📄 ARM Template — Ubuntu VM Deployment

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates are the native JSON-based IaC format for Azure. All Bicep files compile down to ARM JSON. Understanding ARM templates gives you the deepest insight into how Azure resource deployments work under the hood.

ARMJSONAzure NativeUbuntu 22.04 LTSdependsOn

ARM Template — `azuredeploy.json`

JSONCloudSchool.ai

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "adminUsername": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "cloudadmin"
    },
    "adminPassword": {
      "type": "securestring"
    },
    "location": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "[resourceGroup().location]"
    }
  },
  "variables": {
    "vmName": "cloudschool-ubuntu-vm",
    "vnetName": "cloudschool-vnet",
    "subnetName": "default",
    "publicIpName": "cloudschool-pip",
    "nicName": "cloudschool-nic",
    "nsgName": "cloudschool-nsg",
    "subnetRef": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets', variables('vnetName'), variables('subnetName'))]"
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups",
      "apiVersion": "2023-04-01",
      "name": "[variables('nsgName')]",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "properties": {
        "securityRules": [
          {
            "name": "Allow-SSH",
            "properties": {
              "priority": 1000,
              "protocol": "Tcp",
              "access": "Allow",
              "direction": "Inbound",
              "sourceAddressPrefix": "*",
              "sourcePortRange": "*",
              "destinationAddressPrefix": "*",
              "destinationPortRange": "22"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks",
      "apiVersion": "2023-04-01",
      "name": "[variables('vnetName')]",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "dependsOn": ["[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups', variables('nsgName'))]"],
      "properties": {
        "addressSpace": { "addressPrefixes": ["10.0.0.0/16"] },
        "subnets": [
          {
            "name": "[variables('subnetName')]",
            "properties": {
              "addressPrefix": "10.0.0.0/24",
              "networkSecurityGroup": {
                "id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups', variables('nsgName'))]"
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses",
      "apiVersion": "2023-04-01",
      "name": "[variables('publicIpName')]",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "sku": { "name": "Basic" },
      "properties": { "publicIPAllocationMethod": "Dynamic" }
    },
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces",
      "apiVersion": "2023-04-01",
      "name": "[variables('nicName')]",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "dependsOn": [
        "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks', variables('vnetName'))]",
        "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses', variables('publicIpName'))]"
      ],
      "properties": {
        "ipConfigurations": [
          {
            "name": "ipconfig1",
            "properties": {
              "subnet": { "id": "[variables('subnetRef')]" },
              "publicIPAddress": {
                "id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses', variables('publicIpName'))]"
              },
              "privateIPAllocationMethod": "Dynamic"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines",
      "apiVersion": "2023-07-01",
      "name": "[variables('vmName')]",
      "location": "[parameters('location')]",
      "dependsOn": ["[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces', variables('nicName'))]"],
      "properties": {
        "hardwareProfile": { "vmSize": "Standard_B1s" },
        "osProfile": {
          "computerName": "[variables('vmName')]",
          "adminUsername": "[parameters('adminUsername')]",
          "adminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]"
        },
        "storageProfile": {
          "imageReference": {
            "publisher": "Canonical",
            "offer": "0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy",
            "sku": "22_04-lts-gen2",
            "version": "latest"
          },
          "osDisk": {
            "createOption": "FromImage",
            "managedDisk": { "storageAccountType": "Standard_LRS" }
          }
        },
        "networkProfile": {
          "networkInterfaces": [
            { "id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces', variables('nicName'))]" }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "outputs": {
    "sshCommand": {
      "type": "string",
      "value": "[concat('ssh ', parameters('adminUsername'), '@<PUBLIC_IP_AFTER_DEPLOY>')]"
    }
  }
}

Deployment Commands

BASHCloudSchool.ai

# Login to Azure
az login

# Create Resource Group
az group create --name rg-cloudschool-iac --location eastus

# Deploy ARM template
az deployment group create \
  --resource-group rg-cloudschool-iac \
  --template-file azuredeploy.json \
  --parameters adminPassword='YourSecureP@ssw0rd!'

# Get the public IP
az vm show -d -g rg-cloudschool-iac -n cloudschool-ubuntu-vm --query publicIps -o tsv

# SSH into the VM
ssh cloudadmin@<PUBLIC_IP>

Key Concepts

dependsOn — explicit dependency declarations (Bicep/Terraform infer these automatically)
securestring — parameter type that prevents the value from being logged
variables() and resourceId() — ARM template functions for dynamic references
contentVersion — used for template versioning and change tracking

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📄 ARM Template — Ubuntu VM Deployment

ARM Template — azuredeploy.json

Deployment Commands

Key Concepts

ARM Template — `azuredeploy.json`