Add a secret to Vault through ARM without knowing it

Question

I am working with Visual Studio 2019 to create ARM template.

To deploy Resource on Azure, Visual Studio use a powershell, a json parameter and another json for resource.

I have created a keyvault with ARM template in azure. I have put a secret in it. Everything is created as expected.

Now, I don't like to put the password in clear text inside the json.

I'm looking for a way to put a secret without knowing the value by myself. I want to keep thing simple.

Do you know a way to make ARM generate a password for me ? (I don't need to know the password)

Answer 1

you could use either utcNow() function or deployment().name function as a pseudo random generator combined with uniqueString() function. You could also use resourceGroup().id to ensure unique secrets are generated for each resource group.

That's the best you can get inside arm templates.

Another option would be to call an Azure Function that would generate the password for you and you would use that in the ARM Template.