In this article, learn how resources are deployed in Azure, starting with the fundamental Azure constructs of resources, subscriptions, resource groups. Gain insights into the deployment process facilitated by Azure Resource Manager (ARM).

What is an Azure Resource?

The resource is nothing but an Azure service such as app service, Azure storage, azure active directory, virtual machine, virtual networks etc. It means whenever you create a new resource, you are actually creating the azure service.

What is an Azure resource group?

Each resource in Azure must belong to a resource group. It is a container that groups together related resources. An Azure resource group enables you to manage multiple resources as a whole.

If the service has the same metadata, it won't be allowed in a different resource group. It means you cannot have two resource groups for one service which is identical.

The Resource group gives better flexibility to manage the life cycle of all services at one place, which is located in the resource group. You can deploy, update and delete these services together.

What is an Azure subscription?

An Azure subscription is a fundamental concept within Microsoft Azure, serving as the foundational unit that enables users to access and consume Azure services. In order to take advantage of Azure’s cloud-based services, you must have a subscription as it serves as a single billing unit for Azure resources used in that account.

Azure Subscriptions Types

• Free: A free subscription can be created with an email account and a credit card that includes 200$ credit for the first 30 days and free limited access for 12 months when converted to a pay-as-you-go subscription.

• Pay-As-You-Go: Generates a monthly charge depending on the amount of Cloud resources used.

• Enterprise: A single Enterprise agreement is made for bulk purchases of subscriptions, with discounts for new licenses and Software Assurance – targetted at enterprise scale – Organisations.

• Student: These subscriptions include 100$ for 12 months, this subscription can be activated without a credit card however student verification is required.

What is Azure Resource Manager (ARM)?

To make deployment and management of Azure services easy, Microsoft has developed Azure Resource Manager, also known as ARM. When you use the Azure Portal or CLI, you interact with ARM APIs, with means the results should be the same, no matter what method you use to access and manage Azure resources. The ARM APIs interact with the various Resource Providers, which are the services that supply Azure resources.

When a user sends a request from any of the available tools, the Azure Resource Manager API receives the request. It then authenticates and authorizes the request based on the user’s credentials and permissions. If authorized, the request is passed to the resource providers for them to implement.

In short Azure Resource Manager is the one that is creating the resources.

Summary

I hope this blog is useful to understand the difference between the Azure resource resource group, subscription and azure resource manager.

These services and features allow organizations to deploy and manage their services and applications in an ordered manner.

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