Serial copies in ARM Templates

You can now make copies in serial mode. That means that the copies are created after each other instead of parallel. This can be a good idea when you update a live resource. The resources will go down and up after each other.

A sample of this:

        {
            "apiVersion": "2015-01-01",
            "name": "[concat('nestedDeployment',copyIndex())]",
            "type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
            "copy": {
                "name": "myCopySet",
                "count": 4,
                "mode": "serial",
                "batchSize": 2
            },

The mode and batchSize are new. Mode can be serial or parallel. The batchSize configures how many objects are created at the same time in serial mode.

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ARM template cross resource group deployment

Sometimes you need to deploy to different resource groups in one deployment. Till now you had to split-up you ARM template. With new API versions you can now deploy to multiple resource groups in one deployment:

{
    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "parameters": {
        "StorageAccountName1": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "StorageAccountName2": {
            "type": "string"
        }
    },
    "variables": {},
    "resources": [
        {
            "apiVersion": "2017-05-10",
            "name": "nestedTemplate",
            "type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
            "resourceGroup": "crossResourceGroupDeployment",
            "properties": {
                "mode": "Incremental",
                "template": {
                    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
                    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
                    "parameters": {},
                    "variables": {},
                    "resources": [
                        {
                            "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
                            "name": "[parameters('StorageAccountName2')]",
                            "apiVersion": "2015-06-15",
                            "location": "West US",
                            "properties": {
                                "accountType": "Standard_LRS"
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                },
                "parameters": {}
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
            "name": "[parameters('StorageAccountName1')]",
            "apiVersion": "2015-06-15",
            "location": "West US",
            "properties": {
                "accountType": "Standard_LRS"
            }
        }
    ]
}

You can find this source code in Ryan Jones GitHub.

New ways to support conditions in ARM Templates

Condition did in ARM templates where not that easy to implement. In the new Azure RM APIs a property condition is added. This condition makes many scenarios a lot easier to implement.

Add condition property to a resource object, the resource object will only be deployed when the condition is met. The following sample code will show this:

    "resources": [
        {
            "condition": "[equals(parameters('newOrExisting'),'new')]",
            "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
            "name": "[variables('storageAccountName')]",
            "apiVersion": "2017-06-01",
            "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
            "sku": {
                "name": "[variables('storageAccountType')]"
            },
            "kind": "Storage",
            "properties": {}
        },

The full code sample can be found at Ryan Jones GitHub.

The equals function will return a Boolean that is used as input for the condition.

This new feature in ARM Templates will make templates more readable, faster to develop and less need to copy one version of a template to different files to implement a condition.

Versioning ARM Template deployments

When deploying resources on Azure with Azure Resource Manager you want to be in control of which resources are deployed and control their life span. To get the control you need to do deploy in a tested, standardized and reusable manner. This can be done by managing your resource creation as Infrastructure as Code.

Use VSTS to deploy Functions as Infrastructure as Code

Azure Functions enable you to easily run small pieces of code in the cloud. To do this right, you need to setup continuous delivery of the infrastructure and the code involved. Otherwise you will end with an uncontrolled environment where nobody knows what code is actually running. In this blog post I’ll describe how to setup a deployment pipeline for Functions with VSTS. This will enable you to deploy Functions as Infrastructure as Code.

From an deployment perspective an Azure Function contains of two parts:

1. Azure infrastructure
2. Function code

Both the ARM template and the code can be deployed from VSTS. By doing this, you can manage functions like any other Azure resource.

Remove locks from Azure resources

In my previous blog post Lock Azure resources to prevent accidental deletion, I showed how to add a lock to a resource with an ARM template to protect it from accidental deletion. When you want to delete the resource, you first need to remove the lock. A lock cannot be removed with an ARM template. To remove the lock you can use:

• Powershell
• Rest API
• Portal

Lock Azure resources to prevent accidental deletion

In some cases you want to protect critical resources from accidental deletion. Some examples are a storage account with source data for processing, a Key Vault with disk encryption keys, or another key component in your infrastructure. When losing some resources that are key in your infrastructure, recovery can be dramatic. Resource Manager locks will enable you to protect these critical resources from deletion.

Resource Manager locks
Resource Manager locks apply to the management function of the locked resources. The locks do not have any impact the normal functions of the resource. You have two possible types of locks on a resource:

Locking down a resource can save your contributors from accidently delete a critical resources. An ‘oeps… I deleted the wrong resources’ moment should be a thing of the past.

CannotDelete means authorized users can still read and modify a resource, but they can’t delete the resource.
ReadOnly means authorized users can read a resource, but they can’t delete or update the resource. Applying this lock is similar to restricting all authorized users to the permissions granted by the Reader role.

Infrastructure as Code VSTS

Your team is in the process of developing a new application feature, and the infrastructure has to be adapted. The first step is to change a file in your source control system that describes your infrastructure. When the changed definition file is saved in your source control system, it triggers a new build and release. Your new infrastructure is deployed to your test environment, and the whole process to get the new infrastructure deployed took minutes while you only changed a definition file and you did not touch the infrastructure itself.

VSTS task clean resource group

When testing deployment of resources in release pipelines, the resource groups need to be cleaned after you are done testing the deployment of the resources. In many scenarios you do not want or have no rights to remove the resource group it self. For removing the resources in the resource group you can use the VSTS task clean resources. This tasks removes all resources in a resource group.

Conditional parts in ARM Templates

When creating reusable ARM templates you have a number of options on how to manage conditional parts in your templates. The smallest conditions can be done by parameters, medium differences can be done by  t-shirt sizes and large differences by linked templates. In this blog post I’ll show how to use implement conditions by linked templates.