Azure management tools: Portal, CLI, PowerShell, ARM

The exam wants you to pick the right tool for the job — click-through GUI, scripted command line, or declarative template. Here is each one, pinned down. AZ-900, 2026 edition.

Here are 7 typical management-tools questions in the exam's own style — free, each answer explained, no sign-up.

Straight to the 7 free questions ↓

Azure gives you several ways to manage the same cloud, and the AZ-900 loves to ask which one you would reach for. The trick is to see them in three tiers — shown in the diagram above: a graphical interface you click through, scripted command-line tools you automate with, and declarative templates you deploy repeatably. Whichever you choose, your request ends up going through the same place: Azure Resource Manager. Learn the three tiers and their tools, and this whole cluster of questions becomes free points.

The GUI: Azure portal (and the mobile app)

The Azure portal is the browser-based graphical interface — point, click, fill in a form. It is the friendliest place to explore the service catalog, learn your way around, and knock out a one-off change or build a single resource. It shines when you are experimenting or doing something once; it is a poor fit when you need to repeat the same steps reliably.

The Azure mobile app is the portal’s companion for your phone: check resource status, view alerts, and run a few quick actions while you are away from your desk. For the exam, know it by name and purpose — mobile monitoring on the go.

Scripted: CLI, PowerShell, and Cloud Shell

When a task is repetitive, you script it. Azure gives you two command-line tools that do the same jobs with different syntax:

Azure CLI — cross-platform commands that all start with az (for example az vm create). Comfortable for anyone from a Bash or Linux background, and identical on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Azure PowerShell — cmdlets in a Verb-Noun form (for example New-AzVM, Get-AzResourceGroup). A natural fit for teams already automating with PowerShell.

Both are scriptable and largely interchangeable — pick by the syntax your team already knows.

Azure Cloud Shell is the third piece: a shell that runs straight from the browser inside the portal, with nothing to install and you already signed in. It offers both a Bash experience (Azure CLI) and a PowerShell experience, so you can run commands from any machine — even a borrowed laptop during an incident.

Declarative: ARM and Bicep templates

For environments you must stand up the same way, again and again, you stop typing steps and instead declare the result in a file. This is infrastructure as code. On Azure that means ARM templates or Bicep — Bicep being the cleaner, friendlier language that compiles down to the same deployment. You keep the file in source control, and every deployment produces an identical environment. The difference from scripting is subtle but exam-worthy: a script says how to build it step by step; a declarative template says what the end state should be and lets Azure work out the rest.

Which for which job

That is the whole mental model, and the diagram sums it up: explore in the GUI, automate with scripts, standardize with templates. A quick look or a single change is the portal; a repetitive task is CLI or PowerShell; an environment you need to reproduce reliably is ARM/Bicep.

The real exam mixes multiple-choice, true/false, and drag-and-drop formats; the seven questions above are standard multiple-choice, and every explanation carries a “why not the others” so the wrong options teach you as much as the right one.

A three-column comparison of the ways to manage Microsoft Azure, all pointing down to a single Azure Resource Manager bar. The left column, labelled GUI, holds the Azure portal, described as a point-and-click web interface good for exploring and one-off tasks, plus the Azure mobile app for checking resources on the go. The middle column, labelled Scripted, holds Azure CLI with its az commands that run cross-platform, Azure PowerShell with its cmdlets, and Azure Cloud Shell, a browser-based shell needing no local install that runs both CLI and PowerShell. The right column, labelled Declarative, holds ARM and Bicep templates, described as infrastructure as code you declare once and deploy repeatably. An arrow from every column meets at the Azure Resource Manager bar underneath, captioned: whichever tool you use, requests go through Azure Resource Manager. A footer reads: explore in the GUI, automate with scripts, standardize with templates.

7 free AZ-900 practice questions

Answers and explanations — no email wall

AZ-900 Question 1 of 7

A newcomer to Microsoft Azure wants to browse available services, spin up a single virtual machine by filling in a form, and see everything on a visual dashboard — with no scripting at all. Which management tool fits best?

Answer: A — The Azure portal.

The Azure portal is the browser-based graphical interface (GUI): you point, click, and fill in forms — ideal for exploring services, learning, and one-off tasks. Why not the others: Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell are command-line tools that require typing commands, the opposite of no-scripting. An ARM template is a declarative file you author and deploy — great for repeatable builds, overkill for clicking together one VM. Pro tip: 'visual, click-through, exploring or one-off' is always the Azure portal.

AZ-900 Question 2 of 7

An engineer on macOS wants to create resources by typing commands like az group create and az vm create, and wants the same command syntax to work on Windows and Linux too. Which tool are they using?

Answer: A — Azure CLI.

Azure CLI is the cross-platform command-line tool whose commands all begin with az — az group create, az vm create — and it runs the same way on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Why not the others: the Azure portal is a GUI, not a command line. Azure PowerShell also scripts Azure, but its commands are cmdlets in a Verb-Noun form (for example New-AzVM), not az commands. Azure Advisor gives recommendations; it does not create resources. Pro tip: commands starting with az = Azure CLI.

