunch of GETS...
scott@hanselmac:~$ azure
info: _ _____ _ ___ ___
info: /_\ |_ / | | | _ \ __|
info: _ ___/ _ \__/ /| |_| | / _|___ _ _
info: (___ /_/ \_\/___|\___/|_|_\___| _____)
info: (_______ _ _) _ ______ _)_ _
info: (______________ _ ) (___ _ _)
info:
info: Windows Azure: Microsoft's Cloud Platform
info:
info: Tool version 0.6.0
...bunch of help stuff...

scott@hanselmac:~$ azure account download
info: Executing command account download
info: Launching browser to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=254432
help: Save the downloaded file, then execute the command
help: account import
info: account download command OK
scott@hanselmac:~$ cd ~
scott@hanselmac:~$ cd Downloads/
scott@hanselmac:~/Downloads$ ls
3-Month Free Trial.publishsettings
scott@hanselmac:~/Downloads$ azure account import 3-Month\ Free\ Trial.publishsettings
info: Executing command account import
info: Setting service endpoint to: management.core.windows.net
info: Setting service port to: 443
info: Found subscription: 3-Month Free Trial
info: Setting default subscription to: 3-Month Free Trial
warn: Remember to delete it now that it has been imported.
info: Account publish settings imported successfully
info: account import command OK
scott@hanselmac:~/Downloads$ azure site list
info: Executing command site list
+ Enumerating locations
+ Enumerating sites
data: Name State Host names
data: ----------------- ------- -------------------------------------------------------------
data: superawesome Running superawesome.azurewebsites.net,www.acustomdomain.com
info: site list command OK
scott@hanselmac:~/Downloads$ azure site list --json
[
{
"AdminEnabled": "true",
"AvailabilityState": "Normal",
"EnabledHostNames": [
"superawesome.azurewebsites.net",
"www.acustomdomain.com"
],
"HostNames": [
"ratchetandthegeek.azurewebsites.net",
"www.ratchetandthegeek.com"
"State": "Running",
"UsageState": "Normal",
"WebSpace": "eastuswebspace"
}
]

Here's how I can create and start a VM from the command line. First I'll list the available images I can start with, then I create it. I wait for it to get ready, then it's started and ready to remote (RDP, SSH, etc) into.

scott@hanselmac:~$ azure vm image list
info: Executing command vm image list
+ Fetching VM images
data: Name Category OS
data: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- -------
data: CANONICAL__Canonical-Ubuntu-12-04-amd64-server-20120528.1.3-en-us-30GB.vhd Canonical Linux
data: MSFT__Windows-Server-2012-RC-June2012-en-us-30GB.vhd Microsoft Windows
data: MSFT__Sql-Server-11EVAL-11.0.2215.0-05152012-en-us-30GB.vhd Microsoft Windows
data: MSFT__Win2K8R2SP1-120514-1520-141205-01-en-us-30GB.vhd Microsoft Windows
data: OpenLogic__OpenLogic-CentOS-62-20120531-en-us-30GB.vhd OpenLogic Linux
data: SUSE__openSUSE-12-1-20120603-en-us-30GB.vhd SUSE Linux
data: SUSE__SUSE-Linux-Enterprise-Server-11SP2-20120601-en-us-30GB.vhd SUSE Linux
info: vm image list command OK
scott@hanselmac:~$ azure vm create hanselvm MSFT__Windows-Server-2012-RC-June2012-en-us-30GB.vhd scott superpassword --location "West US"
info: Executing command vm create
+ Looking up image
+ Looking up cloud service
+ Creating cloud service
+ Retrieving storage accounts
+ Creating VM
info: vm create command OK
scott@hanselmac:~$ azure vm list
info: Executing command vm list
+ Fetching VMs
data: DNS Name VM Name Status
data: --------------------- -------- ------------
data: hanselvm.cloudapp.net hanselvm Provisioning
info: vm list command OK

That's the command line tool for Mac, Linux, and optionally Windows (if you install node and run "npm install azure --global") and there's PowerShell commands for the Windows admin. It's also worth noting that you can check out all the code for these as they are all open source and up on github at http://github.com/windowsazure. The whole command line app is written in JavaScript, in fact.

