Getting started with Bicep - Infrastructure as code on Azure

This repository contains source codes and samples discussed in the book Getting started with Bicep - Infrastructure as code on Azure. This book is your guide to mastering Bicep! It contains a lot of practical solutions and examples to help you jump start your journey towards infrastructure as code for Azure!

The Kindle version of the book is available for pre-order : Getting started with Bicep: Infrastructure as code on Azure and both a paperback and the kindle version will become available on July 13!

Book Description

Infrastructure as Code is crucial to becoming successful in the Azure Cloud. Azure Resource Manager allows you to create resources in Azure in a declarative way. For many years we have been using ARM Templates to declare resources in a JSON format. Although ARM Templates are very powerful, the implementation of the JSON language is hard to read, maintain and debug. Bicep, a Domain Specific Language, overcomes these issues by providing a transparent abstraction layer on top of ARM and ARM Templates. This significantly improves the authoring experience. Bicep is easy to understand at a glance and straightforward to learn regardless of your experience with other programming languages.

The book starts with some history and background in Infrastructure as Code and ARM Templates. It continues by explaining Bicep and providing guidance on how to get started.

After the introduction, you will start your journey by understanding the syntax of Bicep. You will start by learning the basics first and you will gradually dive deeper in the more advanced scenarios.

The book also contains a dedicated chapter on a big real-world example which provides you with great insights on how to leverage Bicep for production usage.

Part of this book is also the Bicep playground, visualizer and a PowerShell module for Bicep provided by the community. Sample code used in this book is available on a dedicated GitHub repository.

What you will learn

• Get started with the Bicep CLI and VSCode Extension
• Deploy Bicep Templates to Azure
• Understand the Bicep Template structure
• Use variables, parameters, tags, decorators, expressions, and symbolic names with Bicep
• Use more advanced code options like dependencies, loops, conditions, target scopes, modules, and nesting
• Leverage the latest Bicep features like snippets, scaffolding, and linter
• Use the Bicep Visualizer and Bicep playground to support the authoring of Templates
• Deploy Templates using Template Specs
• Use the Bicep PowerShell module as an extension to the Bicep CLI

Who this book is intended for

DevOps engineers, Developers, consultants, and Azure architects with or without experience in ARM Templates and infrastructure as code who want to get started with Bicep.

Table of Contents

1. Why this book
2. What is project bicep
3. Getting started
4. Bicep file structure explained
5. Deploying bicep files to azure
6. Bicep syntax
7. Bicep playground and example code
8. Bicep visualizer
9. Template Specs
10. Guest Chapter: Bicep PowerShell module
11. A real-world example
12. Alternatives to Bicep
13. Closing Notes
14. About the author