Automation is a hot topic in the modern Cloud Computing world. There are many tools and services that can be used to deploy resources in the Cloud. In a series of blog posts, I will discuss Azure ARM templates. In this article, I will discuss the benefits of Azure-ARM Template, the different ways to create Azure-ARM Template, and how you can get started deploying templates from Marketplace. So, let’s get started!
Azure ARM Templates have many benefits:
Azure ARM Template offers many benefits that allow you to automate resource deployments, combine multiple resources under one template, and then deploy it repeatedly. Here are the main benefits of ARM Templates.
Use Templates to deploy multiple resources
ARM Templates allow you to combine different types of resources under one template, and then deploy it based upon your architecture. All configurations can be stored in one script.
Re-use the same template:
The best thing about this template is that you can reuse the same template to deploy resources again and again. You can build once and deploy it multiple time. You can create different templates to suit different types of workloads. For example, you could create separate templates for stage, dev, and prod environments and then redeploy it when needed.
Create Template via Marketplace or Build Your Own Template
You have two options: either you can create a template on your own, or you can use a pre-configured template to deploy resources. Azure Marketplace has many preconfigured templates that have been tested and verified. These templates can be used to deploy resources with predefined configuration.
If you have knowledge about property configuration and are skilled at templatizing resources, you can create your custom template. You can either make the template public on Marketplace and make it accessible to the public, or you can pay for it to be made available.
Template Dependencies
You may have one template for deploying resources and several sub templates with dependencies. Then you can deploy resources with a customized solution.
Export Template from an Existing Resource Group
One of the greatest advantages is the ability to deploy all resources using Azure portal and export ARM template from the portal. This will allow you to redeploy the same resource repeatedly. You can also export the template using the entire resource group. This will allow you to have all resources deployed in one resource group in the future.
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is the basis of ARM Template. JSON is a simple descriptive scripting language that allows you define key value pairs and configure resources.
You can deploy templates using different methods as follows:
Azure Marketplace is available from GitHub, or you can use your repository to deploy
Using Azure Portal
Using Azure PowerShell
Using Azure CLI
Using Azure Marketplace or GitHub:
You can deploy preconfigured ARM Templates through Azure Marketplace or GitHub. These templates have been tested and are available for public use in Marketplace. You can also create your own template and make it available for others to use. Marketplace and GitHub offer a variety of environment templates that can be used to deploy Azure resources. Follow these steps to do this:
Step 1: Click on this URL: https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates to view ARM Templates.
To begin with, search for 101-vm-simple-windows template. Below is a list of simple VM launch options.
Click on the template to open the landing page below
Two options are available to explore the ARM Template
Deploy to Azure Button: To deploy template, click on this button which will redirect you to https://portal.azure.com. To login and deploy VM resources, use your Azure credentials.
Visualize Button: Click this button to go to a page where you can see the template architecture and identify the links between the resources.