Azure Resource Manager (ARM) concept - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Concept

📖 Scenario: You are working as a cloud engineer for a small company. Your task is to create a simple Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template to deploy a storage account. This template will help automate the deployment and management of cloud resources in a consistent way.

🎯 Goal: Build a basic ARM template that defines a storage account resource with essential properties. This template will be reusable and can be deployed multiple times to create the storage account in Azure.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an ARM template with the correct JSON structure

Define the storage account resource with required properties

Use parameters to allow customization of the storage account name

Include the API version and resource type for the storage account

Set the location property to a parameter value

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

ARM templates are used to automate and standardize cloud resource deployments in Azure, saving time and reducing errors.

💼 Career

Understanding ARM templates is essential for cloud engineers and architects to manage Azure infrastructure efficiently.

1

Create the ARM template skeleton

Create a JSON object called template with the top-level keys: $schema, contentVersion, parameters, and resources. Set $schema to "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#" and contentVersion to "1.0.0.0". Initialize parameters and resources as empty objects or arrays as appropriate.

Azure

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {},
  "resources": []
  # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Start by defining the basic structure of an ARM template with the required keys.

2

Add a parameter for the storage account name

Inside the parameters object, add a parameter called storageAccountName. Set its type to string and add a metadata object with a description that says "Name of the storage account".

Azure

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "storageAccountName": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Name of the storage account"
      }
    }
  },
  "resources": []
  # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Parameters allow users to customize the template when deploying.

3

Add the storage account resource

Inside the resources array, add an object representing a storage account resource. Set type to "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts", apiVersion to "2022-09-01", and name to reference the storageAccountName parameter using the expression "[parameters('storageAccountName')]". Set location to "eastus" and add a sku object with name set to "Standard_LRS". Add a kind property set to "StorageV2".

Azure

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "storageAccountName": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Name of the storage account"
      }
    }
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
      "apiVersion": "2022-09-01",
      "name": "[parameters('storageAccountName')]",
      "location": "eastus",
      "sku": {
        "name": "Standard_LRS"
      },
      "kind": "StorageV2"
    }
  ]
  # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Resources define what Azure services you want to deploy.

4

Add the location parameter and update the resource location

Add a new parameter called location inside the parameters object. Set its type to string and defaultValue to "eastus". Then update the location property of the storage account resource to use the expression "[parameters('location')]" instead of the fixed string "eastus".

Azure

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "storageAccountName": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Name of the storage account"
      }
    },
    "location": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "eastus"
    }
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
      "apiVersion": "2022-09-01",
      "name": "[parameters('storageAccountName')]",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "sku": {
        "name": "Standard_LRS"
      },
      "kind": "StorageV2"
    }
  ]
  # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Using parameters for location makes the template flexible for different regions.