Why IaC matters on Azure - See It in Action

Why IaC matters on Azure

📖 Scenario: You are working as a cloud engineer at a company that uses Microsoft Azure. Your team wants to manage their cloud resources more efficiently and avoid manual errors. They have heard about Infrastructure as Code (IaC) but are not sure why it is important.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template step-by-step to understand how IaC helps automate and standardize cloud resource deployment on Azure.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a basic ARM template structure

Add a parameter to configure resource properties

Define a resource using the parameter

Complete the template with outputs to verify deployment

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Companies use IaC on Azure to automate cloud resource deployment, making it faster and less error-prone than manual setup.

💼 Career

Cloud engineers and DevOps professionals use ARM templates and IaC to manage Azure infrastructure efficiently and reliably.

1

Create the initial ARM template structure

Create a JSON object called template with the keys $schema set to "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#" and contentVersion set to "1.0.0.0".

Azure

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

Need a hint?

Start by defining the basic ARM template keys $schema and contentVersion.

2

Add a parameter to configure the storage account name

Add a parameters section to the template JSON with a parameter called storageAccountName of type string.

Azure

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

Need a hint?

Parameters let you customize the template when deploying. Add the parameters section with the storage account name.

3

Define a storage account resource using the parameter

Add a resources array to the template JSON. Inside it, define a resource with type set to Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts, apiVersion set to 2022-09-01, name set to the parameter storageAccountName, and location set to eastus.

Azure

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

Need a hint?

Resources define what Azure will create. Use the parameter for the storage account name.

4

Add outputs to verify the deployment

Add an outputs section to the template JSON with an output called storageAccountId that returns the id of the storage account resource using resourceId function with Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts and the parameter storageAccountName.

Azure

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "storageAccountName": {
      "type": "string"
    }
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
      "apiVersion": "2022-09-01",
      "name": "[parameters('storageAccountName')]",
      "location": "eastus"
    }
  ],
  "outputs": {
    "storageAccountId": {
      "type": "string",
      "value": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts', parameters('storageAccountName'))]"
    }
  }
  // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Outputs help you get information after deployment. Use the resourceId function to get the storage account's ID.