Exercise - Define resources in a Bicep file

Completed

Note

This exercise is optional. If you want to complete it, you'll need an Azure subscription before you begin. If you don't have an Azure account or don't want to create one now, you can read through the instructions to understand the concepts.

You'll also need a resource group. You can use an existing group or create one specifically for this exercise. A dedicated resource group makes cleanup easier. For instructions on creating a group with the Azure portal or Azure CLI, see the resource group management links in the More info section of the Summary unit.

For your toy-launch website, you decide to first create a proof of concept by creating a basic Bicep file. In this exercise, you'll create a storage account, Azure App Service plan, and app. Later, you'll modify the file to make it more reusable.

During the process, you'll:

• Create a Bicep file that defines a single storage account resource that includes hard-coded values.
• Provision your infrastructure and verify the result.
• Add an App Service plan and app to the Bicep file.
• Provision the infrastructure again to see the new resources.

This exercise uses the Bicep extension for Visual Studio Code. Be sure to install it before you begin. You'll find the extension link in the More info section of the Summary unit.

Important

These optional exercises create resources in your subscription and may incur charges. Prefer a new resource group dedicated to this module. The sample uses eastus; if you select another supported region before starting, use it for each resource as you add that resource in this exercise, and use it in the later location parameter defaults. If deployment is rejected because of subscription restrictions, policy, quota, or regional capacity, resolve the reported restriction before continuing. Don't switch to a paid App Service tier merely to bypass a deployment error without reviewing the cost.

Create a Bicep file that contains a storage account

Start by defining a storage account in a new Bicep file:

1. Open Visual Studio Code.

2. Create a new Bicep file called main.bicep.

3. Save the empty file so that Visual Studio Code loads the Bicep tooling.

   You can either select File > Save As or select Ctrl+S in Windows (⌘+S on macOS). Be sure to remember where you've saved the file. For example, you might want to create a files folder in which to save the file.

4. Add the following Bicep code into the Bicep file. You'll deploy the file soon. It's a good idea to type the code yourself instead of copying and pasting so you can see how the tooling helps you to write your Bicep files.

   resource storageAccount 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2023-05-01' = {
     name: 'toylaunchstorage'
     location: 'eastus'
     sku: {
       name: 'Standard_LRS'
     }
     kind: 'StorageV2'
     properties: {
       accessTier: 'Hot'
     }
   }
   

   Tip

   Bicep is strict about where you put line breaks, so make sure you don't put line breaks in different places than listed here.

   Notice that Visual Studio Code automatically suggests property names as you type. The Bicep extension for Visual Studio Code understands the resources you're defining in your Bicep file, and it lists the available properties and values that you can use.

5. Update the name of the storage account from toylaunchstorage to something that's likely to be unique, because every storage account needs a globally unique name. Make sure the name is 3 to 24 characters and includes only lowercase letters and numbers.

   Important

   Don't skip this step. If you do, your Bicep file won't deploy successfully.

6. Save the changes to the file.

Deploy the Bicep file to Azure

To deploy this template to Azure, you'll sign in to your Azure account from the Visual Studio Code terminal. Be sure you've installed the Azure CLI tools. Installation links are in the More info section of the Summary unit.

Open a Bash terminal for the Azure CLI commands:

1. On the Terminal menu, select New Terminal. The terminal window usually opens in the lower half of your screen.

2. If the terminal displays bash on the right side, the correct shell is already open. If you see a Bash shell icon on the right, you can select it to use that terminal.

   

   If another shell appears, select the shell dropdown arrow, then select Git Bash on Windows or bash on macOS or Linux.

   

3. In the terminal, go to the directory where you saved your template. For example, if you saved it in a templates folder under the current directory, run:

   cd templates
   

Install Bicep

Run the following command to install or update the Azure CLI-managed Bicep CLI:

az bicep install && az bicep upgrade

Sign in to Azure by using Azure CLI

Sign in and select the subscription you'll use for this exercise:

1. In the Visual Studio Code terminal, run:

   az login
   

2. Complete the sign-in prompts in the browser or sign-in window that opens. If the terminal prompts you to choose a subscription, select the one you'll use for this exercise.

3. List the subscriptions associated with your account and find the name or ID of the subscription you want to use:

   az account list --output table
   

4. Select the subscription for the following Azure CLI commands. Replace Your Subscription Name or ID with the value from the previous step:

   az account set --subscription "Your Subscription Name or ID"
   

Select the resource group

Use the resource group you selected or created at the beginning of this exercise. Replace YOUR_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME below with its actual name. Keep using this group in the remaining exercises. If you open a new terminal, sign in and select the intended subscription as needed, then set the variable again.

resourceGroupName='YOUR_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME'

Deploy the Bicep file to Azure

Run the following command from the terminal in Visual Studio Code to deploy the Bicep file to Azure. The command can take a minute or two to complete.

A linter warning about a hard-coded location doesn't itself prevent deployment. In a later exercise, you'll make the location configurable. Deployment also depends on permissions, policy, quota, and resource availability in the selected region; inspect any deployment error before proceeding.

az deployment group create --resource-group "$resourceGroupName" --name main --template-file main.bicep

You'll see Running... in the terminal.

To deploy this template to Azure, you'll sign in to your Azure account from the Visual Studio Code terminal. Be sure you've installed Azure PowerShell. Installation links are in the More info section of the Summary unit.

