Note: The Template BPA is currently in development. It is not yet recommended for production usage.
Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates – Infrastructure-as-code (IaC) for your Azure solutions – are JSON files that define the infrastructure and configuration for your Azure deployments. The Template BPA is an ARM template validator that scans ARM templates to ensure security and best practice checks are being followed before deployment.
The Template BPA provides a simple and extensible solution to improve the security of your Azure resources before deployment and ensures your ARM templates follow best practices. The Template BPA is designed to be customizable - users can write their own checks and/or enforce only the checks that are relevant for them.
Download the latest Template BPA release in the releases section.
To preview the rules that come bundled with the Template BPA, explore the built-in rules.
The Template BPA is executed via a command line. There are two formats to invoke it:
TemplateAnalyzer.exe analyze-template <template-path> [-p <parameters-path>] [-c <config-path>] [--report-format <format>] [-o <output-path>] [-v]
or
TemplateAnalyzer.exe analyze-directory <directory-path> [-c <config-path>] [--report-format <format>] [-o <output-path>] [-v]
The Template BPA accepts the following inputs:
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
<template-path> |
The ARM template to analyze |
<directory-path> |
The directory in which to search for ARM templates (recursively finds and analyzes all ARM templates in the directory and its subdirectories). Templates are identified by a '.json' file extension and a valid top-level $schema property. |
(Optional) -p or --parameters-file-path |
A parameters file |
(Optional) -c or --config-file-path |
A configuration file which sets custom settings for the analyzer. If argument is not provided, the Template BPA will attempt to load a configuration from <ExecutablePath>/configuration.json if the file exists.. |
(Optional) --report-format |
Valid formats: Console: output results to the console in plain text. (default) Sarif: output results to a file in SARIF format. |
-o or --output-file-path |
(Required if --report-format is Sarif) File path to output SARIF results to. |
(Optional) -v or --verbose |
Shows details about the analysis |
The Template BPA runs the configured rules against the provided ARM template and its corresponding template parameters, if specified. If no template parameters are specified, then the Template BPA generates the minimum number of placeholder parameters to properly evaluate template functions in the ARM template.
Note: Providing the Template BPA with template parameter values will result in more accurate results as it will more accurately represent your deployments. The values provided to parameters may affect the evaluation of the Template BPA rule, altering its results. That said, DO NOT save sensitive data (passwords, connection strings, etc.) in parameter files in your repositories. Instead, retrieve these values from your ARM template from Azure Key Vault.
Results can be output in plain text to the console, or output to a file in SARIF format. Template BPA will exit with an error code if any errors or violations are found during a scan.
The Template BPA outputs the results of violated rules, the corresponding line numbers where rules failed, and a recommendation to remediate each violation.
For a template which deploys an API App that does not require HTTPS, running the Template BPA on the template would produce output which looks similar to the following:
>TemplateAnalyzer.exe analyze-template "C:\Templates\azuredeploy.json"
File: C:\Templates\azuredeploy.json
AppServiceApiApp_HTTPS: API App should only be accessible over HTTPS
More information: https://github.com/Azure/template-analyzer/blob/main/docs/built-in-bpa-rules.md#api-app-should-only-be-accessible-over-https
Result: Failed
Line: 114
Rules passed: 25
Results are written to the file specified (with the -o or --output-file-path argument) in SARIF format.
| Scenario | Exit Code |
|---|---|
| Success: Operation was successful | 0 |
| Error: Problem with command | 1 |
| Error: Invalid file or directory path | 2 |
| Error: Missing file or directory path | 3 |
| Error: Problem loading configuration file | 4 |
| Error: Invalid ARM template specified | 10 |
| Violation: Scan found rule violations in analyzed template(s) | 20 |
| Error: An error was encountered trying to analyze a template | 21 |
| Violation + Error: Scan encountered both violations in template(s) and errors trying to analyze template(s) | 22 |
The analysis rules used by the Template BPA are written in JSON, located in Rules/BuiltInRules.json (starting from the directory TemplateAnalyzer.exe is in). This file can be added to and/or modified to change the rules that are run. See the documentation for more information about how to author Template BPA JSON rules.
This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Please see the Contribution Guide for more details about how to contribute to the Template BPA. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.microsoft.com.
When you submit a pull request, a CLA-bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., label, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repositories using our CLA.
This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact [email protected] with any additional questions or comments.
This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.