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+## Authentication
+
+Typical SDK operations must be authenticated and authorized. The `autorest.Authorizer`
+interface allows use of any auth style in requests, such as inserting an OAuth2
+Authorization header and bearer token received from Azure AD.
+
+The SDK itself provides a simple way to get an authorizer which first checks
+for OAuth client credentials in environment variables and then falls back to
+Azure's [Managed Service Identity]() when available, e.g. when on an Azure
+VM. The following snippet from [the previous section](#use) demonstrates
+this helper.
+
+```go
+import "github.com/Azure/go-autorest/autorest/azure/auth"
+
+// create a VirtualNetworks client
+vnetClient := network.NewVirtualNetworksClient("<subscriptionID>")
+
+// create an authorizer from env vars or Azure Managed Service Idenity
+authorizer, err := auth.NewAuthorizerFromEnvironment()
+if err != nil {
+    handle(err)
+}
+
+vnetClient.Authorizer = authorizer
+
+// call the VirtualNetworks CreateOrUpdate API
+vnetClient.CreateOrUpdate(context.Background(),
+// ...
+```
+
+The following environment variables help determine authentication configuration:
+
+- `AZURE_ENVIRONMENT`: Specifies the Azure Environment to use. If not set, it
+  defaults to `AzurePublicCloud`. Not applicable to authentication with Managed
+  Service Identity (MSI).
+- `AZURE_AD_RESOURCE`: Specifies the AAD resource ID to use. If not set, it
+  defaults to `ResourceManagerEndpoint` for operations with Azure Resource
+  Manager. You can also choose an alternate resource programmatically with
+  `auth.NewAuthorizerFromEnvironmentWithResource(resource string)`.
+
+### More Authentication Details
+
+The previous is the first and most recommended of several authentication
+options offered by the SDK because it allows seamless use of both service
+principals and [Azure Managed Service Identity][]. Other options are listed
+below.
+
+> Note: If you need to create a new service principal, run `az ad sp create-for-rbac -n "<app_name>"` in the
+> [azure-cli](https://github.com/Azure/azure-cli). See [these
+> docs](https://docs.microsoft.com/cli/azure/create-an-azure-service-principal-azure-cli?view=azure-cli-latest)
+> for more info. Copy the new principal's ID, secret, and tenant ID for use in
+> your app, or consider the `--sdk-auth` parameter for serialized output.
+
+[azure managed service identity]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/msi-overview
+
+- The `auth.NewAuthorizerFromEnvironment()` described above creates an authorizer
+  from the first available of the following configuration:
+
+      1. **Client Credentials**: Azure AD Application ID and Secret.
+
+          - `AZURE_TENANT_ID`: Specifies the Tenant to which to authenticate.
+          - `AZURE_CLIENT_ID`: Specifies the app client ID to use.
+          - `AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET`: Specifies the app secret to use.
+
+      2. **Client Certificate**: Azure AD Application ID and X.509 Certificate.
+
+          - `AZURE_TENANT_ID`: Specifies the Tenant to which to authenticate.
+          - `AZURE_CLIENT_ID`: Specifies the app client ID to use.
+          - `AZURE_CERTIFICATE_PATH`: Specifies the certificate Path to use.
+          - `AZURE_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD`: Specifies the certificate password to use.
+
+      3. **Resource Owner Password**: Azure AD User and Password. This grant type is *not
+         recommended*, use device login instead if you need interactive login.
+
+          - `AZURE_TENANT_ID`: Specifies the Tenant to which to authenticate.
+          - `AZURE_CLIENT_ID`: Specifies the app client ID to use.
+          - `AZURE_USERNAME`: Specifies the username to use.
+          - `AZURE_PASSWORD`: Specifies the password to use.
+
+      4. **Azure Managed Service Identity**: Delegate credential management to the
+         platform. Requires that code is running in Azure, e.g. on a VM. All
+         configuration is handled by Azure. See [Azure Managed Service
+         Identity](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/msi-overview)
+         for more details.
+
+- The `auth.NewAuthorizerFromFile()` method creates an authorizer using
+  credentials from an auth file created by the [Azure CLI][]. Follow these
+  steps to utilize:
+
+  1. Create a service principal and output an auth file using `az ad sp create-for-rbac --sdk-auth > client_credentials.json`.
+  2. Set environment variable `AZURE_AUTH_LOCATION` to the path of the saved
+     output file.
+  3. Use the authorizer returned by `auth.NewAuthorizerFromFile()` in your
+     client as described above.
+
+- The `auth.NewAuthorizerFromCLI()` method creates an authorizer which
+  uses [Azure CLI][] to obtain its credentials.
+  
+  The default audience being requested is `https://management.azure.com` (Azure ARM API).
+  To specify your own audience, export `AZURE_AD_RESOURCE` as an evironment variable.
+  This is read by `auth.NewAuthorizerFromCLI()` and passed to Azure CLI to acquire the access token.
+  
+  For example, to request an access token for Azure Key Vault, export
+  ```
+  AZURE_AD_RESOURCE="https://vault.azure.net"
+  ```
+  
+- `auth.NewAuthorizerFromCLIWithResource(AUDIENCE_URL_OR_APPLICATION_ID)` - this method is self contained and does
+  not require exporting environment variables. For example, to request an access token for Azure Key Vault:
+  ```
+  auth.NewAuthorizerFromCLIWithResource("https://vault.azure.net")
+  ```
+
+  To use `NewAuthorizerFromCLI()` or `NewAuthorizerFromCLIWithResource()`, follow these steps:
+
+  1. Install [Azure CLI v2.0.12](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli) or later. Upgrade earlier versions.
+  2. Use `az login` to sign in to Azure.
+
+  If you receive an error, use `az account get-access-token` to verify access.
+
+  If Azure CLI is not installed to the default directory, you may receive an error
+  reporting that `az` cannot be found.  
+  Use the `AzureCLIPath` environment variable to define the Azure CLI installation folder.
+
+  If you are signed in to Azure CLI using multiple accounts or your account has
+  access to multiple subscriptions, you need to specify the specific subscription
+  to be used. To do so, use:
+
+  ```
+  az account set --subscription <subscription-id>
+  ```
+
+  To verify the current account settings, use:
+
+  ```
+  az account list
+  ```
+
+[azure cli]: https://github.com/Azure/azure-cli
+
+- Finally, you can use OAuth's [Device Flow][] by calling
+  `auth.NewDeviceFlowConfig()` and extracting the Authorizer as follows:
+
+  ```go
+  config := auth.NewDeviceFlowConfig(clientID, tenantID)
+  a, err := config.Authorizer()
+  ```
+
+[device flow]: https://oauth.net/2/device-flow/