ARM templates are not the only way to manage resources via ARM. There are external tools that you can consider if you find this particular feature cumbersome or counterproductive. These tools are as follows:
- Azure Fluent: A set of helpful SDKs that enable you to programmatically call ARM APIs to provision resources. They are written for multiple different platforms (.NET, Java, Python, or Node.js).
- Terraform: A tool by HashiCorp where you use a YAML file to describe your infrastructure.
- Pulumi: A new project where you can use TypeScript, Go, or Python to write scripts that describe your infrastructure.
Each tool has its pros and cons – your choice may be also affected by the technology stack your team is used to. I strongly encourage you to give the aforementioned tools a go as they follow the recent standards in terms of scripting infrastructure and may greatly improve your productivity.
Once you have your template prepared, you probably want to deploy...
