AZ-104 - Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources (24% of the exam) - Section 3.1

Automate resource deployment using ARM templates and Bicep.

Describe how Bicep compiles to ARM JSON and use both to declare and deploy Azure resources in a repeatable, version-controlled way. Apply the what-if operation to preview changes before deployment, and distinguish between Complete and Incremental deployment modes to understand which existing resources are retained or removed.

ARM templatesBiceptemplate deploymentwhat-if operationdeployment modes

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleDeploy and Manage Azure Compute Resourcesmedium

Your team writes infrastructure in Bicep. A reviewer asks what Azure Resource Manager actually receives and processes when you deploy a Bicep file. What is the accurate description?

ADuring deployment the Bicep CLI converts the Bicep file into a Resource Manager JSON template. Correct
BResource Manager runs the Bicep file directly as a native runtime language without conversion.
CThe Bicep file is uploaded to a state store and Azure compares it against a managed state file.
DBicep is interpreted in the browser and only outputs are sent to Resource Manager.

Deploying Bicep transpiles it to an ARM JSON template via the Bicep CLI; Resource Manager processes the JSON. The docs state Bicep is a transparent abstraction over a Resource Manager JSON template, and during deployment the Bicep CLI converts a Bicep file into a Resource Manager JSON template.

Why A is correct: Correct. The docs state Bicep is a transparent abstraction over a Resource Manager JSON template, and during deployment the Bicep CLI converts a Bicep file into a Resource Manager JSON template.

Why B is wrong: Bicep is a transparent abstraction over JSON; the CLI converts it to a JSON template during deployment rather than running it natively.

Why C is wrong: Bicep has no state files to manage; Azure stores all state and the file is transpiled to JSON, not diffed against a state file by the CLI.

Why D is wrong: The Bicep CLI converts the whole file into a JSON template that Resource Manager processes, not just outputs from a browser.

See more AZ-104 practice questions, answers explained.

Exam traps in Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources

Answers that look right on this material and are not. Each one is a distractor from a different question in the AZ-104 bank for this domain.

az bicep build --file main.json, which creates main.bicep in the same directory.
Why it is wrong: The build command compiles Bicep to JSON, the reverse direction; decompile is what converts JSON to a Bicep file.
Import a template directly from an Azure DevOps pipeline artifact.
Why it is wrong: The portal Template deployment screen does not list importing a pipeline artifact as a creation option.
The deployment fails because a resource with that name already exists in the group.
Why it is wrong: Idempotency means redeploying the same desired state succeeds without error rather than failing on the existing resource.

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