Azure PowerShell

The Az module manages Azure. Connect-AzAccount authenticates, and from there the cmdlets follow the usual Verb-Noun pattern with an Az prefix.

Lesson 2 min read Windows PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7

Documentation: Microsoft Learn

Written and tested by Dhrub Bharali · Updated 02 October 2026

Overview

Context is the concept to get right first. Your session has a context: an account, a tenant and a subscription. Every command runs against that context, so a command that succeeds and does nothing visible has usually run against the wrong subscription. Get-AzContext before acting, and Set-AzContext -Subscription to switch. In a script, set it explicitly rather than inheriting whatever was last used.

The old AzureRM module is retired. Its cmdlets used an AzureRm prefix, and old examples still use them. Enable-AzureRmAlias exists as a migration aid, but new code should be Az.

Az is a meta-module of many sub-modules, so Install-Module Az pulls a lot. Install just Az.Accounts plus what you need, such as Az.Compute or Az.Storage, when size matters.

For automation, use a service principal or managed identity with Connect-AzAccount -Identity rather than an interactive login. Interactive login in a scheduled script fails at two in the morning by design.

Note that -Status on Get-AzVM is what populates PowerState; without it you get configuration and no running state.

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Read the command and its supplied arguments. This example requires real PowerShell or its module; this diagram does not execute it.

[pscustomobject]@{
  Connect = 'Connect-AzAccount'
  Context = 'Get-AzContext | Select-Object Name, Subscription, Tenant'
  Select = 'Set-AzContext -Subscription "Production"'
  Query = 'Get-AzVM -Status | Select-Object Name, ResourceGroupName, PowerState'
} | Format-List

Stage 1[pscustomobject]@{Positional values or no named parameters
Stage 2Format-ListPositional values or no named parameters

What happens

This prints the sequence rather than connecting, since there is no network here. The order is the point: connect, check the context, set it deliberately, then query. Skipping the middle two steps is how a script deletes the right-named resource in the wrong subscription.

Worth remembering

Every command runs against the current context. Set it explicitly in scripts.
AzureRM is retired; write Az.
Install Az.Accounts plus the sub-modules you need instead of all of Az.
Get-AzVM needs -Status to report PowerState.

Primary documentation

Select-Object reference

Try it

Illustrative output · values vary by environment

1PS> [pscustomobject]@{

2PS> Connect = 'Connect-AzAccount'

3PS> Context = 'Get-AzContext | Select-Object Name, Subscription, Tenant'

4PS> Select = 'Set-AzContext -Subscription "Production"'

5PS> Query = 'Get-AzVM -Status | Select-Object Name, ResourceGroupName, PowerState'

6PS> } | Format-List

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[pscustomobject]@{
  Connect = 'Connect-AzAccount'
  Context = 'Get-AzContext | Select-Object Name, Subscription, Tenant'
  Select = 'Set-AzContext -Subscription "Production"'
  Query = 'Get-AzVM -Status | Select-Object Name, ResourceGroupName, PowerState'
} | Format-List

Ready to inspect.

Prints the connect, check context, set context, query sequence.

Show reference output

Illustrative output · values vary by environment

Connect : Connect-AzAccount
Context : Get-AzContext | Select-Object Name, Subscription, Tenant
Select  : Set-AzContext -Subscription "Production"
Query   : Get-AzVM -Status | Select-Object Name, ResourceGroupName, PowerState

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Read Azure VM status

An Azure read context is preloaded in this fictional lab. Return the fictional Azure VM status inventory.

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