Export All NSG Rules from All Azure Subscriptions with PowerShell

5 Min. Read

Updated – 27/09/2023 – The tool is updated to include the list of Protocols that are part of your NSG rules (Any, TCP, UDP, or ICMP).

Updated – 18/07/2023 – The tool now will export Network Security Groups (NSG) assignments for network interfaces and subnets. Please feel free to leave a comment below for additional improvement.

Updated – 25/05/2023 – If you are using Application Security Groups (ASG), the script was updated to support multiple ASGs in one NSG rule. Please feel free to leave a comment below for additional improvement.

Updated – 28/04/2021 – If you are using Application Security Groups (ASG), the script was updated to include the source and destination name of the Application Security Group (ASG) used with Network Security Groups (NSG). Please feel free to leave a comment below for additional improvement.

Updated – 12/03/2021 – The script now includes the source and destination addresses. Please feel free to leave a comment below for additional improvement.

In this article, we will share with you how to export all Network Security Groups (NSG) rules from all Azure subscriptions with Azure PowerShell.

Introduction

Azure Network Security Group (NSG) can help you limit network traffic to resources in a virtual network, you can think of it as your traditional layer 4 Firewall. NSG allows you to create rules (ACLs) at the desired level of granularity: network interfaces, individual VMs, or virtual subnets. You can control access by permitting or denying communication between the workloads within a virtual network, from systems on your network(s) via cross-premises connectivity, or direct Internet communication. Each network interface has zero, or one, associated network security group. Each network interface exists in a virtual network subnet. A subnet can also have zero, or one, associated network security group.

In this article, we will share with you a PowerShell script that will help you to get the list of all Network Security Groups (NSGs) in all Azure subscriptions, and then export it to a comma-separated value (CSV) format. This comes in handy when working with many VMs in Azure, and you want to audit all Network Security Group (NSG) rules you have.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide, you need to have the following:

1) Azure subscription – If you don’t have an Azure subscription, you can create a free one here.

2) You need one or more Network Security Group (NSG) rules.

3) If you want to run this tool locally, then make sure the Azure PowerShell (Az module) is installed locally on your machine.

You can use the following PowerShell command to install and update the “Az module”. You need the Az PowerShell module version 9.2.0 or later.

# Make sure you have the latest version of PowerShellGet installed
Install-Module -Name PowerShellGet -Force

# Install and update to the latest Az PowerShell module
Install-Module -Name Az -AllowClobber -Force

Assuming you have all the prerequisites in place, run the following PowerShell tool.

Export All NSG Rules using PowerShell

Here is the script that will do the job for you:

<#
.Synopsis
A script used to export all NSGs rules in all your Azure Subscriptions

.DESCRIPTION
A script is used to get the list of all Network Security Groups (NSGs) in all your Azure Subscriptions.
Finally, it will export the report into a CSV file in your Azure Cloud Shell storage or locally on your machine.

.Notes
Created   : 04-January-2021
Updated   : 27-September-2023
Version   : 3.6
Author    : Charbel Nemnom (MVP/MCT)
Twitter   : @CharbelNemnom
Blog      : https://charbelnemnom.com
Disclaimer: This script is provided "AS IS" with no warranties.
#>

#! Install Az Module If Needed
function Install-Module-If-Needed {
    param([string]$ModuleName) 
    if (Get-Module -ListAvailable -Name $ModuleName -Verbose:$false) {
        Write-Host "Module '$($ModuleName)' already exists, continue..." -ForegroundColor Green
    } 
    else {
        Write-Host "Module '$($ModuleName)' does not exist, installing..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
        Install-Module $ModuleName -Force  -AllowClobber -ErrorAction Stop
        Write-Host "Module '$($ModuleName)' installed." -ForegroundColor Green
    }
}

#! Install Az Accounts Module If Needed
Install-Module-If-Needed Az.Accounts

#! Install Az Network Module If Needed
Install-Module-If-Needed Az.Network

#! Check Azure Connection
Try { 
    Write-Verbose "Connecting to Azure Cloud..." 
    Connect-AzAccount -ErrorAction Stop -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | Out-Null 
}
Catch { 
    Write-Warning "Cannot connect to Azure Cloud. Please check your credentials. Exiting!" 
    Break 
}