Just as the command line version of the management tools has a very specific and comfortable noun/verb/options style, the cmdlets are very "PowerShelly" and will feel comfortable folks who are used to PowerShell. The documentation and tools are in a Preview mode and are under ongoing development, so you'll find some holes in the documentation.

The PowerShell commands all work together and data is passed between them. Here a new Azure VM configuration is created while the VM Name is pull from the list, then the a provisioning config object is passed into New-AzureVM.

C:\PS>New-AzureVMConfig -Name "MySUSEVM2" -InstanceSize ExtraSmall -ImageName (Get-AzureVMImage)[7].ImageName 
` | Add-AzureProvisioningConfig –Linux –LinuxUser $lxUser -Password $adminPassword
` | New-AzureVM

Next, I want to figure out how I can spin up a whole farm of websites from the command line, deploy an app to the new web farm, configure the farm for traffic, then load test it hard, all from the command line. Such fun!


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About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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June 20, 2012 22:54
Good stuff Scott. If you don't know him already, get in touch with Aidan Finn, an MS ITPro MVP in Ireland. Does all kinds of stuff with Hyper-V and PowerShell scripting, and I bet his stuff could translate very well to Azure. You guys could have an Azure farm up and running in no time...

Cheers.
June 20, 2012 23:44
Very cool.

I think one of the fails around Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player is the complete lack of API. I mean, obviously if they had a decent API they wouldn't be able to force me to find a Windows box and use their byzantine software in order to download the MP3s I bought, which would obviously be a negative, but I do think the positive benefits outweigh that.

The fact that I can't ssh into my home machine and issue a command on the CLI to upload an MP3 to my cloud drive is a travesty.
June 21, 2012 3:01
Am hoping someone will take the Azure tools and build a Homebrew package for Mac.
Jim
June 21, 2012 3:05
Jim - I don't understand? It's already available on Mac. No need to homebrew, the tools are native.
June 21, 2012 18:19
Slightly off topic question, but still tied to working off a Mac. Is it possible to remote desktop to a Windows Azure box from a Mac? I've got the remote connection client on the mac and I can log into non azure boxes with it, but it does not seem to work with Azure. I've read in the past there is an issue that prevents it, but I was hoping with the latest release of Azure tools that maybe there is a new answer.
June 23, 2012 17:14
Hi,

My parents are diabetic. Is there any blood monitoring device without strips? I pay more to blood strips.. Please advice.
June 25, 2012 11:47
@Chris

RDP doesn't currently work to connect to Azure from a Mac. It is a known issue and one that hopefully be addressed in the future. One option for now is to install a VNC server on the VM and then use a VNC client. Using the portal or the CLI you can open up the VNC port to allow you to remotely connect.
July 30, 2012 14:59
It is a nice site & popular.
November 24, 2012 22:23
update for node.js newcomers (like me):
per azure npm module:
"The azure cli has been moved to a separate project. Please use "npm install azure-cli" to get it."

so, running 'npm install azure-cli --global' would do the trick.
December 20, 2012 19:58
Also, don't run npm install from the x64 Visual Studio DOS prompt. Use a normal 32-bit one.
June 06, 2013 1:38
Hello people,

I've been playing around with Azure SDKs for powershell. I had some troubles installing the azure cmdlet because the nojde.js version was too old and was downloading something wrong. After I upgraded it I could install and see all azure commands both in the powershell console and the command prompt. But now I'm trying to link my Azure site with my git repository and I don't have the azure cmdlet available in my git console. Could you please give me some hints?

Thanks in advance
June 06, 2013 1:41
marvin - try installing node from the node website, then run "npm install azure-cli --g"
June 06, 2013 1:59
Thanks for your quick reply.

I already run both "npm azure -g" and "npm azure-cli -g", I read that "g" parameter makes the installation as global so that azure commands be available everywhere. However I can't execute them.
June 06, 2013 3:36
Marvin - Can you give me more details? What happens when you type npm?
August 28, 2013 21:53
Scott, I don't know if you're one to make updates to blog posts, but as was noted in the comments, the command "npm install azure --global" is misleading and one would have to see it not work and then find the correct command in the comments in order to acquire the correct "-cli" suffixed command. Could you update the blog article so that others don't panic like I did? I've been having enough problems with PATH environment variable etc already ...
September 03, 2013 8:12
Jon - Updated, Sorry they renamed the package.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.