You’ve probably heard about Azure Resource Manager (ARM) – the deployment and management service/layer of Azure, which enables you to manage (create, configure, delete) your Azure resources. Also, you are probably aware that ARM uses so called ARM templates – basically, JSON files that actually define the infrastructure and configuration you want to deploy to Azure (think Infrastructure as Code, IaC).

So, if you have dealt with ARM/JSON in the past, you may have been finding it difficult to start with, and somewhat complex.

Bicep is here to help.

Here is a short overview of Bicep – basically, it’s a language which enables you easier deployment of Azure resources, without messing around (too much) with JSON. To be frank, it somehow reminds of Terraform, but it’s also different. It has many cool features, immediately supports all new Azure features and APIs, can be built (converted) into .json and deployed as such or it can be deployed straight away as .bicep, doesn’t require state file, it’s open and free, has great support in Visual Studio Code and much more. And it’s still in active development!

If you’re dealing with IaC and Azure, try it.

To show you the power (and simplicity) of Bicep, here is a short example of deploying Linux virtual machine in Azure (together with a resource group, virtual network, virtual network subnet, virtual NIC and network security group), done “the old way” (in JSON, which was actually converted from Bicep… it’s easier than writing JSON from the scratch) and then done via Bicep (“the right way”? 😀).

Additionally, you’ll see that I’ve tried to break stuff into modules – with more or less sucess. 😀

The ARM/JSON way (could be done nicer/shorter, with parameters inside .parameters.json… if you know what you’re doing – this is converted from Bicep and serves just for illustrative purposes):

The Bicep way:

Shell

// main.bicep targetScope = 'subscription' param resourceGroupName string = 'Gym' param location string = 'westeurope' resource rg 'Microsoft.Resources/resourceGroups@2021-04-01' = {   name: resourceGroupName   location: location } module vm 'vm.bicep' = {   name: 'vm-module'   scope: rg   params: {     location: location     adminName: 'tomica'     adminSSHKey: 'ssh-rsa <SOME SSH PUBLIC KEY>'     machineName: 'tkVM'     machineSize: 'Standard_A1_v2'     networkName: 'tkNet'     networkSubnet: 'default'     networkSG: 'tkNetSG'   } }

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// main.bicep targetScope = 'subscription'   param resourceGroupName string = 'Gym' param location string = 'westeurope'   resource rg 'Microsoft.Resources/resourceGroups@2021-04-01' = {   name: resourceGroupName   location: location }   module vm 'vm.bicep' = {   name: 'vm-module'   scope: rg   params: {     location: location     adminName: 'tomica'     adminSSHKey: 'ssh-rsa <SOME SSH PUBLIC KEY>'     machineName: 'tkVM'     machineSize: 'Standard_A1_v2'     networkName: 'tkNet'     networkSubnet: 'default'     networkSG: 'tkNetSG'   } }

Shell

// vm.bicep targetScope = 'resourceGroup' param location string param adminName string param adminSSHKey string param machineName string param machineSize string param networkName string param networkSubnet string param networkSG string var networkNIC = '${machineName}-nic' var networkSubnetID = resourceId('Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets', networkName, networkSubnet) var osConfiguration = { disablePasswordAuthentication: true ssh: { publicKeys: [ { path: '/home/${adminName}/.ssh/authorized_keys' keyData: adminSSHKey } ] } } resource networkSecurityGroupName 'Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups@2021-02-01' = { name: networkSG location: location properties: { securityRules: [ { name: 'allow-ssh' properties: { priority: 1000 access: 'Allow' direction: 'Inbound' destinationPortRange: '22' protocol: 'Tcp' sourceAddressPrefix: '*' sourcePortRange: '*' destinationAddressPrefix: '*' } } ] } } resource virtualNetworkName 'Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks@2021-02-01' = { name: networkName location: location properties: { addressSpace: { addressPrefixes: [ '10.0.0.0/16' ] } subnets: [ { name: networkSubnet properties: { addressPrefix: '10.0.3.0/24' networkSecurityGroup: { id: networkSecurityGroupName.id } } } ] } } resource nicName 'Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces@2021-02-01' = { name: networkNIC location: location properties: { ipConfigurations: [ { name: 'ipConfig' properties: { privateIPAllocationMethod: 'Dynamic' subnet: { id: networkSubnetID } } } ] } dependsOn: [ virtualNetworkName ] } resource vmName 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines@2021-03-01' = { name: machineName location: location properties: { hardwareProfile: { vmSize: machineSize } osProfile: { computerName: machineName adminUsername: adminName adminPassword: adminSSHKey linuxConfiguration: osConfiguration } storageProfile: { imageReference: { publisher: 'Canonical' offer: 'UbuntuServer' sku: '18.04-LTS' version: 'latest' } } networkProfile: { networkInterfaces: [ { id: nicName.id } ] } } }

