Azure Cheatsheet

Resource Groups

Use this Azure reference while you build software engineering projects, review code for technical interview prep, or polish examples for a software engineer resume.

Create & Delete

# Create
az group create --name myRG --location eastus

# Create with tags
az group create --name myRG --location eastus \
  --tags env=prod team=platform owner=alice

# Delete (and all resources inside it)
az group delete --name myRG --yes

# Delete without waiting
az group delete --name myRG --yes --no-wait

List & Inspect

Command	What it does
`az group list -o table`	List all resource groups
`az group show -n myRG`	Show details of one group
`az group exists -n myRG`	Returns true/false
`az resource list -g myRG -o table`	List all resources inside a group
`az group list --query "[?location=='eastus']" -o table`	Filter by region

# Count resources per group
az resource list --query "length(@)" -g myRG

# Find groups by tag
az group list --tag env=prod -o table

Move Resources Between Groups

# Move one resource
az resource move \
  --destination-group targetRG \
  --destination-subscription-id <sub-id> \
  --ids /subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/sourceRG/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/myVM

# Validate move first (dry-run)
az resource invoke-action \
  --action validateMoveResources \
  --ids /subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/sourceRG \
  --request-body '{"resources":["<resource-id>"],"targetResourceGroup":"/subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/targetRG"}'

Not all resource types support move. Check docs first.

Locks

Prevent accidental modification or deletion.

# Lock a group (CanNotDelete)
az lock create --name no-delete \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --lock-type CanNotDelete

# Lock a group (ReadOnly — prevents all writes)
az lock create --name read-only \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --lock-type ReadOnly

# List locks on a group
az lock list --resource-group myRG -o table

# Delete a lock
az lock delete --name no-delete --resource-group myRG

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) on a Group

# Assign Contributor to a user
az role assignment create \
  --assignee user@example.com \
  --role Contributor \
  --scope /subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/myRG

# Assign Reader to a service principal
az role assignment create \
  --assignee <app-id> \
  --role Reader \
  --scope /subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/myRG

# List assignments on a group
az role assignment list --resource-group myRG -o table

# Remove assignment
az role assignment delete \
  --assignee user@example.com \
  --role Contributor \
  --resource-group myRG

ARM Template Deployments to a Group

# Deploy a Bicep / ARM template
az deployment group create \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters @params.json

# What-if (dry-run)
az deployment group what-if \
  --resource-group myRG \
  --template-file main.bicep \
  --parameters @params.json

# List deployments
az deployment group list -g myRG -o table

# Show a deployment
az deployment group show -g myRG -n myDeployment

# Cancel a running deployment
az deployment group cancel -g myRG -n myDeployment

Policies

# Assign a built-in policy to a group
az policy assignment create \
  --name "require-tags" \
  --scope /subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/myRG \
  --policy "871b6d14-10aa-478d-b590-94f262ecfa99"   # Require a tag

# List assignments
az policy assignment list --scope /subscriptions/<sub>/resourceGroups/myRG