Arm in Azure Policy Management and Enforcement

Azure Policy Management and Enforcement is a crucial aspect of Arm in Azure. Azure Policy allows you to define and enforce compliance rules across your Azure resources.

To manage and enforce policies, you can use Azure Policy definitions, which are essentially JSON documents that define the policy rules. These definitions can be used to assign policies to Azure resources.

Azure Policy can be used to enforce a wide range of policies, from security and access controls to resource utilization and cost management.

To get started with ARM in Azure, you'll need to meet a few prerequisites. You need a template to deploy, so download and save an example template from the Azure Quickstart templates repo. The local file name used in this article is C:\MyTemplates\azuredeploy.json.

You'll also need to install Azure PowerShell and connect to Azure. Install Azure PowerShell cmdlets on your local computer, and for more information, see Get started with Azure PowerShell. Connect to Azure by using Connect-AZAccount, and if you have multiple Azure subscriptions, you might also need to run Set-AzContext. For more information, see Use multiple Azure subscriptions.

Alternatively, you can use Azure Cloud Shell if you don't have PowerShell installed. For more information, see Deploy ARM templates from Azure Cloud Shell.

Here's a quick rundown of what you need to do:

Make sure you've got these basics covered before moving forward with your ARM deployment in Azure.

Deployment is a crucial part of working with Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates. You can target your deployment to a resource group, subscription, management group, or tenant, and the scope of the deployment determines which command to use.

To deploy to a resource group, use New-AzResourceGroupDeployment, and to deploy to a subscription, use New-AzSubscriptionDeployment, which is an alias of the New-AzDeployment cmdlet. You can also deploy to a management group using New-AzManagementGroupDeployment, and to a tenant using New-AzTenantDeployment.

Giving your deployment a unique name is essential, as it helps you retrieve the deployment from the deployment history. If you don't provide a name, the name of the template file is used. You can also assign a random number to create a unique name.

You can deploy a local template using the -TemplateFile parameter, and the deployment can take several minutes to complete. If you're deploying to a resource group that doesn't exist, create the resource group first.

Here are the different deployment commands and their scopes:

To deploy a remote template, use the -TemplateUri parameter, and to deploy linked templates with a relative path, use QueryString to specify the SAS token. You can also use Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell to deploy the template.

To verify the deployment, explore the resource group from the Azure portal, and check the deployment status next to Deployments. You can also use Azure Policy definitions and assignments to automate the deployment process.

Remember to configure an Azure account, generate the Ignition config files for your cluster, and store the RHCOS virtual hard disk (VHD) cluster image in an Azure storage container before deploying the cluster image.

Before deploying your ARM template, it's a good idea to preview the changes it will make to your environment. You can do this using the what-if operation, which validates the template for errors and verifies that it makes the changes you expect.

To deploy your template, you'll need to use either Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell. Make sure you've created a resource group and given it a name that meets the requirements, such as alphanumeric characters, periods, underscores, hyphens, and parentheses.

Here are the deployment commands for Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell:

You can also create a deployment script using Azure PowerShell, which can automate the deployment process and make it easier to manage your resources.

Once you've deployed your template, you can verify the deployment by exploring the resource group from the Azure portal. Look for the deployment status in the Essentials section, and check the deployment history to see the list of resources created.

Remember to check the ProvisioningState to see whether the deployment succeeded, and use the verbose switch to get more information about the resources being created if the deployment fails.

To create ARM templates, you need a good JSON editor, and we recommend using Visual Studio Code with the Azure Resource Manager Tools extension.

You'll also need either Azure PowerShell or Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) to deploy the template. For Azure CLI, make sure you have version 2.37.0 or later, and for Azure PowerShell, you need version 7.2.4 or later.

To check your installed version, use the command az --version for Azure CLI, or see the version number in the PowerShell prompt.

Here's a quick rundown of the versions you need:

When working with templates, you'll need a good JSON editor. Visual Studio Code is a great choice, especially with the Azure Resource Manager Tools extension installed.

To create ARM templates, you'll need to install the Azure Resource Manager Tools extension in Visual Studio Code.

