Connect to Azure Stack Hub using Azure Account Extension in Visual Studio Code

This article describes how to connect to Azure Stack Hub using the Azure Account extension, which enables you to use Azure directly from Visual Studio Code. You will need to update your Visual Studio Code (VS Code) settings.

VS Code is a lightweight editor for building and debug web and cloud applications. ASP.NET Core, Python, NodeJS, Go, and other developers use VS Code. With the Azure Account extension, you can use a single Azure sign-in with subscription filtering for other Azure extensions. The extension makes the Azure Cloud Shell available in the VS Code-integrated terminal. Using the extension, you can connect to your Azure Stack Hub subscription using both Microsoft Entra ID and Active Directory Federated Services (AD FS) for your identity manager. You can sign in to Azure Stack Hub, select your subscription, and open a new command line in a Cloud Shell.

Visual Studio Code and Azure Stack Hub

In addition to the Azure Account extension for Visual Studio, a number of other Azure extensions are supported for use with Azure Stack Hub and Visual Studio Code. These include:

• Visual Studio Code Azure Storage extension
• Visual Studio Code Azure Resources extension (requires version 0.4.0 or earlier)
• Visual Studio Code Azure Virtual Machines extension

Pre-requisites for Azure Account Extension

• An Azure Stack Hub environment.
• Visual Studio Code.
• Azure Account Extension.
• An Azure Stack Hub subscription and credentials with access to Azure Stack Hub.
• An environment with PowerShell using the AZ modules for Azure Stack Hub. For instructions, see Install PowerShell Az module for Azure Stack Hub.

Get your credentials

In this section you will use your credentials to get your tenant ID. You will need your Azure Stack Hub resource manager URL and tenant ID.

The Azure Stack Hub Resource Manager is a management framework that allows you to deploy, manage, and monitor Azure resources.

• The Resource Manager URL for the Azure Stack Development Kit (ASDK) is: https://management.local.azurestack.external/
• The Resource Manager URL for an integrated system is: https://management.region.<fqdn>/, where <fqdn> is your fully qualified domain name.

1. Open PowerShell with an elevated prompt, and run the following cmdlets:

   Add-AzEnvironment -Name "<username@contoso.com>" -ArmEndpoint "https://management.region.<fqdn>"
   

   Name  Resource Manager Url                            ActiveDirectory Authority
   ----  --------------------                            -------------------------
   username@contoso.com https://management.region.<fqdn> https://login.microsoftonline.com/
   

2. Run the following cmdlets in the same session:

   $AuthEndpoint = (Get-AzEnvironment -Name "sethm@microsoft.com").ActiveDirectoryAuthority.TrimEnd('/')
   $AADTenantName = "masselfhost.onmicrosoft.com"
   $TenantId = (invoke-restmethod "$($AuthEndpoint)/$($AADTenantName)/.well-known/openid-configuration").issuer.TrimEnd('/').Split('/')[-1]
   Add-AzAccount -EnvironmentName "sethm@microsoft.com" -TenantId $TenantId
   

   Account               SubscriptionName  TenantId                             Environment
   -------               ----------------  --------                             -----------
   username@contoso.com   azure-stack-sub  aaaaaaaa-0000-1111-2222-bbbbbbbbbbbb username@contoso.com
   

3. Make a note of the tenant ID. You will need it when adding the JSON section that configures the Azure Account extension.

Set up the Azure Account extension

1. Open VS Code.

2. Select Extensions on the left-side corner.

3. In the search box, enter Azure Account.

4. Select Azure Account and select Install.

   

5. Restart VS Code to load the extension.

6. Press Ctrl+Shift+P, and select Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON).

7. In the code editor, update the following JSON snippet with the values for your environment, and then paste snippet into the settings block.

   • Values:

     Parameter	Description
     azure.cloud	You must use the literal constant "AzureCustomCloud" for this parameter.
     azure.tenant	The value of your Azure Stack Hub tenant ID.
     azure.customCloud.resourceManagerEndpointUrl	This is the root URL for the Azure Resource Manager for Azure Stack Hub.
     validateAuthority	You can leave out this parameter if you are using Microsoft Entra ID as your identity manager. Add the parameter with a value of false if you are using AD FS.

   • JSON snippet:

       "azure.cloud": "AzureCustomCloud",
       "azure.customCloud.resourceManagerEndpointUrl": "https://management.region.<fqdn>",
       "azure.tenant": "<your-tenant-ID>",
     

8. Save the user settings (JSON) and use Ctrl+Shift+P once again. Select Azure: Sign in. The authentication page loads in your browser. Sign in to your endpoint.

9. To test that you have successfully logged into your Azure Stack Hub subscription, use Ctrl+Shift+ P and select Azure: Select Subscription and see if the subscription you have is available.

Commands

Next steps

Set up a development environment in Azure Stack Hub

Set up Azure Storage in your Azure Stack Hub from Visual Studio Code