Use the Azure REST API with Azure CLI

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Representational State Transfer (REST) APIs are service endpoints that support different sets of HTTP operations (or methods). These HTTP methods allow you to perform different actions for your service's resources. The az rest command should only be used when an existing Azure CLI command isn't available.

This article demonstrates the PUT, PATCH, GET, POST, and DELETE HTTP requests to manage Azure Container Registry resources. The Azure Container Registry is a managed registry service that allows you to create and maintain Azure container registries that store container images and related artifacts.

Prerequisites

Tips for using az rest

Here's some helpful information when working with az rest:

  • The az rest command automatically authenticates using the logged-in credential.
  • If Authorization header is not set, it attaches header Authorization: Bearer <token>, where <token> is retrieved from Microsoft Entra ID.
  • The target resource of the token will be derived from the --url parameter when the --url parameter starts with an endpoint from the output of the az cloud show --query endpoints command. The --url parameter required.
  • Use the --resource parameter for a custom resource.
  • If Content-Type header is not set and --body is a valid JSON string, Content-Type header will default to "application/json".
  • When using --uri-parameters for requests in the form of OData, make sure to escape $ in different environments: in Bash, escape $ as \$ and in PowerShell, escape $ as `$.

Use PUT to create an Azure Container Registry

Use the PUT HTTP method to create a new Azure Container Registry.

# Command format example
az rest --method put \
    --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subscriptionId>/resourceGroups/<resourceGroup>/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/<containerRegistryName>?api-version=2023-01-01-preview \
    --body "{'location': '<locationName>', 'sku': {'name': '<skuName>'}, 'properties': {'adminUserEnabled': '<propertyValue>'}}"

Here's an example with completed parameters:

# Variable block
let "randomIdentifier=$RANDOM*$RANDOM"
subscriptionId="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
resourceGroup="msdocs-app-rg$randomIdentifier"
containerRegistryName="msdocscr$randomIdentifier"
locationName="westus"
skuName="Standard"
propertyValue="true"

# Create resource group
az group create --name $resourceGroup --location $locationName --output json

# Invoke request
az rest --method put \
    --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/$subscriptionId/resourceGroups/$resourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/$containerRegistryName?api-version=2023-01-01-preview \
    --body "{'location': '$locationName', 'sku': {'name': '$skuName'}, 'properties': {'adminUserEnabled': '$propertyValue'}}"

JSON output for both Bash and Powershell:

{
  "id": "/subscriptions/<subscriptionId>/resourceGroups/<resourceGroup>/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/<containerRegistryName>",
  "location": "<location>",
  "name": "<containerRegistryName>",
  "properties": {
    "adminUserEnabled": true,
    "anonymousPullEnabled": false,
    "creationDate": "2024-01-03T18:38:36.7089583Z",
    "dataEndpointEnabled": false,
    "dataEndpointHostNames": [],
    "encryption": {
      "status": "disabled"
    },
    "loginServer": "<containerRegistryName>.azurecr.io",
    "networkRuleBypassOptions": "AzureServices",
    "policies": {
      "azureADAuthenticationAsArmPolicy": {
        "status": "enabled"
      },
      "exportPolicy": {
        "status": "enabled"
      },
      "quarantinePolicy": {
        "status": "disabled"
      },
      "retentionPolicy": {
        "days": 7,
        "lastUpdatedTime": "2024-01-03T19:44:53.9770581+00:00",
        "status": "disabled"
      },
      "softDeletePolicy": {
        "lastUpdatedTime": "2024-01-03T19:44:53.9771117+00:00",
        "retentionDays": 7,
        "status": "disabled"
      },
      "trustPolicy": {
        "status": "disabled",
        "type": "Notary"
      }
    },
    "privateEndpointConnections": [],
    "provisioningState": "Succeeded",
    "publicNetworkAccess": "Enabled",
    "zoneRedundancy": "Disabled"
  },
  "sku": {
    "name": "Standard",
    "tier": "Standard"
  },
  "systemData": {
    "createdAt": "2024-01-03T18:38:36.7089583+00:00",
    "createdBy": "<username>@microsoft.com",
    "createdByType": "User",
    "lastModifiedAt": "2024-01-03T19:44:53.684342+00:00",
    "lastModifiedBy": "<username>@microsoft.com",
    "lastModifiedByType": "User"
  },
  "tags":{},
  "type": "Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries"
}

Use PATCH to update your Azure Container Registry

Update your Azure Container Registry by using the PATCH HTTP request. Edit the --body parameter with the properties you want to update. This example uses the variables set in the previous section, and updates the SKU name ($skuName="Premium") of the Azure Container Registry.

#Variable Block
$skuName="Premium"

az rest --method patch \
    --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/$subscriptionId/resourceGroups/$resourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/$containerRegistryName?api-version=2023-01-01-preview \
    --body "{'location': '$locationName', 'sku': {'name': '$skuName'}, 'properties': {'adminUserEnabled': '$propertyValue'}}"

The following JSON dictionary output has fields omitted for brevity:

{
  "id": "/subscriptions/<subscriptionId>/resourceGroups/<resourceGroup>/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/<containerRegistryName>",
  "location": "westus",
  "name": "<containerRegistryName>",
  "properties": {...},
  "sku": {
    "name": "Premium",
    "tier": "Premium"
  },
  "systemData": {...},
  "type": "Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries"
}

Use GET to retrieve your Azure Container Registry

Use the GET HTTP request see the update results from the PATCH request. This example uses the variables set in the previous section.

az rest --method get \
    --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/$subscriptionId/resourceGroups/$resourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/$containerRegistryName?api-version=2023-01-01-preview

The output for GET method is the same as the one shown for PUT.

Use POST to regenerate your Azure Container Registry credentials

Use the POST HTTP request to regenerate one of the login credentials for the Azure Container Registry created in this article.

# Variable block
$passwordValue="password"

az rest --method post \
    --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/$subscriptionId/resourceGroups/$resourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/$containerRegistryName/regenerateCredential?api-version=2023-01-01-preview \
    --body "{'name': '$passwordValue'}"

The following JSON dictionary output has fields omitted for brevity:

{
  "passwords": [
    {
      "name": "password",
      "value": "<passwordValue>"
    },
    {
      "name": "password2",
      "value": "<passwordValue2>"
    }
  ],
  "username": "<containerRegistryName>"
}

After the request is complete, your specified Azure Container Registry credentials will be regenerated with a new password along with your existing password (password2).

Use DELETE to delete your Azure Container Registry

Use the DELETE HTTP request to delete an existing Azure Container Registry.

az rest --method delete \
    --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/$subscriptionId/resourceGroups/$resourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/$containerRegistryName?api-version=2023-01-01-preview

Additional az rest example for Microsoft Graph

Sometimes it helps to see an example for a different scenario, so here is an example that uses the Microsoft Graph API. To update redirect URIs for an Application, call the Update application REST API, as in this code:

# Get the application
az rest --method GET \
    --uri 'https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/applications/b4e4d2ab-e2cb-45d5-a31a-98eb3f364001'

# Update `redirectUris` for `web` property
az rest --method PATCH \
    --uri 'https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/applications/b4e4d2ab-e2cb-45d5-a31a-98eb3f364001' \
    --body '{"web":{"redirectUris":["https://myapp.com"]}}'

Clean up resources

When you are finished with the resources created in this article, you can delete the resource group. When you delete the resource group, all resources in that resource group are deleted.

az group delete --resource-group <resourceGroupName>

See also