To deploy a template using the command-line, you'll need either Azure PowerShell or Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI). Make sure you have the latest version installed, specifically version 2.37.0 or later for Azure CLI, or version 7.2.4 or later for Azure PowerShell.

If you're using Azure CLI, you can check your installed version by running the command `az --version`. Azure CLI is the way to go if you want to run the deployment command.

To deploy a template, you'll need to sign in to your Azure account first. If you're using Azure CLI, you can do this by running `az login`. If you're using Azure PowerShell, you can do this by running `Connect-AzAccount`.

Here are the installation instructions for Azure CLI on different platforms:

Make sure you have the latest version of Azure CLI installed before proceeding with the deployment command.

To create the bootstrap machine, you must first configure an Azure account. This involves creating an Azure storage account to store the RHCOS virtual hard disk (VHD) cluster image and bootstrap Ignition config file. The Azure storage account name must be between 3 and 24 characters in length and use numbers and lower-case letters only.

The RHCOS images might not change with every release of OpenShift Container Platform. You must specify an image with the highest version that is less than or equal to the OpenShift Container Platform version that you install. Use the image version that matches your OpenShift Container Platform version if it is available.

To create the storage container for the VHD, you'll need to copy the chosen VHD to a blob using the Azure CLI. You can do this by running the command `az storage blob copy start` with the required parameters.

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating the bootstrap machine in Azure:

1. Copy the template from the ARM template for the bootstrap machine section of this topic and save it as 04_bootstrap.json in your cluster’s installation directory.

2. Export the bootstrap URL variable by running the command `az storage blob url` with the required parameters.

3. Export the bootstrap ignition variable by running the command `jq` with the required parameters.

4. Create the deployment by using the az CLI with the required parameters.

Note that if you don't use the provided ARM template to create your bootstrap machine, you must review the provided information and manually create the infrastructure. If your cluster does not initialize correctly, you might have to contact Red Hat support with your installation logs.

To create your first ARM template, start by opening Visual Studio Code with the installed ARM processor Tools extension. From the File menu, select New File to create a new file. The file should be named azuredeploy and have a json file extension.

You'll need to save the file to your workstation, choosing a path that's easy to remember for later deployment. The JSON file will have several key elements, including "$schema", "contentVersion", and "resources".

Here are the basic elements of a blank ARM template:

To get started with Azure deployment templates, you need to create your first template. Open Visual Studio Code with the installed ARM processor Tools extension.

From the File menu, select New File to create a new file. Then, from the File menu, select Save As. Name the file azuredeploy and select the json file extension. The complete name of the file is azuredeploy.json. Save the file to your workstation, choosing a path that's easy to remember for later use.

The JSON file has several elements, including "$schema", "contentVersion", and "resources". You can copy and paste the following JSON into the file:

{

"$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",

"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",

"resources": []

}

Your Visual Studio Code environment should look similar to this. This template doesn't deploy any resources, giving you a blank slate to work with.

Now that you've created a simple template to deploy to Azure, you can learn how to add a storage account to the template.

You can deploy it to your resource group after adding a storage account to the template.

In the next tutorial, you'll have the opportunity to learn how to add a storage account to the template.

By following these steps, you'll be able to deploy your template to your resource group with a storage account.

To verify the deployment, sign in to the Azure portal and select Resource groups from the left menu.

From the resource group overview, notice the deployment status next to Deployments in the Essentials section. You can see the history of deployment for the resource group.

Check the box to the left of blanktemplate and select blanktemplate to see a summary of the deployment.

To verify the deployment, sign in to the Azure portal and select Resource groups from the left menu. The resource group you created will be listed, so select it to view its details.

The deployment status will be displayed next to Deployments in the Essentials section. Select the "1 Succeeded" option to view the deployment history. You can also check the box to the left of the template name, such as "blanktemplate", to view a summary of the deployment.

In the deployment summary, you can see inputs, outputs, and the template used for the deployment. This can be helpful for reviewing the deployment history later on.

You can also use the Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell to deploy a template. This involves using the resource group you created and giving a name to the deployment. A variable can be created to store the path to the template file, making it easier to run the deployment commands.

To check the deployment status, look for the ProvisioningState in the deployment results. If the deployment fails, use the verbose switch to get information about the resources being created, or the debug switch to get more information for debugging.