Azure Resource Manager (ARM)

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is the deployment and management service for Azure. It provides a management layer that enables you to create, update, and delete resources in your Azure account. You can use ARM templates to deploy resources consistently and repeatedly.

What is Azure Resource Manager?

ARM allows you to manage related resources as a single unit, called a resource group. You can deploy, manage, and monitor all the resources for your application as a unit, regardless of their state or type.

Key Concepts:
  • Resource Providers: Services that enable you to work with Azure resources (e.g., Microsoft.Compute provider for virtual machines).
  • Resource Types: The specific resources that the resource provider offers (e.g., virtualMachines).
  • Resources: Instances of resource types (e.g., a specific virtual machine).
  • Resource Groups: A logical container for Azure resources.
  • ARM Templates: JSON files that declare the infrastructure and configuration for your solution.

Key Benefits of Using ARM

  • Declarative Deployment: Define what you want to deploy, and ARM handles the rest.
  • Consistent Management: Manage all your resources in a group uniformly.
  • Lifecycle Management: Deploy, update, and delete all resources for your application as a unit.
  • Access Control: Leverage Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) at the resource group level.
  • Tagging: Apply tags to resources for organization and billing.

Working with ARM Templates

ARM templates are written in JSON and define the resources to be deployed, their properties, and their dependencies. You can deploy these templates using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, or REST API.

Example ARM Template Snippet (Virtual Machine):


{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "vmName": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "Name of the virtual machine."
      }
    }
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines",
      "apiVersion": "2021-04-01",
      "name": "[parameters('vmName')]",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "properties": {
        // ... VM configuration details ...
      }
    }
  ]
}

To learn more about ARM templates, visit the ARM Template Reference.

Next Steps

Explore the other sections in Azure Management to understand governance, monitoring, and automation.