Azure resource manager template deployments - Using _artifactsLocation and _artifactsLocationSasToken

Question

Where and how to use artifactsLocation and _artifactsLocationSasToken in Arm template deployments. Are these used only for nested deployments.

Can we use these for custom VM extension of the Virtual machine as part of post provisioning activity, after VM is built or should the extension be added as part of the VM build deployment template only.

VM Custom script extension - (Initialize and format data drives, Mount file shares for instance)

Azure quick start templates, have the parameter values for these as default for artifactsLocation and type securestring for _artifactsLocationSasToken. How these values are populated in the ARM deployment runtime.

It would be great if someone can provide documentation around the same / step by step process or share an existing working custom script extension template.

Answer 1

There's nothing inherent in the platform that makes _artifactsLocation and _artifactsLocationSasToken special... it's just a pattern (well used) that has developed for staging artifacts needed for a deployment. The pattern is to stage all artifacts together and then use the uri of the main template as a relative location. The defaultValue generally used for _artifactsLocation is:

"defaultValue": "[deployment().properties.templateLink.uri]"

The deployment() function is inherent and contains the uri passed in for the main template.

That said, you can use those values anyway you see fit and the primary use case is for retrieving any artifact needed by any resource. For example:

Custom Script Extension https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates/blob/master/demos/vm-winrm-windows/azuredeploy.json#L256-L259

MSDeploy Packages for WebApps https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates/blob/master/demos/private-endpoint-sql-from-appservice/azuredeploy.json#L277

DSC Configuration Modules https://github.com/Azure/azure-quickstart-templates/blob/master/demos/iis-2vm-sql-1vm/azuredeploy.json#L585

etc, etc...

That help?