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What is Bicep and how its useful over terraform?

Venkata Ratna Chaitanya Nalla 0 Reputation points
2023-02-06T03:31:55.37+00:00

AzureWhat is Bicep and how its useful over terraform?

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  1. Carlos Solís Salazar 17,791 Reputation points MVP
    2023-02-06T10:12:14.3366667+00:00

    Thank you for asking this question on the Microsoft Q&A Platform.

    Bicep and terraform are two Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools:

    Bicep

    Bicep is the Domain Specific Language (DSL) that allows for declarative deployment of Azure resources, so yes, this is an IaC tool that is native to Azure. Anything that you can do with an ARM template you can do with Bicep (and more!). As soon as a new resource is added into Azure, it is immediately supported by Bicep. 

    Terraform 

    Terraform is an open-source tool that uses HCL (Hashicorp Configuration Language), which is based on Golang, which many people find one of the most easily learned IaC languages. Terraform comes with a lot of benefits that makes it a popular choice. 

    Terraform can be used with any cloud and on-prem resources. While it requires a different template, you can use the same language and formatting to deliver IaC to any environment. The reality is most organization are multi-cloud and configured in a hybrid model, this is where Terraform shines. 

    More info https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/itops-talk-blog/infrastructure-as-code-iac-comparing-the-tools/ba-p/3205045

    Hope this helps!

    Accept Answer and Upvote, if any of the above helped, this thread can help others in the community looking for remediation for similar issues.

    NOTE: To answer you as quickly as possible, please mention me in your reply.

  2. AirGordon 7,030 Reputation points
    2023-07-19T16:55:42.42+00:00

    Bicep is designed to make the ARM authoring experience better. It creates ARM JSON, whilst allowing the user to author in a much faster, more intuitive way.

    Bicep is similar in syntax to terraform, but has 4 key differences;

    1. Bicep will create ARM deployments, Terraform makes lots of API calls
    2. Bicep does not deal with independent state management, Terraform does.
    3. Bicep has first class support for new Azure resource types/properties, Terraform lags and is dependant on the resource providers being maintained
    4. Bicep only supports Azure and has an emerging provider model, Terraform supports multiple cloud vendors and has a mature provider model
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