How to use copyIndex in a nested template resource? - azure

Question

Big picture: I want to use the ARM template to create multiple topics on a service bus.
Known fact: The app service that deploys the template is in a different resource group than the service bus.
Pain point: I'm using a nested template because I'm trying to create resources (topics) that are external to the targeted resource group. Within this nested template, I'm not sure how to get copy to work correctly.
From this MS doc , I believe my syntax is correct.
This is how my parameters are listed:
"sharedResourcesResourceGroupName": {
"type": "string",
"defaultValue": "sharedResourceGroupName",
"metadata": {
"description": "Resource Group in which platform shared resources live"
}
},
"serviceBusNamespaceName": {
"type": "string",
"defaultValue": "serviceBusName",
"metadata": {
"description": "Name of the Service Bus namespace"
}
},
"topics": {
"type": "array",
"metadata": {
"description": "List of topics"
},
"defaultValue": [
"topic1",
"topic2"
]
}
This is my resource object for creating the topics with the copyIndex() method:
{
"apiVersion": "2018-05-01",
"type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
"name": "[concat(parameters('serviceBusNamespaceName'))]",
"resourceGroup": "[parameters('sharedResourcesResourceGroupName')]",
"properties": {
"mode": "Incremental",
"template":{
"$schema": "2018-05-01",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {},
"variables": {},
"resources": [
{
"type": "Microsoft.ServiceBus/namespaces/topics",
"name": "[concat(parameters('serviceBusNamespaceName'), '/', parameters('topics')[copyIndex()])]",
"apiVersion": "2017-04-01",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"properties": {},
"copy": {
"name": "topics",
"count": "[length(parameters('topics'))]"
},
"dependsOn": [
"[parameters('serviceBusNamespaceName')]"
]
}
]
}
}
}
I am testing the arm template deployment using the Azure Powershell with these commands:
Connect-AzAccount
Set-AZContext -SubscriptionName subscriptionWhereTheAppServiceLives
New-AzResourceGroupDeployment -ResourceGroupName resourceGroupWhereAppServiceLives -TemplateFile <path to template file>\azuredeploy.json -TemplateParameterFile <path to parameters file>\azuredeploy.parameters.json
The error I'm getting from the Azure powershell console is:
The template function 'copyIndex' is not expected at this location. The function can only be used in a resource with copy specified.
If I remove the "copy" object and replace "name" with something like "[concat(parameters('serviceBusNamespaceName'), '/topicName')]", then the template is able to create ONE topic in the right service bus. But I'm looking to create multiple topics.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

I think you can do this:
{
"apiVersion": "2018-05-01",
"type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
"name": "[concat(parameters('serviceBusNamespaceName'), copyIndex())]",
"resourceGroup": "[parameters('sharedResourcesResourceGroupName')]",
"copy": {
"name": "topics",
"count": "[length(parameters('topics'))]"
},
"dependsOn": [
"[parameters('serviceBusNamespaceName')]"
],
"properties": {
"mode": "Incremental",
"template": {
"$schema": "2018-05-01",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"resources": [
{
"type": "Microsoft.ServiceBus/namespaces/topics",
"name": "[concat(parameters('serviceBusNamespaceName'), '/', parameters('topics')[copyIndex()])]",
"apiVersion": "2017-04-01",
"location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
"properties": {}
}
]
}
}
}