AZ-900 Question 3 of 7

A Windows administrator already automates their environment with cmdlets in a Verb-Noun style, such as New-AzResourceGroup and Get-AzVM. Which Azure management tool provides those cmdlets?

Answer: A — Azure PowerShell.

Azure PowerShell is a set of PowerShell modules that expose Azure as cmdlets in the familiar Verb-Noun form — New-AzResourceGroup, Get-AzVM — so it slots naturally into existing PowerShell automation. Why not the others: Azure CLI uses az-prefixed commands, not cmdlets. The Azure mobile app is for monitoring on a phone, not scripting. Bicep is a declarative template language, not an interactive command shell. Pro tip: Verb-Noun cmdlets (New-Az…, Get-Az…) = Azure PowerShell; az commands = Azure CLI. Both are scriptable — pick by which syntax your team knows.

AZ-900 Question 4 of 7

During an incident, an on-call engineer needs to run a few Azure CLI commands from a borrowed laptop that has nothing installed — no CLI, no PowerShell. They want a ready shell straight from the browser, already signed in. What should they use?

Answer: A — Azure Cloud Shell.

Azure Cloud Shell is a browser-based shell built into the portal: nothing to install locally, already authenticated, and it offers both a Bash experience (Azure CLI) and a PowerShell experience. That is exactly the 'no local install, run commands now' need. Why not the others: a local install is the thing they cannot do on a borrowed machine. Portal blades are GUI forms, not a command shell. An ARM template deploys declared resources — not the way to run a few ad-hoc commands. Pro tip: 'shell in the browser, nothing installed' = Azure Cloud Shell, which runs both CLI and PowerShell.

AZ-900 Question 5 of 7

A team is tired of clicking the same environment together by hand each time. They want to describe the resources they need in a file, keep it in source control, and deploy an identical environment again and again. Which approach does this describe?

Answer: A — Infrastructure as code with ARM or Bicep templates.

Describing the resources you want in a file and deploying it repeatably is infrastructure as code, and on Azure that means ARM templates or Bicep. Bicep is the friendlier authoring language that compiles down to the same deployment — you write it once, store it in source control, and get an identical environment every time. Why not the others: one-off Cloud Shell commands and hand-building in the portal are manual and not reliably repeatable. Azure Advisor recommends improvements; it does not deploy environments. Pro tip: 'declare it in a file, deploy it repeatably' = infrastructure as code (ARM/Bicep); Bicep is the cleaner way to write it.

AZ-900 Question 6 of 7

You are away from your desk and want to quickly check the status of your resources and view alerts from your phone. Which Microsoft Azure tool is designed for that?

Answer: A — The Azure mobile app.

The Azure mobile app is Microsoft's phone app for keeping an eye on Azure on the go — checking resource status, viewing alerts, and running a few quick actions. Why not the others: Azure CLI is a command-line tool, awkward on a phone and not its purpose here. A Bicep template declares infrastructure; it is not a monitoring app. Azure Cloud Shell is a browser shell for running commands, not a purpose-built mobile monitoring experience. Pro tip: 'check Azure from my phone' = the Azure mobile app.

AZ-900 Question 7 of 7

Match the job to the tool: exploring the catalog and doing a quick one-off change, automating a repetitive task in a script, and deploying the exact same environment repeatably. Which ordering is correct?

Answer: A — Portal (GUI) for exploring/one-off; CLI or PowerShell for scripted automation; ARM/Bicep templates for repeatable declarative deployments.

The exam's mental model is three tiers: a GUI (the Azure portal) for exploring and one-off tasks; scripted tools (Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell, and Cloud Shell) for automating repetitive work; and declarative templates (ARM/Bicep) for deploying the same environment reliably again and again. Why not the others: the remaining options scramble that mapping — templates are not for casual exploring, and the portal is not how you get repeatable, version-controlled deployments. Pro tip: explore in the GUI, automate with scripts, standardize with templates — that one sentence answers most tool-choice questions.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell?

Both are cross-platform command-line tools for scripting Microsoft Azure, and both can do the same jobs — the difference is syntax. Azure CLI uses concise commands that all start with az, for example az vm create, and feels natural to people from a Bash or Linux background. Azure PowerShell uses cmdlets in a Verb-Noun form, such as New-AzVM, and fits teams already automating with PowerShell. Pick whichever matches your existing skills; the exam just wants you to recognize each one.

What is Azure Cloud Shell?

Azure Cloud Shell is a shell you run straight from the browser inside the Azure portal — no local install and already signed in. It offers both a Bash experience (with Azure CLI) and a PowerShell experience (with Azure PowerShell), so you can run commands from any machine, even a borrowed one. It is ideal for quick, ad-hoc tasks when you do not want to set up tooling locally.

Are these real exam questions?

No. They are our own questions, written in the style and difficulty of the AZ-900 — never copied from any question bank or the real exam. Reproducing live exam items violates Microsoft's certification agreement and can cost a candidate their certification, and a crammed answer teaches you nothing about the one you have not seen.

Updated for AZ-900 (July 2026). The sample questions above are our own work in the style of the exam — not real exam items. The exam itself is set and marked by the certification body.