Bicep workflow

[dazinator]

I have a question over how this tool should be used in a bicep workflow.

1. Do we need to first build the bicep template to an ARM json template using the bicep cli?
2. The az devops task to do the analysis is mentioned in the readme like so:

 # STEP 4: Run analysis against exported data
  - task: ps-rule-assert@2
    displayName: Analyze Azure template files
    inputs:
      modules: 'PSRule.Rules.Azure'

What does it mean by "exported data"? In my case I have a bicep template not in the root of the repository. Do I have to point this analysis step to the path of the bicep template to be analysed (is there a parameter for that?) Or do I point it to the ARM output produced via az bicep build ?

Many Thanks

[BernieWhite]

@dazinator Thanks for the question.

For most cases you wouldn't need to pre-build the Bicep file unless Bicep CLI is not available when the PSRule task is called. The Bicep code must be provided to PSRule for it to analyse from infrastructure as code (pre-flight). https://azure.github.io/PSRule.Rules.Azure/faq/#what-methods-are-supported-for-checking-resources

However PSRule analyses "what would be deployed to Azure" which requires you to provide values for any mandatory parameters. This progress is called expansion in the documentation, and this needs to be enabled depending on if you are using Bicep delpyments/ tests/ or parameter files. See https://azure.github.io/PSRule.Rules.Azure/using-bicep/.

PSRule for Azure also supports exporting Azure resources already deployed to Azure (in-flight). I think you are referring to this method for "exporting data" but if you have a link I can help clarify this for you.

I hope that helps.

[BernieWhite]

@dazinator If this answered your question please mark this as answered so that it can help others in the community.