#! Get all Azure Subscriptions
$azSubs = Get-AzSubscription

#! Use the following if you want to select a specific Azure Subscription
$azSubs = Get-AzSubscription | Out-Gridview -PassThru -Title 'Select Azure Subscription'

foreach ( $azSub in $azSubs ) {
    Set-AzContext -Subscription $azSub | Out-Null
    $azSubName = $azSub.Name

    $azNsgs = Get-AzNetworkSecurityGroup | Where-Object {$_.Id -ne $NULL}
    
    foreach ( $azNsg in $azNsgs ) {
        # Export custom rules
        Get-AzNetworkSecurityRuleConfig -NetworkSecurityGroup $azNsg | `
            Select-Object @{label = 'NSG Name'; expression = { $azNsg.Name } }, `
            @{label = 'NSG Location'; expression = { $azNsg.Location } }, `
            @{label = 'Rule Name'; expression = { $_.Name } }, `
            @{label = 'Source'; expression = { $_.SourceAddressPrefix } }, `
            @{label = 'Source Application Security Group'; expression = { foreach ($Asg in $_.SourceApplicationSecurityGroups) {$Asg.id.Split('/')[-1]} } }, `
            @{label = 'Source Port Range'; expression = { $_.SourcePortRange } }, Access, Priority, Direction, Protocol, `
            @{label = 'Destination'; expression = { $_.DestinationAddressPrefix } }, `
            @{label = 'Destination Application Security Group'; expression = { foreach ($Asg in $_.DestinationApplicationSecurityGroups) {$Asg.id.Split('/')[-1]} } }, `
            @{label = 'Destination Port Range'; expression = { $_.DestinationPortRange } }, `
            @{label = 'Resource Group Name'; expression = { $azNsg.ResourceGroupName } }, `
            @{label = 'NIC Assignment Name'; expression = { $azNsg.NetworkInterfaces.Id.split('/')[-1] } }, `
            @{label = 'Subnet Assignment Name'; expression = { $azNsg.Subnets.Id.split('/')[-1] } } | `
            # Export to Azure Cloud Shell drive
            # Export-Csv -Path "$($home)\clouddrive\$azSubName-nsg-rules.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Append -force
            # Or you can use the following syntax to export to a single CSV file and to a local folder on your machine
            Export-Csv -Path ".\Azure-nsg-rules.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Append -force
        
        # Export default rules
        Get-AzNetworkSecurityRuleConfig -NetworkSecurityGroup $azNsg -Defaultrules | `
            Select-Object @{label = 'NSG Name'; expression = { $azNsg.Name } }, `
            @{label = 'NSG Location'; expression = { $azNsg.Location } }, `
            @{label = 'Rule Name'; expression = { $_.Name } }, `
            @{label = 'Source'; expression = { $_.SourceAddressPrefix } }, `
            @{label = 'Source Port Range'; expression = { $_.SourcePortRange } }, Access, Priority, Direction, Protocol, `
            @{label = 'Destination'; expression = { $_.DestinationAddressPrefix } }, `
            @{label = 'Destination Port Range'; expression = { $_.DestinationPortRange } }, `
            @{label = 'Resource Group Name'; expression = { $azNsg.ResourceGroupName } }, `
            @{label = 'NIC Assignment Name'; expression = { $azNsg.NetworkInterfaces.Id.split('/')[-1] } }, `
            @{label = 'Subnet Assignment Name'; expression = { $azNsg.Subnets.Id.split('/')[-1] } } | `
            # Export to Azure Cloud Shell drive
            # Export-Csv -Path "$($home)\clouddrive\$azSubName-nsg-rules.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Append -force
            # Or you can use the following syntax to export to a single CSV file and to a local folder on your machine
            Export-Csv -Path ".\Azure-nsg-rules.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Append -force
      
    }    
}

From the example above, we are exporting the following information:

  • Network Security Group (NSG) Name
  • Network Security Group (NSG) Location
  • For each Network Security Group, we will export the custom rule, as well as the default rule:
    • Rule Name
    • Source address
    • Port Range
    • Access
    • Priority
    • Direction
      • Inbound
      • Outbound
    • Destination address
  • Resource Group Name

Run the script

To run the script, you can either install the latest Azure PowerShell version on your machine, you can jump over the Cloud Shell (https://shell.azure.com), or use the Azure Cloud Shell Connector in Windows Terminal.

