Azure ARM condition fails during validation - azure

Question

In my azure template I have a condition where I chose if I want my webapps deployed on a dedicated App Service Plan or if I want to use a shared App Service plan.
If I chose to not use a dedicated plan I want to ignore:
- the first section where I deploy the dedicated App Service Plan
- the second section where I deploy the Web Apps and use the dedicated Service Plan.
The third section is then used and deploy the web apps with a shared app plan.
Below is an extract of my ARM template.
{
"$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {
"_artifactsLocation": {
"type": "string"
},
"_artifactsLocationSasToken": {
"type": "string"
},
"environmentConfiguration": {
"type": "object"
}
},
"variables": {},
"resources": [
{
"comments": "App Service Plan hosting all websites",
"apiVersion": "2017-05-10",
"name": "AppServicePlan",
"type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
"condition": "[equals(parameters('environmentConfiguration').serverFarm.useDedicatedPlan, 'true')]",
"properties": {
"mode": "Incremental",
"templateLink": {
"uri": "[concat(parameters('_artifactsLocation'),'/Microsoft.Web/Asp.json',parameters('_artifactsLocationSasToken'))]",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0"
},
"parameters": {
"environmentConfiguration": {
"value": "[parameters('environmentConfiguration')]"
}
}
}
},
{
"comments": "Web apps on dedicated plan",
"apiVersion": "2017-05-10",
"name": "[concat('WebAppsDedicatedPlan-',parameters('environmentConfiguration').webApp.webApps[copyIndex()].name)]",
"type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
"condition": "[equals(parameters('environmentConfiguration').serverFarm.useDedicatedPlan, 'true')]",
"copy": {
"name": "webAppCopy",
"count": "[length(parameters('environmentConfiguration').webApp.webApps)]"
},
"dependsOn": [
"[resourceId('Microsoft.Resources/deployments', 'AppServicePlan')]"
],
"properties": {
"mode": "Incremental",
"templateLink": {
"uri": "[concat(parameters('_artifactsLocation'),'/Microsoft.Web/WebApp.json',parameters('_artifactsLocationSasToken'))]",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0"
},
"parameters": {
"environmentConfiguration": {
"value": "[parameters('environmentConfiguration')]"
},
"dependencies": {
"value": {
"webAppInfo": "[parameters('environmentConfiguration').webApp.webApps[copyIndex()]]",
"serverFarmId": "[reference('AppServicePlan').outputs.serverFarmId.value]"
}
}
}
}
},
{
"comments": "Web apps on shared plan",
"apiVersion": "2017-05-10",
"name": "[concat('WebAppsOnSharedPlan-',parameters('environmentConfiguration').webApp.webApps[copyIndex()].name)]",
"type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments",
"condition": "[equals(parameters('environmentConfiguration').serverFarm.useDedicatedPlan, 'false')]",
"copy": {
"name": "webAppCopy",
"count": "[length(parameters('environmentConfiguration').webApp.webApps)]"
},
"dependsOn": [],
"properties": {
"mode": "Incremental",
"templateLink": {
"uri": "[concat(parameters('_artifactsLocation'),'/Microsoft.Web/WebApp.json',parameters('_artifactsLocationSasToken'))]",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0"
},
"parameters": {
"environmentConfiguration": {
"value": "[parameters('environmentConfiguration')]"
},
"dependencies": {
"value": {
"webAppInfo": "[parameters('environmentConfiguration').webApp.webApps[copyIndex()]]",
"serverFarmId": "[resourceId('sharedResources','Microsoft.Web/serverfarms','sharedasp')]"
}
}
}
}
}
],
"outputs": {}
}
What is working: If I remove the condition in the App Service Plan section and I ask to not use the dedicated plan, my web apps are deployed using the shared plan. (The app service plan is also deployed).
What is not working: If I let the condition in the App Service Plan section to not deploy it when I ask for to not use the dedicated plan the validation fails with the following message:
2017-09-25T11:55:49.7343682Z Creating deployment parameters.
2017-09-25T11:55:49.7373683Z The detected encoding for file
'd:\a\r1\a\output\iac\myapp.json' is 'utf-8'
2017-09-25T11:55:49.7373683Z The detected encoding for file
'd:\a\r1\a\output\iac\myapp.parameters.qa.json' is 'utf-8'
2017-09-25T11:55:49.7373683Z Starting Deployment.
2017-09-25T11:55:51.3725072Z There were errors in your deployment.
Error code: InvalidTemplate. 2017-09-25T11:55:51.3735078Z
##[error]Deployment template validation failed: 'The template resource 'Microsoft.Resources/deployments/WebAppsDedicatedPlan-appadmin'
reference to 'Microsoft.Resources/deployments/AppServicePlan' requires
an API version. Please see https://aka.ms/arm-template for usage
details.'. 2017-09-25T11:55:51.3735078Z ##[error]Task failed while
creating or updating the template deployment.
2017-09-25T11:55:51.4295112Z ##[section]Finishing: Azure Deployment:
Update resource group
How can I solve this issue?

Answer 1

'The template resource
'Microsoft.Resources/deployments/WebAppsDedicatedPlan-appadmin'
reference to 'Microsoft.Resources/deployments/AppServicePlan' requires
an API version.
The error gives that away. Check docs for better understanding. This is why it errors out:
API version of the specified resource. Include this parameter when the resource is not provisioned within same template. Typically, in the format, yyyy-mm-dd.
So you need to add api version to the reference function for resources created outside of the template