Deployment functions for ARM templates

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Resource Manager provides the following functions for getting values related to the current deployment of your Azure Resource Manager template (ARM template):

To get values from resources, resource groups, or subscriptions, see Resource functions.

Tip

We recommend Bicep because it offers the same capabilities as ARM templates and the syntax is easier to use. To learn more, see deployment functions.

deployment

deployment()

Returns information about the current deployment operation.

In Bicep, use the deployment function.

Return value

This function returns the object that is passed during deployment. The properties in the returned object differ based on whether you are:

  • deploying a template or a template spec.
  • deploying a template that is a local file or deploying a template that is a remote file accessed through a URI.
  • deploying to a resource group or deploying to one of the other scopes (Azure subscription, management group, or tenant).

When deploying a local template to a resource group: the function returns the following format:

{
  "name": "",
  "properties": {
    "template": {
      "$schema": "",
      "contentVersion": "",
      "parameters": {},
      "variables": {},
      "resources": [],
      "outputs": {}
    },
    "templateHash": "",
    "parameters": {},
    "mode": "",
    "provisioningState": ""
  }
}

When deploying a remote template to a resource group: the function returns the following format:

{
  "name": "",
  "properties": {
    "templateLink": {
      "uri": ""
    },
    "template": {
      "$schema": "",
      "contentVersion": "",
      "parameters": {},
      "variables": {},
      "resources": [],
      "outputs": {}
    },
    "templateHash": "",
    "parameters": {},
    "mode": "",
    "provisioningState": ""
  }
}

When deploying a template spec to a resource group: the function returns the following format:

{
  "name": "",
  "properties": {
    "templateLink": {
      "id": ""
    },
    "template": {
      "$schema": "",
      "contentVersion": "",
      "parameters": {},
      "variables": {},
      "resources": [],
      "outputs": {}
    },
    "templateHash": "",
    "parameters": {},
    "mode": "",
    "provisioningState": ""
  }
}

When you deploy to an Azure subscription, management group, or tenant, the return object includes a location property. The location property is included when deploying either a local template or an external template. The format is:

{
  "name": "",
  "location": "",
  "properties": {
    "template": {
      "$schema": "",
      "contentVersion": "",
      "resources": [],
      "outputs": {}
    },
    "templateHash": "",
    "parameters": {},
    "mode": "",
    "provisioningState": ""
  }
}

When deploying a languageVersion 2.0 template, the deployment function returns a limited subset of properties:

{
  "name": "",
  "location": "",
  "properties": {
    "template": {
      "contentVersion": ""
    },
    "templateLink": {
      "id": "",
      "uri": ""
    }
  }
}

Remarks

You can use deployment() to link to another template based on the URI of the parent template.

"variables": {
  "sharedTemplateUrl": "[uri(deployment().properties.templateLink.uri, 'shared-resources.json')]"
}

If you redeploy a template from the deployment history in the portal, the template is deployed as a local file. The templateLink property isn't returned in the deployment function. If your template relies on templateLink to construct a link to another template, don't use the portal to redeploy. Instead, use the commands you used to originally deploy the template.

Example

The following example returns a deployment object.

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "resources": [],
  "outputs": {
    "deploymentOutput": {
      "type": "object",
      "value": "[deployment()]"
    }
  }
}

The preceding example returns the following object:

{
  "name": "deployment",
  "properties": {
    "template": {
      "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
      "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
      "resources": [],
      "outputs": {
        "deploymentOutput": {
          "type": "Object",
          "value": "[deployment()]"
        }
      }
    },
    "templateHash": "13135986259522608210",
    "parameters": {},
    "mode": "Incremental",
    "provisioningState": "Accepted"
  }
}

For a subscription deployment, the following example returns a deployment object.

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2018-05-01/subscriptionDeploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {},
  "variables": {},
  "resources": [],
  "outputs": {
    "exampleOutput": {
      "type": "object",
      "value": "[deployment()]"
    }
  }
}

environment

environment()

Returns information about the Azure environment used for deployment. The environment() function is not aware of resource configurations. It can only return a single default DNS suffix for each resource type.

In Bicep, use the environment function.

Remarks

To see a list of registered environments for your account, use az cloud list or Get-AzEnvironment.

Return value

This function returns properties for the current Azure environment. The following example shows the properties for global Azure. Sovereign clouds may return slightly different properties.

{
  "name": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "graph": "",
  "portal": "",
  "graphAudience": "",
  "activeDirectoryDataLake": "",
  "batch": "",
  "media": "",
  "sqlManagement": "",
  "vmImageAliasDoc": "",
  "resourceManager": "",
  "authentication": {
    "loginEndpoint": "",
    "audiences": [
      "",
      ""
    ],
    "tenant": "",
    "identityProvider": ""
  },
  "suffixes": {
    "acrLoginServer": "",
    "azureDatalakeAnalyticsCatalogAndJob": "",
    "azureDatalakeStoreFileSystem": "",
    "azureFrontDoorEndpointSuffix": "",
    "keyvaultDns": "",
    "sqlServerHostname": "",
    "storage": ""
  }
}

Example

The following example template returns the environment object.

