Microsoft-native IaC frameworks
There are many IaC frameworks that can be used on Azure. In this chapter, we will focus mainly on out-of-the-box Microsoft IaC solutions, namely Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates and Bicep.
Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates
ARM templates are a declarative way to define and deploy Azure resources. ARM templates use JSON syntax to define resources and their properties, making it easy to manage and deploy infrastructure changes.
We will learn more about ARM templates in the following sections.
Accelerate deployment with ARM templates
The real benefit of using the ARM template system is that it allows you to have declarative syntax. That means you can deploy a virtual machine and create the networking infrastructure that goes around it. Templates end up providing a process that can be run repeatedly in a very consistent manner. They manage the desired state of the infrastructure, meaning a template becomes the source of truth for...