Learn AZURE-ARM with Real Code Examples

ARM templates allow declarative specification of Azure resources and dependencies.

Supports repeatable, consistent deployments across environments.

Enables role-based access control (RBAC) and policy enforcement.

Integrates with CI/CD pipelines for automated provisioning.

Ideal for large-scale, cloud-native infrastructure management.

Resource group management

Template parameters and variables

Nested and linked templates

Output values for cross-resource references

Deployment validation and incremental updates

Resource Group - logical container for resources

Template - JSON/Bicep file defining resources

Parameter - external values supplied at deployment

Variable - internal reusable value in template

Output - exported values for other templates or scripts

mainTemplate.json - primary deployment template

parameters.json - optional parameters file

linkedTemplates/ - folder for nested templates

scripts/ - optional PowerShell or CLI scripts

README.md - documentation

Write ARM template (JSON or Bicep)

Define parameters and variables

Validate template (`az deployment group validate`)

Deploy template to resource group

Monitor deployment and review outputs

Beginner: deploy a single VM or storage account

Intermediate: deploy multi-resource solution with networking

Advanced: nested templates with dependencies

Expert: multi-environment pipelines with CI/CD

Architect: enterprise-scale governance and policy-driven deployments

ARM vs Terraform - ARM is Azure-native, Terraform is multi-cloud

ARM vs Pulumi - Pulumi uses code, ARM is declarative JSON/Bicep

ARM vs Bicep - Bicep is simplified syntax that compiles to ARM JSON

ARM vs Azure CLI scripts - CLI is imperative, ARM is declarative

ARM vs Serverless Framework - Serverless targets functions, ARM targets full infrastructure

2014 - ARM introduced for Azure management

2015–2017 - Expanded resource provider support

2018 - Integration with Azure DevOps pipelines

2019 - Bicep language introduced for simplified syntax

2020–2025 - Enhanced policy, template specs, and nested deployments

Resource - Azure object such as VM, storage account, etc.

Resource Group - logical container for resources

Template - JSON/Bicep file defining resources

Parameter - external input to template

Output - exported value from template