Azure ARM Templates Cheat Sheet

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates describe Azure infrastructure as declarative JSON. A template is a schema-versioned document with parameters, variables, resources, and outputs deployed to a resource group or subscription.

Template anatomy

json

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "location": { "type": "string", "defaultValue": "[resourceGroup().location]" },
    "storageName": { "type": "string", "defaultValue": "mystorageaccount" }
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
      "apiVersion": "2022-09-01",
      "name": "[parameters('storageName')]",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "sku": { "name": "Standard_LRS" }
    }
  ],
  "outputs": {
    "storageId": { "type": "string", "value": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts', parameters('storageName'))]" }
  }
}

Table

Section	Purpose
`$schema`	Template schema URL.
`contentVersion`	Template version string.
`parameters`	User-supplied inputs.
`variables`	Reusable computed values.
`resources`	Azure resources to deploy (required).
`outputs`	Values returned after deployment.

Template functions

Table

Function	Purpose
`resourceId(...)`	Build a resource ID.
`concat(...)`	Concatenate strings.
`resourceGroup()`	Read the target resource group.
`subscription()`	Read the subscription.
`parameters('name')`	Read a parameter.
`variables('name')`	Read a variable.
`reference(...)`	Read a deployed resource's runtime properties.

Deployment CLI

bash

az deployment group validate --resource-group demo --template-file template.json
az deployment group create --resource-group demo --template-file template.json --parameters location=eastus
az deployment group list --resource-group demo
az deployment group show --resource-group demo --name demo
az group delete --name demo --yes

Table

Command	Purpose
`validate`	Check syntax before deploying.
`create`	Deploy the template.
`what-if`	Preview changes without applying.
`show`	Inspect a deployment.

Template anatomy

Template functions

Deployment CLI

References

Related tools