How to Set Up an Azure Resource Manager Service Connection in Azure DevOps

When working with Azure DevOps to deploy applications and resources to Azure, setting up a Service Connection to Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is crucial. This service connection provides the pipeline with the necessary permissions and access to manage resources in your Azure subscription. The setup process ensures secure communication between your Azure DevOps project and your Azure infrastructure.

In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to configure an Azure Resource Manager Service Connection using Workload Identity federation with OpenID Connect (OIDC) in Azure DevOps.

Why Use a Service Connection in Azure DevOps?

Azure DevOps pipelines often need access to resources in Azure, such as deploying ARM templates, managing virtual machines, or provisioning databases. To securely establish a connection between your DevOps project and Azure resources, you need to set up an Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Service Connection.

With a properly configured service connection, the pipeline can authenticate with Azure without requiring secrets, keys, or credentials to be exposed in the pipeline YAML. It ensures that all actions are performed securely using the permissions granted to the service connection.