What is an Azure ARM Template? Overview, Tutorial & Examples

Azure ARM templates are used to describe the desired state of resources in a declarative manner, allowing users to specify what resources should exist and their configurations. They are written in JSON and are used to define and deploy resources into the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. Using IaC enables you to streamline deployment processes, reduce manual errors, and maintain a high level of consistency and reliability in your Azure environments when compared to using the Azure portal or other deployment methods such as Azure CLI, Azure Powershell, or the Azure API. ARM templates can be created using various tools like Visual Studio Code with the ARM template extension. They support two primary deployment modes: incremental mode and complete mode. Incremental mode deploys and updates only the resources defined in your template that have changed or are new, while complete mode deploys and updates all resources defined in your template, removing any resources not defined in the template.