Deploying Azure Storage with ARM Templates.

Alvaro Salinas — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 15:05:11 +0000

Introduction

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is a service that provides a way to organize resources in Azure. With ARM, you can define and deploy Azure resources as a single logical unit called a resource group. This resource group can contain various Azure resources such as virtual machines, storage accounts, and network interfaces.

ARM Templates are blocks of code that define Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using JSON syntax. All resources and their properties are defined in this template.

I’ve been experimenting with different Azure services to practice and learn a bit more. I've done this small guide to show how to deploy an Azure resource using an ARM template, a PowerShell script, and an Azure DevOps pipeline.

For this example, I used a template to create a Storage Account.

Prerequisites

Azure subscription
Azure DevOps
Azure Service Connection

Repository structure

├── deploy.ps1              # PowerShell script to handle logic (Create RG + Deploy)
├── azure-pipelines.yml     # CI/CD Pipeline definition
└── storageaccount.json     # ARM Template definition

Step 1: Copy this script on your repository.

    param(
        [string]$ResourceGroupName,
        [string]$StorageAccountName,
        [string]$Location,
        [string]$Sku = "Standard_LRS"
    )

    $scriptDir = $PSScriptRoot    
    $template = Join-Path $scriptDir "storageaccount.json"

    Write-Host "Checking if resource group '$ResourceGroupName' already exists..."
    Start-Sleep -Seconds 2
    $exists = (az group exists --name $ResourceGroupName) -eq 'true'
    if (-not $exists) {
        Write-Host "Resource group '$ResourceGroupName' does not exist. Creating..."
        az group create --name $ResourceGroupName --location $Location | Out-Null
        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) { throw "Failed to create resource group." }
    } else {
        Write-Host "Resource group '$ResourceGroupName' already exists."
    }

    Write-Host "Deploying Azure ARM template.."

    az deployment group create --resource-group $ResourceGroupName --template-file $template --parameters "storageAccountName=$StorageAccountName" "sku=$Sku" "location=$Location"
    if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
        Write-Error "ARM deployment failed."
        return $false
    }

    Write-Host "Deployment successful by Alvaro! 🚀"

Step 2: Copy the pipeline.yaml on the repository.

trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

variables:
  resourceGroupName: 'Asgard'
  storageAccountName: 'storageaccountasgard'
  location: 'West Europe'
  sku: 'Standard_LRS'

steps:
- task: AzureCLI@2
  displayName: 'Deploy Storage Account ARM Template'
  inputs:
    azureSubscription: 'Marty-MacFly' # Work Service Connection name in Azure DevOps
    ScriptType: pscore
    ScriptPath: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/deploy.ps1'
    ScriptArguments: >-
      -ResourceGroupName "$(resourceGroupName)"
      -StorageAccountName "$(storageAccountName)"
      -Location "$(location)"
      -Sku "$(sku)"

Step 3: Run the pipeline

Run the pipeline in Azure DevOps.

Step 4: Validate Deployment

Check out in Azure the new Storage Account created.

CI/CD Deployment of an Azure Web App using Terraform and Azure DevOps.

Alvaro Salinas — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:33:01 +0000

Introduction

A simple guide to show how deploy an end-to-end DevOps workflow for deploying a web application to Microsoft Azure. Infrastructure is provisioned using Terraform, and application deployment is automated through Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines.

The goal is to showcase Infrastructure as Code, pipeline automation, and cloud-native deployment using Azure App Service.

Concepts

Azure App Service: A fully managed platform for building, deploying, and scaling web apps and APIs. It supports multiple languages and frameworks, providing built-in infrastructure maintenance, security patching, and scaling capabilities.

Azure web app: An HTTP-based service for hosting web applications, REST APIs, and mobile back ends. It is a specific type of application hosted on the App Service platform.

Prerequisites

Azure subscription
Azure DevOps organization
Azure DevOps repository
Azure Service Connection with sufficient permissions
Terraform installed (v1.x)

Repository Azure Devops Structure

In this part, I have the next structure but you can configure another resource how you want.

AzureAppService/
├── index.html

└── azure-pipeline.yml

Step 1: Prepare Terraform configuration files

The following Terraform configuration provisions the Azure infrastructure required to host the web application.


terraform {
  required_providers {
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = "~> 3.0"
    }
  }
}

provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
}

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "main" {
  name     = "Hawkins"
  location = "West Europe"
}

resource "azurerm_app_service_plan" "main" {
  name                = "asp-devops-lab"
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.main.location
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.main.name
  sku {
    tier = "Free"
    size = "F1"
  }
}

resource "azurerm_app_service" "webapp" {
  name                = "webapp-devops-lab-2026"
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.main.location
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.main.name
  app_service_plan_id = azurerm_app_service_plan.main.id
}

Step 2: Terraform commands

Terraform init
Terraform plan
Terraform apply

Step 3: Create files for Azure DevOps

The pipeline packages the web application and deploys it to Azure App Service using an Azure Service Connection.


trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

steps:
- task: ArchiveFiles@2
  inputs:
    rootFolderOrFile: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'
    includeRootFolder: false
    archiveType: 'zip'
    archiveFile: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/webapp.zip'
    replaceExistingArchive: true

- task: AzureWebApp@1
  inputs:
    azureSubscription: 'Thor-Service-Connection'
    appName: 'webapp-devops-lab-2026'
    package: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/webapp.zip'

Step 4: Deploy the Application

Run the pipeline in Azure DevOps. The pipeline will package and deploy the web application automatically.

Step 5: Validate Deployment

Run the pipeline in Azure DevOps. The pipeline will package and deploy the web application automatically.

DEV Community: Alvaro Salinas

Deploying Azure Storage with ARM Templates.

Introduction

Prerequisites

Repository structure

Step 1: Copy this script on your repository.

Step 2: Copy the pipeline.yaml on the repository.

Step 3: Run the pipeline

Step 4: Validate Deployment

CI/CD Deployment of an Azure Web App using Terraform and Azure DevOps.

Introduction

Concepts

Prerequisites

Repository Azure Devops Structure

Step 1: Prepare Terraform configuration files

Step 2: Terraform commands

Step 3: Create files for Azure DevOps

Step 4: Deploy the Application

Step 5: Validate Deployment