Azure: Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates for creating Virtual Machines for Standard Window's SKU's

Creating Virtual Machines (VMs) with the Azure portal is convenient but it can become tedious if numerous VMs are needed and it can be an error prone process. The New-AzVM PowerShell cmdlet can automate the creation of virtual machines. For rudimentary VMs, New-AzVM is straightforward to use from PowerShell. When this cmdlet is used to create virtual machines with complex restrictions that utilize the numerous parameter combinations, coding with New-AzVM can be a daunting task (see "Azure/PowerShell: Cmdlet Parameter and Result Complexity (Get-AzHost, Get-AzVM, New-AzVM)" for an overview of the parameter sets associated with New-AzVM and an example of the elaborate parameters that can be passed to New-AzVM).

One way to simplify the programmatic creation of a virtual machine is to use Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates. Using PowerShell in conjunction with the New-AzVM cmdlet or ARM templates is an example of Infrastructure as Code (IAC). Instead of using portal and manual object creation, the code  used to create the infrastructure (Azure objects) can be checked into a source code control repository such as Git and treated like a first class Git citizen.

ARM templates are JSON format and describe how Azure entities are to be created. ARM templates can be created using Azure portal where instead of creating an object such as a VM, the configuration specified in Azure portal can be saved as a template. The templates saved do not magically create infrastructure objects. The template and its corresponding parameters are passed as command-line options to the New-AzResourceGroupDeployment cmdlet. Potentially the templates and their parameters are modified such as to create ten virtual machines named VM00 to VM09 which is simply using PowerShell to update the JSON attribute associated with virtual machine's name.

To demonstrate ARM templates, the steps to create virtual machine with the Azure portal will be demonstrated but instead of creating a VM, a template and parameter file will be generated for later use by New-AzResourceGroupDeployment.

The standard Azure portal appears as follows with a familar Virtual machines icon which when clicked on displays the virtual machine blade:

The virtual machine blade (screen) has an option to add a virtual machine which to no surprise is labeled by the word "Add":

Clicking on the Add option displays the "Create a virtual machine" page:

The desired parameters for a virtual machine can be filled in using the "Create a virtual machine page". For this scenario a VM is created the uses the image Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter - Gen 1. The image name "Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter - Gen 1" is a particular Windows SKU available to newly created Azure VMs.  Once all the parameters have been specified for the VM to be created the "Review + create" button can be clicked on:

After "Review + create" is clicked on, a set of validations are performed for the virtual machine configuration specified. An example validation might be that a virtual machine for a given Resource Group might not be permitted to expose a public IP address. Not permitting a public IP address  is standard-operation-procedure in environments that use VPNs to access VMs via private IP address. Another validation is the enforcement of password complexity for the default administrator account created.

The following screen is displayed after "Review + create" is clicked and the specified configuration has passed validation:

The command actions on the page above include a link (lower right) labeled as "Download a template for automation" (see below):

Clicking "Download a template for automation" link displays the following:

The Template tab allows the template to be selected in the right pane of the screen (see above). Notice above the options to Download, Add to library (preview), and Deploy are provided. Clicking on the Parameters tab displays the parameters associated with the template (see below):

Clicking on the Scripts tab displays the following:

Clicking on "Start" on the PowerShell tile displays the following (Manage Azure resources by using Azure PowerShell):

The New-AzResourceGroupDeployment cmdlet takes as command-line options a template file and a parameters file and deploys object specified by the template.