There are currently two deployment models supported by Azure public cloud: Classic and Azure Resource Manager (ARM). How you create, configure, and manage your Azure resources is different between these two models. Understanding the differences between the two is essential to your success in Azure.

Classic Deployments

Azure Service Manager (ASM), aka Azure Classic is the original version of Azure that was launched in 2010. In this model, each resource existed independently; there was no way to group related resources together. Instead, you had to manually track which resources made up your solution or application, and remember to manage them in a coordinated approach.

Although there are rumors that Microsoft will sunset the platform, they have made no formal announcement about a requirement to make any changes. 

ARM Deployments

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is the newer version of Azure that was launched in 2014, which added the concept of a resource group. A resource group is a container for resources that share a common lifecycle.  According to Microsoft, the Resource Manager Deployment model provides several benefits:

• You can deploy, manage, and monitor all the services for your solution as a group, rather than handling these services individually.
• You can repeatedly deploy your solution throughout its lifecycle and have confidence your resources are deployed in a consistent state.
• You can apply access control to all resources in your resource group, and those policies are automatically applied when new resources are added to the resource group.
• You can apply tags to resources to logically organize all the resources in your subscription.
• You can use JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) to define the infrastructure for your solution. The JSON file is known as a Resource Manager template.
• You can define the dependencies between resources so they are deployed in the correct order.

So which one should you use?

Since both Azure deployment models are still viable options at this point, it is necessary to pay careful attention to the features that each offer and your specific requirements.

However, to simplify the deployment and management of resources, Microsoft does recommend that you use Azure Resource Manager for new resources, and, if possible, re-deploy existing resources through ARM.

 Don’t migrate alone

If you are ready to migrate your resources from classic deployment to Resource Manager deployment, don’t go at it alone, From resource mapping to migration, OneNeck can help with every phase of the journey from Azure ASM to Azure ARM.  Our approach is to fully understand your ASM deployment to ensure that the migration process is as seamless as possible. Contact us today to learn more.