Skip to main content

Azure Automation variables in Bicep

If you want to create an Azure Automation variable in Bicep you will use a resource definition like this.
resource existingAutomationAccountResource 'Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts@2023-11-01' existing = {
  name: 'automationAccountName'
}

resource variablesResource 'Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables@2023-11-01' = {
  name: 'variableName'
  parent: existingAutomationAccountResource
  properties: {
    description: 'description'
    isEncrypted: 'false'
    value: 'value'
  }
}
For variables Azure Automation supports different types: String, Boolean, DateTime, Integer and Not Specified. Below you can find some examples how to define these values in Bicep format.

String values should be put between double quotes.
resource stringVariablesResource 'Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables@2023-11-01' = {
  name: 'stringVariable'
  parent: existingAutomationAccountResource
  properties: {
    value: '"This is a string"'
  }
}
Boolean values are simple true or false values within the single quotes.
resource booleanVariablesResource 'Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables@2023-11-01' = {
  name: 'booleanVariable'
  parent: existingAutomationAccountResource
  properties: {
    value: 'true'
  }
}
DateTime values are specified in epoch format and need a special notation which also require double quotes. The value 22-12-2024, 11:04:56 is the value that will be shown in the variable if you deploy this Bicep resource.
resource dateTimevariablesResource 'Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables@2023-11-01' = {
  name: 'dateTimeVariable'
  parent: existingAutomationAccountResource
  properties: {
    value: '"\\/Date(1734865496153)\\/"'
  }
}
Integer values are simple integer values within the single quotes.
resource integerVariablesResource 'Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables@2023-11-01' = {
  name: 'integerVariable'
  parent: existingAutomationAccountResource
  properties: {
    value: '123'
  }
}
Not Specified values are objects which need escaped inner single quotes. This value will be shown as 'not specified value' in the variable.
resource notSpecifiedVariablesResource 'Microsoft.Automation/automationAccounts/variables@2023-11-01' = {
  name: 'notSpecifiedVariable'
  parent: existingAutomationAccountResource
  properties: {
    value: '\'not specified value\''
  }
}
If you specify a string value with only single quotes you will get a deploy error like "Invalid JSON - Kindly check the value of the variable."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Permantly delete an AD object

At the moment I am busy with PowerShell DSC scripts that also create objects within the Active Directory. Because it's work in progress you have to delete those objects regularly. Witin this sandbox environment the recycle bin feature is enabled so the objects are kept 30 days.  To permantly delete such objects (so you have a clean testing situation) you can use the following PowerShell command. Get-ADObject -filter {sAMAccountName -eq "<name of object>$"} -includeDeletedObjects -property * | Remove-ADObject
Post a Comment
Read more

Make steps conditional in multi-stage YAML pipelines

To make the switch from the graphical release pipelines in Azure DevOps I am missing two features. The first one is to be able to defer a deploy and the second one is to exclude certain deployment steps without the need for editing the YAML file.  The defer option is something Microsoft has to solve in their Azure DevOps proposition. It's a feature which you have in the graphical release pipeline but what they have not implemented yet in their YAML pipeline replacement. Approvals and certain gate conditions are implemented on the environment but the defer option is still missing .  Pipeline The conditional deployment option can be implemented with the help of runtime parameters and expressions . In the parameter section you define boolean parameters which will control the deploy behavior. With the expressions you can control which stage/job/task should be executed when the pipeline runs. In the below YAML sample I experimented with conditions in the azure-pipelines.yml ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Solving Azure DevOps Workload Identity Federation service connection 50 minute time-out error

 When connecting to external resources like Azure Resource Manager you will need a service connection in Azure DevOps. Normally I utilize a service principal for this purpose. The certificate issued by Microsoft Entra ID was normally valid for two years but Microsoft changed this to three months in the release of January 18th and is promoting the usage of Workload identity federation  (WIF). When testing this WIF based service connection I noticed that the OIDC token is only valid for about 50 minutes. This time is to short for the PowerShell script I use to monitor the Azure Image Builder image builds. These image build processes can take up to four hours but fail now with an error message like the one below. A configuration issue is preventing authentication - check the error message from the server for details. You can modify the configuration in the application registration portal. See https://aka.ms/msal-net-invalid-client for details.  Original exception: AADSTS700...
Post a Comment
Read more