Azure Blueprint usages 

As a public cloud, Azure provides uniform templates to manage resource provisioning across several services.   Azure offers a control plane for all resources that can be deployed to the cloud and services take advantage of them both for themselves and their customers. While Azure Functions allow extensions via new resources, Azure Resource provider and ARM APIs provide extensions via existing resources. This eliminates the need to have new processes introduced around new resources and is a significant win for reusability and user convenience. New and existing resources are not the only way to write extensions, there are other options such as writing it in the Azure Store or via other control planes such as container orchestration frameworks and third-party platforms. This article focuses on Azure Blueprints. 

Azure Blueprints can be leveraged to allow an engineer or architect to sketch a project’s design parameters, define a repeatable set of resources that implements and adheres to an organization’s standards, patterns, and requirements.  It is a declarative way to orchestrate the deployment of various resource templates and other artifacts such as role assignments, policy assignments, ARM templates, and Resource Groups. Blueprint Objects are stored in the Cosmos DB and replicated to multiple Azure regions. Since it is designed to set up the environment, it is different from resource provisioning. This package fits nicely into a CI/CD pipeline and handles both what should be deployed and the assignment of what was deployed. 

Azure Blueprints differ from ARM templates in that the former helps environment setup while the latter helps with resource provisioning. It is a package that comprises artifacts that declare resource groups, policies, role assignments, and ARM Template deployments. It can be composed and versioned and included in continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines. The components of the package can be assigned to a subscription in a single operation, audited, and tracked. Although the components can be individually registered, the Blueprint facilitates a relationship to the template and an active connection. 

There are two categories within the Blueprint – definitions for deployment that explain what should be deployed and the definitions for assignments that explain what was deployed. A previous effort to author ARM Templates become reusable in Azure Blueprint. In this way, Blueprint becomes bigger than just the templates and allows reusing an existing process to manage new resources. 

A Blueprint focuses on standards, patterns, and requirements. The design can be reused to maintain consistency and compliance. It differs from an Azure policy in that it supports parameters with policies and initiatives. A policy is a self-contained manifest that governs resource properties during deployment and for already existing resources. Resources within a subscription adhere to the requirements and standards. When a Blueprint comprises resource templates and Azure policy along with parameters, it becomes holistic in cloud governance.