What's changed: Revamped AZ-900 Chapter 6 to the new depth (management tools interactive/scripted/IaC + Arc; monitoring Monitor/Log Analytics/App Insights/alerts/Advisor/Service Health)
6.1Managing and Deploying Resources
Understand the ways to operate and deploy Azure—Azure portal, Cloud Shell, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, ARM templates / Bicep (IaC), and Azure Arc—and when to use each.
You can operate and deploy Azure resources in several ways, in three broad families—interactive (click) / scripted (commands) / declarative (code = IaC)—and every request goes through ARM (Azure Resource Manager) seen in earlier chapters, so results are consistent regardless of method. Choose by whether you want speed or automation/repeatability.
6.1.1Interactive tools
- Azure portal: the web GUI—click to inspect and create; good for learning, one-off tasks, and getting an overview.
- Azure Cloud Shell: a browser-based terminal (with Azure CLI and PowerShell, no setup, already authenticated)—use commands without installing anything locally.
6.1.2Scripting and code
- Azure CLI: commands starting with
az(cross-platform); good for automation/scripts. - Azure PowerShell: operate via
Azmodule cmdlets (verb-noun form). - ARM templates / Bicep: infrastructure as code (IaC)—declare configuration to deploy the same environment repeatably and automatically (Bicep is a cleaner, newer syntax than ARM JSON and compiles to ARM at deploy time).
A common confusion is "scripting (CLI/PowerShell)" vs "IaC (ARM/Bicep)." CLI/PowerShell run steps in order (imperative)—"create this, then configure that." IaC declares the end state (declarative)—write "the final shape should be this," and ARM reconciles the difference. Re-running yields the same result (idempotent), which is IaC strength.
| Tool | Type | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Azure portal | Interactive (GUI) | Learning, one-off, overview |
| Cloud Shell | Interactive (browser terminal) | Run commands with no setup |
| Azure CLI / PowerShell | Scripted (imperative) | Automation, repetitive tasks |
| ARM / Bicep | IaC (declarative, idempotent) | Reproducible deployments |
| Azure Arc | Extended management | Govern non-Azure resources |
6.1.3Managing beyond Azure: Azure Arc
With Azure Arc, you manage servers, Kubernetes, and data services on-premises or in other clouds through Azure management plane (policy, tags, RBAC, monitoring). For the "scattered environments" problem in hybrid/multi-cloud, its value is extending Azure governance outward as-is.
Scenario: building parallel environments. To reliably reproduce an identical setup across prod/test/dev → manage Bicep (IaC) in a repo and deploy to each environment by changing only parameters (idempotent). Use the portal for small daily checks and CLI scripts for routine bulk operations, and bring on-prem servers under the same policies via Azure Arc.
Watch the mix-ups: (1) scripting (CLI/PowerShell = imperative) vs IaC (ARM/Bicep = declarative, idempotent). (2) Bicep is not a replacement for ARM but a cleaner syntax that becomes an ARM template. (3) Cloud Shell is the "place" (a browser terminal), while CLI/PowerShell are the "tools" you use inside it.
Q. CLI or PowerShell—which should I use? Both can do the same operations; pick based on your team and existing scripts (commonly: az CLI for Linux-style automation, the Az module if you have Windows/PowerShell assets).
Common points: portal = GUI / Cloud Shell = browser terminal / CLI (az) & PowerShell = scripting (imperative) / ARM & Bicep = IaC (declarative, idempotent, repeatable) / Azure Arc = manage beyond Azure, all through ARM.
6.1.4Section summary
- Interactive: portal (GUI) / Cloud Shell (browser terminal)
- Scripted (imperative): Azure CLI (az) / PowerShell; IaC (declarative, idempotent): ARM / Bicep
- Azure Arc = manage on-prem/other-cloud via Azure management plane; all operations go through ARM
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Quick check
(just a quick review)Q1. Which deploys the same environment repeatably from declarative code (infrastructure as code)?
Q2. Which in-browser interactive shell comes with Azure CLI and PowerShell preinstalled?
Q3. Which manages on-premises or other-cloud servers through Azure’s management plane?
Q4. Which correctly distinguishes Azure CLI/PowerShell (imperative scripts) from ARM/Bicep (IaC)?
Q5. Which is correct about Bicep?
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