Azure Automation

Cloud Courses

Offline or Online Azure Automation using Azure CLI, PowerShell, ARM, Bicep and Terraform training course.

This course provides a practical, hands-on journey into automating Azure infrastructure and operations. Students will learn to manage Azure resources efficiently using imperative tools like the Azure CLI and PowerShell, and then master declarative Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with ARM Templates, Bicep, and Terraform.

The course is designed to take students from foundational concepts to implementing real-world automation workflows. The course concludes with a Capstone Project, allowing students to demonstrate the skills and concepts acquired throughout the training.

Manoj S. Mahajan

28+ years Experienced Trainer with 100+ certs, View full profile....

Course Description

This comprehensive course guides students through Azure automation using Terraform, Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates, Bicep, Azure CLI, and PowerShell.

This training course syllabus holistically prepares students to automate Azure infrastructure management using the principal IaC tools (Terraform, ARM, Bicep), command-line interfaces (Azure CLI), and scripting (PowerShell), culminating in scalable automation workflows integrated with DevOps practices.

Goal: Equip learners with the skills to the practical implementation of Azure automation using multiple tools, with an emphasis on hands-on learning and real-world applications.

Target Audience:

Ideal for professionals such as Azure Administrators, Architects, DevOps Engineers, or anyone working in the Azure ecosystem.
Developers who want to manage their application's infrastructure through code.
IT Professionals and System Administrators looking to automate Azure tasks.

Learning outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will:

Confidently automate Azure using multiple IaC tools
Understand when to use Terraform vs ARM vs Bicep
Write reusable, secure, and scalable automation scripts
Integrate automation into real-world DevOps workflow

Prerequisites

Minimum 1+ year in Azure administration/architect job role.
Conceptual knowledge of networking (DNS, DHCP) and PowerShell or Bash environment.
Recommended exposure to on-premises Windows Server or Linux Server administration.

Syllabus

Please check the syllabus tab above. ☝

What You'll Learn

Azure Fundamentals and Automation Concepts

Azure global infrastructure and core services overview.
Azure subscription and resource management basics.
Overview of the automation tools covered in the course.
Compare and contrast declarative vs. imperative automation.
Introduction to Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles.
Setting up Azure CLI and PowerShell environments.
Configuring PowerShell 7+ and Az modules; Visual Studio Code editor with Azure, PowerShell, YAML, Bicep, Terraform extensions.

Imperative Automation with Azure CLI & Azure PowerShell

Using Azure Cloud Shell.
Installing and configuring the Azure CLI.
Azure CLI syntax, structure, and help commands.
Basic Azure CLI operations (Virtual Machines, Storage, Identity).
JSON/YAML output formatting and queries.
Creating CLI profiles and managing credentials.
Automating tasks using scripts and the CLI.

PowerShell basics for Azure automation.

Installing and configuring Azure PowerShell modules.
Core cmdlet structure (Verb-AzNoun).
Managing resources using PowerShell cmdlets.
Filtering and formatting output.
Basic cmdlets for Azure resource management.
PowerShell scripts for common Azure tasks.
Error handling and logging in PowerShell.
Scheduling and automation with PowerShell scripts.
Comparison: Azure CLI vs. Azure PowerShell: When to use which tool.

Labs: Managing Azure using Azure CLI and PowerShell

Create a Resource Group using Azure CLI.
Create an Azure Storage Account and a container. Upload/download a file.
Create an Azure Virtual Machine. Configure its network security group.
List all resources in a Resource Group, filter by type or tag.
Write a simple bash script to create multiple VMs or manage a web app.
Creating Resource Group, Storage, VM using Azure PowerShell cmdlets.
Write a PowerShell script to list all running VMs, stop specific ones, and then restart them based on tags.
Create VNet, subnets, and a VM or VM Scale Set with Az PowerShell; implement retries and teardown; export inventory to CSV
Create a custom report of Azure resources (e.g., VM sizes and locations) using object manipulation.
Write a PowerShell script to find all resources in a subscription missing a specific tag (e.g., 'owner') and export the list to a CSV file.

