What is Azure Bicep?
Bicep is a Domain Specific Language (DSL) for Azure Resource Manager. It simplifies ARM JSON templates into readable and modular code for Infrastructure as Code on Azure.
Basic Structure
@description('Storage account name')
param storageAccountName string
param storageSku string = 'Standard_LRS'
var location = resourceGroup().location
resource storageAccount 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2023-01-01' = {
name: storageAccountName
location: location
sku: {
name: storageSku
}
kind: 'StorageV2'
}
output storageEndpoint string = storageAccount.properties.primaryEndpoints.blob
Parameters
@description('Admin username')
param adminUser string = 'azureuser'
@secure()
param adminPassword string
@allowed(['Standard_LRS', 'Standard_GRS'])
param sku string
Variables
var prefix = 'demo'
var uniqueName = '${prefix}${uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)}'
var subnetNames = ['web', 'app', 'db']
Expressions & Interpolation
var fullName = '${prefix}-${environment}-${location}'
var uniqueName = toLower(uniqueString(resourceGroup().id, 'key'))
Resource Declaration
resource myVnet 'Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks@2023-01-01' = {
name: 'vnet-${uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)}'
location: location
properties: {
addressSpace: {
addressPrefixes: ['10.0.0.0/16']
}
}
}
Resource Dependencies
Implicit dependency:
resource nic 'Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces@2023-01-01' = {
name: 'vmNic'
properties: {
ipConfigurations: [
{
name: 'ipconfig'
properties: {
subnet: { id: subnet.id }
}
}
]
}
}
Explicit dependency:
dependsOn: [ nic, storageAccount ]
Loops
var subnets = [
{ name: 'web', prefix: '10.0.1.0/24' }
{ name: 'app', prefix: '10.0.2.0/24' }
]
resource vnet 'Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks@2023-01-01' = {
name: 'myVnet'
properties: {
addressSpace: { addressPrefixes: ['10.0.0.0/16'] }
subnets: [for subnet in subnets: {
name: subnet.name
properties: { addressPrefix: subnet.prefix }
}]
}
}
Conditional Deployment
param enableDiagnostics bool = true
resource diag 'Microsoft.Insights/diagnosticSettings@2021-05-01-preview' = if (enableDiagnostics) {
name: 'diagSetting'
properties: {
...
}
}
Modules
Main file:
module storage './storage.bicep' = {
name: 'storageModule'
params: {
storageAccountName: 'mystorage'
location: location
}
}
storage.bicep:
param storageAccountName string
param location string
resource storage 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2023-01-01' = {
name: storageAccountName
location: location
sku: { name: 'Standard_LRS' }
kind: 'StorageV2'
}
output storageId string = storage.id
Outputs
output storageId string = storage.id
output connectionString string = 'DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=${storage.name}'
Common Functions
resourceGroup() – Current resource groupuniqueString() – Deterministic unique IDconcat() – Join stringslength() – Array or string lengthcontains() – Checks if array contains valueif() – Inline conditionjson() – Parse JSON
Azure CLI Commands
az deployment group create \
--resource-group myRG \
--template-file main.bicep \
--parameters storageSku=Standard_LRS
az deployment group validate \
--resource-group myRG \
--template-file main.bicep
az deployment group what-if \
--resource-group myRG \
--template-file main.bicep
Scopes
targetScope = 'subscription'
resource rg 'Microsoft.Resources/resourceGroups@2023-01-01' = {
name: 'myResourceGroup'
location: 'eastus'
}
Best Practices
- Use modules for reusable components
- Validate parameters using
@allowed, @minLength
- Tag all resources consistently
- Use loops instead of duplicate code
- Preview changes using
what-if
- Avoid exposing secrets in outputs
- Keep Bicep files under version control
Helpful CLI Commands
az bicep install
az bicep upgrade
az bicep build --file main.bicep
az bicep decompile --file template.json
Common Resource Types
- Storage Account –
Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2023-01-01
- Virtual Network –
Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks@2023-01-01
- Virtual Machine –
Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines@2023-01-01
- App Service –
Microsoft.Web/sites@2023-01-01
- Key Vault –
Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults@2023-01-01
Techy Chalkboard in bits and pieces 
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