Connect to Azure Using Azure SDK for .NET

In this Azure SDK for .NET, we will show you how to connect to Azure from a .NET application.

The Azure REST API platform allows us to connect to Azure using multiple clients, which include:

• API Clients (Postman, etc)
• PowerShell (Az module)
• Azure CLI
• .NET application (Using Azure SDK for .NET)

The Azure SDK for .NET can create and manage any aspect of Azure from within a .NET application, such as C#, ASP, Blazor, and more.

In this post, we will create a C# application that connects to Azure by utilizing the Microsoft Azure Resources management core library and creating an ArmClient class that handles the authentication layer to Azure.

Prerequisites

• Before continuing, you must create an Azure Service Principal with permission from the owner or contributor.
• Create environment variables for the following variables that belong to the Service Principal
  • AZURE_TENANT_ID
  • AZURE_CLIENT_ID
  • AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET

If you are using PowerShell, you can create them using the following commands (variables are only valid for the duration of the session and are not permanent)

$env:AZURE_TENANT_ID ="value"
$env:AZURE_CLIENT_ID ="value"
$env:AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET ="value"

Connect to Azure

To connect to Azure using the SDK, create a C# application and install the following library.

dotnet add package Azure.ResourceManager
dotnet add package Azure.Identity
dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.Azure

Add the following code to your Program.cs. The program will print the default Azure subscription to the screen.

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Azure.Identity;
using Azure.ResourceManager.Storage.Models;
using Azure.ResourceManager.Resources;
using Azure.Core;
using Azure.ResourceManager;

// Create an instance of the ArmClient using the DefaultAzureCredential.
// The DefaultAzureCredential will use the available authentication methods
// to authenticate the client, such as environment variables, managed identity,
// or interactive login.
ArmClient armClient = new ArmClient(new DefaultAzureCredential());
var subdetails = armClient.GetDefaultSubscription();
Console.WriteLine ($"The default Azure subscription is {subdetails.Id}");

Save the file and run the application using dotnet run

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