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "resources": [],
  "outputs": {
    "environmentOutput": {
      "type": "object",
      "value": "[environment()]"
    }
  }
}

The preceding example returns the following object when deployed to Azure China Cloud:

{
    "name": "AzureChinaCloud",
    "gallery": "https://gallery.chinacloudapi.cn",
    "graph": "https://graph.chinacloudapi.cn",
    "portal": "https://portal.azure.cn",
    "graphAudience": "https://graph.chinacloudapi.cn",
    "activeDirectoryDataLake": null,
    "batch": "https://batch.chinacloudapi.cn",
    "media": "https://rest.media.chinacloudapi.cn",
    "sqlManagement": "https://management.core.chinacloudapi.cn:8443",
    "vmImageAliasDoc": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/azure-rest-api-specs/master/arm-compute/quickstart-templates/aliases.json",
    "resourceManager": "https://management.chinacloudapi.cn",
    "authentication": {
        "loginEndpoint": "https://login.chinacloudapi.cn",
        "audiences": [
            "https://management.core.chinacloudapi.cn",
            "https://management.chinacloudapi.cn"
        ],
        "tenant": "common",
        "identityProvider": "AAD"
    },
    "suffixes": {
        "acrLoginServer": ".azurecr.cn",
        "azureDatalakeAnalyticsCatalogAndJob": null,
        "azureDatalakeStoreFileSystem": null,
        "azureFrontDoorEndpointSuffix": "",
        "keyvaultDns": ".vault.azure.cn",
        "sqlServerHostname": ".database.chinacloudapi.cn",
        "storage": "core.chinacloudapi.cn"
    }
}

parameters

parameters(parameterName)

Returns a parameter value. The specified parameter name must be defined in the parameters section of the template.

In Bicep, directly reference parameters by using their symbolic names.

Parameters

Parameter Required Type Description
parameterName Yes string The name of the parameter to return.

Return value

The value of the specified parameter.

Remarks

Typically, you use parameters to set resource values. The following example sets the name of web site to the parameter value passed in during deployment.

"parameters": {
  "siteName": {
    "type": "string"
  }
}, "resources": [
  {
    "type": "Microsoft.Web/Sites",
    "apiVersion": "2016-08-01",
    "name": "[parameters('siteName')]",
    ...
  }
]

Example

The following example shows a simplified use of the parameters function.

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "stringParameter": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "option 1"
    },
    "intParameter": {
      "type": "int",
      "defaultValue": 1
    },
    "objectParameter": {
      "type": "object",
      "defaultValue": {
        "one": "a",
        "two": "b"
      }
    },
    "arrayParameter": {
      "type": "array",
      "defaultValue": [ 1, 2, 3 ]
    },
    "crossParameter": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "[parameters('stringParameter')]"
    }
  },
  "variables": {},
  "resources": [],
  "outputs": {
    "stringOutput": {
      "type": "string",
      "value": "[parameters('stringParameter')]"
    },
    "intOutput": {
      "type": "int",
      "value": "[parameters('intParameter')]"
    },
    "objectOutput": {
      "type": "object",
      "value": "[parameters('objectParameter')]"
    },
    "arrayOutput": {
      "type": "array",
      "value": "[parameters('arrayParameter')]"
    },
    "crossOutput": {
      "type": "string",
      "value": "[parameters('crossParameter')]"
    }
  }
}

The output from the preceding example with the default values is:

Name Type Value
stringOutput String option 1
intOutput Int 1
objectOutput Object {"one": "a", "two": "b"}
arrayOutput Array [1, 2, 3]
crossOutput String option 1

For more information about using parameters, see Parameters in ARM templates.

variables

variables(variableName)

Returns the value of variable. The specified variable name must be defined in the variables section of the template.

In Bicep, directly reference variables by using their symbolic names.

Parameters

Parameter Required Type Description
variableName Yes String The name of the variable to return.

Return value

The value of the specified variable.

Remarks

Typically, you use variables to simplify your template by constructing complex values only once. The following example constructs a unique name for a storage account.

"variables": {
  "storageName": "[concat('storage', uniqueString(resourceGroup().id))]"
},
"resources": [
  {
    "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
    "name": "[variables('storageName')]",
    ...
  },
  {
    "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines",
    "dependsOn": [
      "[variables('storageName')]"
    ],
    ...
  }
],

Example

The following example returns different variable values.

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {},
  "variables": {
    "var1": "myVariable",
    "var2": [ 1, 2, 3, 4 ],
    "var3": "[ variables('var1') ]",
    "var4": {
      "property1": "value1",
      "property2": "value2"
    }
  },
  "resources": [],
  "outputs": {
    "exampleOutput1": {
      "type": "string",
      "value": "[variables('var1')]"
    },
    "exampleOutput2": {
      "type": "array",
      "value": "[variables('var2')]"
    },
    "exampleOutput3": {
      "type": "string",
      "value": "[variables('var3')]"
    },
    "exampleOutput4": {
      "type": "object",
      "value": "[variables('var4')]"
    }
  }
}

The output from the preceding example with the default values is:

Name Type Value
exampleOutput1 String myVariable
exampleOutput2 Array [1, 2, 3, 4]
exampleOutput3 String myVariable
exampleOutput4 Object {"property1": "value1", "property2": "value2"}

For more information about using variables, see Variables in ARM template.

Next steps