Export All NSG Rules from All Azure Subscriptions with PowerShell 1

The report will be saved in the clouddrive path following the Azure Subscription name (-nsg-rules.csv).

Export All NSG Rules from All Azure Subscriptions with PowerShell 2

Switch to the cloud shell storage account and download the CSV files as shown in the figure below.

Export All NSG Rules from All Azure Subscriptions with PowerShell 3

And here is the final report is shown in CSV format:

Export All NSG Rules from All Azure Subscriptions with PowerShell 4

Please note that you can accomplish the same thing using Azure CLI, however, I prefer to use Azure PowerShell.

Summary

In this article, we showed you how to export all Network Security Groups (NSG) rules from all your Azure Subscriptions with Azure PowerShell.

Azure Cloud Shell is so powerful, that you don’t need to install Azure CLI or PowerShell modules locally on your machine to automate your tasks.

Learn more on how to get the list of Network Security Group with RDP port open.

This is version 3.6 of this tool, do you want additional features? Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Hope this helps!

__
Thank you for reading my blog.

If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment.

-Charbel Nemnom-

Previous

Reflecting on 2020… Goodbye 2020 and Welcome 2021! #HappyNewYear

How To Export and Backup Azure Policy Definitions

Next

37 thoughts on “Export All NSG Rules from All Azure Subscriptions with PowerShell”

Leave a comment...

  1. Does not work. All kinds of error messages specifically relating to Expressions are only allowed as the first element of a pipeline

  2. Hello Brandon,
    Thanks for your comment. Please note that I just tried it and it works flawlessly.
    Please make sure that you copy the code correctly including the backtick (`) and pipes (|). Hope this helps.

  3. Hello Everett, thanks for your comment.
    Please note that you can copy this NSG script from the ‘Code Block’ in the black box here. Could you please confirm that you can copy it? It should work.

  4. Great script! However, the output does not contain source and destination addresses which are crucial to have in any form of a backup copy.

  5. Thank you Marek for the feedback, much appreciated! I have updated the script to include the source and destination addresses. Please check it and let me know if it works for you.

  6. Under Export Default rules you have a single quotation mark instead of an apostrophe

    @{label = ‘Source Port Range’;

    Should be

    @{label = ‘Source Port Range’;

  7. Thank you Harpreet for the feedback! Yes, it is possible to include VM/Network Interface/Subnet association with this script.

  8. Hello sir, thanks for the wonderful script , its running fine but it is not displaying the name of ASG in source and destination in NSG rule where we are using Application security group.. ( showing blank over there)

  9. Thank you Deepak for the feedback, please note that I have updated the script to include the Application Security Group (ASG) name in the source and destination for each NSG rule used. Please give it a try and let me know if it works for you. Thanks!

  10. I want to download json of all the NSG in given subscription using PowerShell or any other way.

  11. Hello Suraj, thanks for your comment.
    You could try to convert to JSON instead of Export-Csv as follows:
    ConvertTo-Json -Depth 12 | Out-File "$($home)\clouddrive\$azSubName-nsg-rules.json"
    Hope this helps!

  12. Hi Charbel, I have an export of NSG’s in CSV format which also have fields for “Source Hostname” and “Destination Hostname” which are not used in the NSG deployment but just to keep track of what hosts the source and destination IP’s are. (Used for IAC deployments). The problem is, we have found that several NSGs have been updated in the Azure portal and are different from our source code and when I extract from Azure I don’t have the “Source Hostname” and “Destination Hostname” info as it is not stored by Azure.
    I want to compare what is in Azure with our repo files, do you have any suggestions on how I could do this? it is over 200 NSG files, thanks!

  13. Hello Andre, thanks for the comment!
    What I would suggest is to get an export from Azure using the PowerShell script as described in this article, and then get an export from your repo, then use the Compare-Object cmdlet to do the comparison (see the example here).
    Hope this helps!

Let us know what you think, or ask a question...