Open a PowerShell terminal for the Azure PowerShell commands:

1. On the Terminal menu, select New Terminal. The terminal window usually opens in the lower half of your screen.

2. If the terminal displays pwsh or powershell on the right side, the correct shell is already open. If you see a PowerShell shell icon on the right, you can select it to use that terminal.

   

   If another shell appears, select the shell dropdown arrow, then select PowerShell.

   

3. In the terminal, go to the directory where you saved your template. For example, if you saved it in a templates folder under the current directory, run:

   Set-Location -Path templates
   

Install the Bicep CLI

Azure PowerShell doesn't automatically install the Bicep CLI. Follow the Bicep installation for Azure PowerShell instructions in the More info section of the Summary unit. The standalone bicep executable must be available on your PATH; the Azure CLI-managed installation isn't added to PATH.

After installation, reopen your terminal if needed for the PATH change to take effect, then confirm that Bicep is available:

bicep --version

Sign in to Azure by using Azure PowerShell

Sign in and select the subscription you'll use for this exercise:

1. In the Visual Studio Code terminal, run:

   Connect-AzAccount
   

2. Complete the sign-in prompts in the browser or sign-in window that opens.

3. List your subscriptions and copy the ID of the subscription you want to use:

   Get-AzSubscription
   

   The ID looks something like aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e.

4. Select the subscription for the following Azure PowerShell commands. Replace YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_ID with the ID from the previous step:

   Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_ID'
   

Select the resource group

Use the resource group you selected or created at the beginning of this exercise. Replace YOUR_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME below with its actual name. Keep using this group in the remaining exercises. If you open a new terminal, sign in and select the intended subscription as needed, then set the variable again.

$resourceGroupName = 'YOUR_RESOURCE_GROUP_NAME'

Deploy the Bicep file to Azure

Deploy the Bicep file to Azure by using the following Azure PowerShell command in the terminal. The command can take a minute or two to complete.

A linter warning about a hard-coded location doesn't itself prevent deployment. In a later exercise, you'll make the location configurable. Deployment also depends on permissions, policy, quota, and resource availability in the selected region; inspect any deployment error before proceeding.

New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Name main -TemplateFile main.bicep

Verify the deployment

The first time you deploy a Bicep file, you might want to use the Azure portal to verify that the deployment has finished successfully and to inspect the results.

1. Go to the Azure portal and make sure you're in the correct subscription. The portal link is in the More info section of the Summary unit.

2. On the left-side panel, select Resource groups.

3. Select your resource group name.

4. In Overview, locate the Deployments information. You might need to expand Essentials. The displayed totals depend on the resource group's existing deployment history.

   

5. Select the Deployments link to open the deployment history.

   

   Note

   The screenshots show an example deployment history. Your totals can differ if the resource group already contains deployments or you repeat exercises. Identify the deployment by its name, latest operation time, and status instead of relying on a particular number of succeeded deployments.

6. Select the deployment called main. Confirm that its latest operation succeeded and corresponds to the command you just ran, then select Deployment details to expand it. In this case, there's one storage account with the name that you specified.

   

7. Leave the page open in your browser. You'll check on deployments again later.

You can also verify the deployment from the command line. To do so, run the following Azure CLI command:

az deployment group list --resource-group "$resourceGroupName" --output table

You can also verify the deployment from the command line. To do so, run the following Azure PowerShell command:

Get-AzResourceGroupDeployment -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName | Format-Table

Add an App Service plan and app to your Bicep file

In the previous task, you learned how to create a Bicep file that contains a single resource and deploy it. Now you're ready to deploy more resources, including a dependency. In this task, you'll add an App Service plan and app to the Bicep file.

1. In the main.bicep file in Visual Studio Code, add the following code to the bottom of the file:

   resource appServicePlan 'Microsoft.Web/serverfarms@2024-04-01' = {
     name: 'toy-product-launch-plan-starter'
     location: 'eastus'
     sku: {
       name: 'F1'
     }
   }
   
   resource appServiceApp 'Microsoft.Web/sites@2024-04-01' = {
     name: 'toy-product-launch-1'
     location: 'eastus'
     properties: {
       serverFarmId: appServicePlan.id
       httpsOnly: true
     }
   }
   

2. Update the name of the App Service app from toy-product-launch-1 to something that's likely to be unique. Make sure the name is 2 to 60 characters with uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens, and doesn't start or end with a hyphen.

3. Save the changes to the file.

Deploy the updated Bicep file

Deploy the updated file using the same subscription, resource group, and resource location. A hard-coded-location linter warning isn't itself a deployment error.

az deployment group create --resource-group "$resourceGroupName" --name main --template-file main.bicep

Deploy the updated file using the same subscription, resource group, and resource location. A hard-coded-location linter warning isn't itself a deployment error.

New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Name main -TemplateFile main.bicep

Check your deployment

Confirm that the updated deployment includes the App Service resources:

1. Return to the Azure portal and go to your resource group. Reusing the name main updates that deployment's history entry; other deployment entries can still be present.

2. Open the resource group's Deployments history.

3. Select the deployment called main. Confirm that its latest operation succeeded and corresponds to the command you just ran, then select Deployment details to expand the list of deployed resources.

   

4. Notice that the App Service plan and app were deployed.