Azure Resource Manager and Resource Groups

Every resource you create in Azure — a VM, a database, a storage account — is managed through Azure Resource Manager (ARM). Understanding ARM and how resources are organised is fundamental to working with Azure.

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What Is Azure Resource Manager?

Azure Resource Manager is the deployment and management layer for Azure. When you create, update, or delete a resource (via the portal, CLI, PowerShell, SDKs, or REST API), your request is sent to ARM, which handles authentication, authorisation, and the actual operation.

Azure Portal / CLI / PowerShell / SDK
         |
         v
  Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
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         v
   Azure Service (Compute, Storage, etc.)

Benefits of ARM

• Consistent management layer — all tools (portal, CLI, SDK) go through the same API
• Declarative templates — define infrastructure as code using ARM templates or Bicep
• Dependency management — ARM deploys resources in the correct order based on dependencies
• Tagging — apply metadata to resources for organisation and cost tracking
• Access control — Azure RBAC is applied at the ARM level
• Resource locking — prevent accidental deletion or modification

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Resource Groups