Azure-Native IaC with ARM Templates

Understanding Azure Resource Manager (ARM) and its role in automation.
ARM template structure, syntax (JSON), and core concepts (parameters, variables, resources, outputs).
Key sections: $schema, contentVersion, parameters, variables, resources, outputs.
Using functions and expressions to create dynamic templates.
Deploying templates using Azure CLI and PowerShell.
Exploring existing resources as ARM templates via the portal.
Managing Azure resources with ARM templates - Virtual Machines, Storage Accounts, Virtual Networks.
Template validation and troubleshooting.

Using Bicep - The Next-Gen ARM Language

Introduction to Bicep as an ARM template language.
Bicep syntax and structure advantages.
Understanding Bicep syntax and structure.
Writing your first Bicep file.
Resource declarations and dependencies.
Converting between ARM templates and Bicep.
Best practices for using Bicep.
Modularization and reuse with Bicep modules.

Labs: ARM Templates and Bicep

Create an ARM Template to provision a Storage Account with specific properties.
Add parameters to the Storage Account template (e.g., SKU, location).
Create a more complex ARM Template for a VNet, Subnet, and Network Security Group.
Deploy a Virtual Network and Virtual Machines using ARM Templates and Bicep.
Writing a simple ARM and Bicep template to deploy a web app.
Create a VNet in Bicep.
Convert the imperative web server script into a Bicep file.
Enhance the Bicep file with parameters for VM size and admin username.
Refactor the Bicep file to use a separate module for networking.
Deploy the Bicep file and observe the generated ARM template in the deployment history.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with Terraform

HashiCorp Terraform introduction and installation.
Installation and configuration of Terraform.
Terraform providers and Azure provider configuration.
HCL (HashiCorp Configuration Language) basics.
Understanding Terraform syntax and structure.
Writing your first Terraform configuration.
Creating simple Azure resources with Terraform.
Understanding Terraform workflow.
Variable management and output values.
Working with loops and conditionals.
Managing Terraform state locally and remotely (e.g., Azure Storage backend)
Handling Terraform lifecycle, workspaces, and state locking in Azure environments
Introduction to Terraform Modules.
Creating and consuming local modules.

Labs: Iac with Terraform

Create a Resource Group and a Storage Account with one container.
Deploying common Azure resources (VMs, Storage, Networking) with Terraform.
Deploy the same web application architecture using Terraform.
Create a more complex Terraform template for a VNet, Subnet, and Network Security Group.
Configure the project to use a remote state backend in an Azure Storage Account.
Use a data source to look up an existing Resource Group and deploy resources into it.
Create a reusable Terraform module for a "standard Linux VM".
Build a reusable Terraform VNet module.

Capstone Project and Advanced Azure Automation tools

Tool Comparison: Bicep vs. Terraform – when and why to choose one over the other.
Hybrid Approaches: Using Terraform to call an ARM deployment or using Azure CLI within a CI/CD pipeline to deploy Bicep/Terraform code.
Secrets Management: A practical look at using Azure Key Vault with Bicep and Terraform to handle sensitive data securely.
CI/CD Integration: Introduction to automating IaC deployments with Azure DevOps Pipelines or GitHub Actions (YAML pipelines).
A final project to apply all the skills learned in the course to a real-world scenario.
Project Brief:
- Deploy a two-tier web application infrastructure.
- Networking: Create a Virtual Network with two subnets (web and data). Secure them with Network Security Groups (NSGs).
- Compute: Deploy a Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS) or App Service Plan in the web subnet.
- Data: Deploy an Azure SQL Database or Azure Database for PostgreSQL with a private endpoint in the data subnet.
- Automation: Students can choose their primary IaC tool (Bicep or Terraform) and must use Azure CLI/PowerShell for a small part of the automation (e.g., a pre-deployment script).
- Secrets: The database password must be stored and retrieved from an Azure Key Vault.

4.8

264 reviews on Google

Read All Reviews here....

Sangeeta

2024

Trainer knowledge is excellent and very much descriptive and very friendly while explain any concept. Thank you so much sir. Read more....

Imran

2023

It was very good & interactive session's. Got complete hands on experience & certification guidance. Read more....

Sachin

2023

It was very good experience. Manoj sir's focus on basics helps me to grasp knowledge very quickly and efficiently. Sir not only focused on theory but gave different practicle example which really helpful. I definitely recommend this training to my colleagues. Read more....