Azure Resource Manager

Azure Resource Manager(ARM) is the deployment and management service on Azure that helps users to create, update and delete resources.

When ARM receives a request from any of the azure tools, it forwards the request to the appropriate service after authenticating the request.

Let’s have a look at some of the terms related to ARM:

Resource: An item on Azure that can be managed through ARM. Virtual machines, storage accounts, web apps, databases, and virtual networks are examples of resources.

Resource group: As the name suggests, resource group is a collection or container of related resources that users would like to manage together. One reason to create a resource group could be the ease of maintenance of the resources contained within the group.

Resource provider: Sometimes, there could be an underlying service that supplies the requested resource e.g. Microsoft Compute is the resource provider that provides the Virtual Machine (VM) resource.

Resource Manager template – This is a file that contains the configuration details to  deploy one or more resources to deploy. It is written in the JSON file format. Resource manager templates will be discussed in detail in a future post.

ARM lets users manage the resources as a group instead of individually. It provides reusability in the form of resource manager templates. It is much easier to redeploy the solution to a new environment with the help of templates. With ARM, the billing for various resources is simplified and customers can have a summarized view of their Azure costs. It also simplifies applying group policies such as  role-based access control.

Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/overview