Azure ARM template, but it is not JSON!

Microsoft has recently released an experimental language for creating Azure ARM templates. It is called bicep.

Syntax on this new language is quite similar to Terraform – which means it is much more readable and developer-friendly:

param location string = 'eastus'
param name string = 'uniquestorage001' // must be globally unique

resource stg 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2019-06-01' = {
    name: name
    location: location
    kind: 'Storage'
    sku: {
        name: 'Standard_LRS'
    }
}

Once you have created your bicep script you need to compile it:

bicep build main.bicep

… and as an outcome, you get your old, JSON ARM template 😀 which you are deploying like any other ARM template these days.

On twitter (and my other social media) I’m sharing interesting (in my opinion ;)) stuff about Cloud, DevOps, Software Development and Technical Leadership.

Here are some resources you can check to learn more about bicep:

• GIT repository https://github.com/Azure/bicep
• tutorial https://github.com/Azure/bicep/blob/master/docs/tutorial/01-simple-template.md
• Intro to Project Bicep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHLUVwDkRrQ
• ARM Templates and Bicep Roadmap with Azure MVPs September 2020 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4E5DsC-RcU

What do you think about bicep? It is a good move from Microsoft to introduce a new syntax for ARM templates?

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