Bicep templates now support Microsoft Graph resources
Tags: azure, microsoftgraph, devops
Published: 2024-05-24 13:13:10

We’re thrilled to announce that Bicep templates for Microsoft Graph resources is now available in public preview. Bicep templates bring declarative infrastructure-as-code (IaC) capabilities to Microsoft Graph resources. This new capability will initially be available for core Microsoft Entra ID resources.

Bicep templates for Microsoft Graph resources allow you to define the tenant infrastructure you want to deploy, such as Microsoft Entra ID groups or applications, in a file, then use the file throughout the development lifecycle to repeatedly deploy your infrastructure. The file uses the [Bicep language](https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-resource-manager/bicep/overview), a domain-specific language (DSL), that uses declarative syntax to deploy resources—typically used in DevOps, CI/CD, and [infrastructure-as-code](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/devops/deliver/what-is-infrastructure-as-code) solutions. 

## What problems does this solve? 

Azure Resource Manager or Bicep templates allow you to declare Microsoft Azure resources in files and deploy those resources into your infrastructure. Configuring and managing your Azure services and infrastructure often includes managing Microsoft Entra ID resources, like applications and groups. Until now, you had to orchestrate your deployments between two mechanisms using ARM or Bicep template files for Azure resources and Microsoft Graph PowerShell for Microsoft Entra ID resources.

Now, with the Microsoft Graph Bicep release, you can declare the Microsoft Entra ID resources in the same Bicep files as your Azure resources, making configurations easier to define, and deployments more reliable and repeatable.

Let's look at how this works and then we'll run through an example.

## The Microsoft Graph Bicep extension 

To provide support for Bicep templates for Microsoft Graph resources, we have released the new Microsoft Graph Bicep extension that allows you to author, deploy, and manage supported Microsoft Graph resources (initially Microsoft Entra ID resources) in Bicep template files either on their own, or alongside Azure resources.

### Authoring experience 

You get the familiar, first-class authoring experience of the [Bicep Extension for VS Code](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-azuretools.vscode-bicep) when you use it to create your Microsoft Graph resource types in Bicep files. The editor provides rich type-safety, IntelliSense, and syntax validation.

![Editing a Bicep file containing Microsoft Graph resources](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/z79zxp25fte3fo0wepqx.gif)

You can also create Bicep files in Visual Studio with the [Bicep extension for Visual Studio](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-azuretools.visualstudiobicep).

### Deploying Bicep files 

Once you have authored your Bicep file, you can deploy it using familiar tools such as Azure PowerShell and Azure CLI. When the deployment request is made to the Azure Resource Manager, the deployments engine orchestrates the deployment of interdependent resources so they're created in the correct order, including the Microsoft Graph resources.

The following image shows a Bicep template file where the Microsoft Graph group creation is dependent on the managed identity resource, as it is being added as a group member. The deployments engine first sends the managed identity request to the Resource Manager, which routes it to the `Microsoft.ManagedIdentity` resource provider. Next, the deployments engine sees that `Microsoft.Graph/groups` is an extensible resource, so it knows to route this resource request to the Microsoft Graph Bicep extension. The Microsoft Graph Bicep extension then translates the groups resource request into a request to Microsoft Graph.

![Deploying a Bicep file containing Microsoft Graph resources](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/1iyrqw1eij1l50p8svjl.jpg)

## Scenario: Using managed identities with security groups and app roles

[Managed identities](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/identity/app-types-and-auth-flows/#managed-identities) can be [assigned to security groups and Microsoft Entra ID app roles](https://learn.microsoft.com/entra/identity/managed-identities-azure-resources/managed-identity-best-practice-recommendations) as an authorization strategy. Using security groups can simplify management by reducing the number of role assignments.

![System assigned identities in a group](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9ngg698jozxzlk368js0.png)

However, this configuration isn't possible using a Bicep or Resource Manager template. With Microsoft Graph Bicep extension, this limitation is removed. Rather than assigning and managing multiple Microsoft Azure role assignments, role assignments can be managed via a security group through a single Bicep file.

![Microsoft Entra ID group with a managed identity member](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/zkm44gm38oobgyd0yh74.png)

In the example above, a security group can be created and referenced, whose members can be managed identities. With Bicep templates for Microsoft Graph resources, declaring Microsoft Graph and Microsoft Azure resources together in the same Bicep files, enables new and simplifies existing deployment scenarios, bringing reliable and repeatable deployments.

## Learn more 
- [Bicep templates for Microsoft Graph resources documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/graph/templates)
- Try out the [create and deploy your first Bicep file with Microsoft Graph resources](https://learn.microsoft.com/graph/templates/quickstart-create-bicep-interactive-mode) quickstart