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// vm.bicep targetScope = 'resourceGroup'   param location string param adminName string param adminSSHKey string param machineName string param machineSize string param networkName string param networkSubnet string param networkSG string   var networkNIC = '${machineName}-nic' var networkSubnetID = resourceId('Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/subnets', networkName, networkSubnet) var osConfiguration = {   disablePasswordAuthentication: true   ssh: {     publicKeys: [       {         path: '/home/${adminName}/.ssh/authorized_keys'         keyData: adminSSHKey       }     ]   } }   resource networkSecurityGroupName 'Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups@2021-02-01' = {   name: networkSG   location: location   properties: {     securityRules: [       {         name: 'allow-ssh'         properties: {           priority: 1000           access: 'Allow'           direction: 'Inbound'           destinationPortRange: '22'           protocol: 'Tcp'           sourceAddressPrefix: '*'           sourcePortRange: '*'           destinationAddressPrefix: '*'         }       }     ]   } }   resource virtualNetworkName 'Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks@2021-02-01' = {   name: networkName   location: location   properties: {     addressSpace: {       addressPrefixes: [         '10.0.0.0/16'       ]     }     subnets: [       {         name: networkSubnet         properties: {           addressPrefix: '10.0.3.0/24'           networkSecurityGroup: {             id: networkSecurityGroupName.id           }         }       }     ]   } }   resource nicName 'Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces@2021-02-01' = {   name: networkNIC   location: location   properties: {     ipConfigurations: [       {         name: 'ipConfig'         properties: {           privateIPAllocationMethod: 'Dynamic'           subnet: {             id: networkSubnetID           }         }       }     ]   }   dependsOn: [     virtualNetworkName   ] }   resource vmName 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines@2021-03-01' = {   name: machineName   location: location   properties: {     hardwareProfile: {       vmSize: machineSize     }     osProfile: {       computerName: machineName       adminUsername: adminName       adminPassword: adminSSHKey       linuxConfiguration: osConfiguration     }     storageProfile: {       imageReference: {         publisher: 'Canonical'         offer: 'UbuntuServer'         sku: '18.04-LTS'         version: 'latest'       }     }     networkProfile: {       networkInterfaces: [         {           id: nicName.id         }       ]     }   } }

Bicep seems a bit easier to read and shorter, right (while still doing basically the same thing)? 😀

If we deploy the .bicep files above (note that I’m deploying the “raw” .bicep file directly – which is cool!):

PowerShell

New-AzDeployment -TemplateFile ".\main.bicep" -DeploymentName "vm-example" -Location "West Europe"

1	New-AzDeployment -TemplateFile ".\main.bicep" -DeploymentName "vm-example" -Location "West Europe"

We finally get our resources:

So, where should you start if you’re new to Bicep?

I would certainly recommend starting with free and official Deploy and manage resources in Azure by using Bicep learning path on Microsoft Learn.

After that, you can probably pick up Freek Berson’s book Getting started with Bicep: Infrastructure as Code on Azure (first and only book on Bicep that I know of – really liked it because of the simple (yet effective) examples with storage accounts, it connects everything and flows naturally – building up “brick by brick” and not “jumping around”, just to show off what Bicep can do).

Another great resource are also the Bicep examples – there’s plenty to learn from them too!

Of course, you’ll also need to practice – install the Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell module, add Bicep and use Visual Studio Code for your first steps with creating, deleting, configuring and breaking stuff… powered by Bicep! 😀

Cheers!