Part 3: Automation Guides

DOCUMENT CATEGORY: Part Overview SCOPE: Tool-specific automation implementation guidance PURPOSE: Help readers choose the right automation tool and understand how it fits into Azure Local delivery MASTER REFERENCE: Microsoft Learn - Azure Local

Status: Active

Part Purpose

This part consolidates the technology-specific guidance used by Azure Local automation. Use it after establishing CI/CD infrastructure and choosing a delivery platform so you can map each tool to the phase of the deployment it supports.

Tool Comparison

Tool	Primary Use	Best Fit
Terraform	Azure resource deployment	Management groups, networking, identity, monitoring, security, management VMs
Ansible	On-premises and guest OS configuration	Active Directory, node OS configuration, Arc registration, monitoring setup
Bicep	Native Azure ARM-based deployment patterns	Teams preferring Microsoft-native IaC patterns
PowerShell	Script orchestration, helper utilities, and task execution	Operational scripting, variable loading, orchestration, direct execution workflows

Tool-to-Phase Mapping

Implementation Area	Typical Tooling
CI/CD infrastructure setup	PowerShell, Terraform
Azure foundation deployment	Terraform or Bicep
On-premises readiness	PowerShell or Ansible
Cluster deployment orchestration	PowerShell
Operational configuration	PowerShell or Ansible

Guides in This Part

Guide	Description
Terraform Modules	Terraform module architecture and variable mapping
Bicep Templates	Native Azure template guidance for future expansion
Ansible Playbooks	Ansible roles, playbooks, inventory, and execution patterns
PowerShell Scripting Guide	Script framework, helpers, and execution patterns

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Next Steps

Use the guide that matches your delivery path, then return to the Implementation Guide when executing the deployment sequence.