Azure ARM Template with VM and subnet

Question

I have a resource group called network-rg containing a virtual network. I am trying to deploy a Virual Machine in a new resource group vm-rg. The VM should be connected to a new subnet on the vnet in network-rg. I am using one single ARM template with both the subnet and the VM and deploying to vm-rg. How do I specify the subnet in the ARM template when its vnet is in another resource group than the primary/default group for the deployment?

I would need to explicitly reference the vnet with the resource group. This would be similar to how a Network Interface deploy is referencing the subnet ID in its ipConfigurations properties list:

  "apiVersion": "2015-05-01-preview",
  "type": "Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces",
  "name": "[parameters('nicName')]",
  "location": "[parameters('location')]",
  "properties": {
      "ipConfigurations": [{
          "name": "ipconfig1",
          "properties": {
              "subnet": {
                  "id": "[variables('subnet1Ref')]"
              }
          }
      }]
   }

Answer 1

It seems you cannot create a subnet in another resource group in one template when you create a new resource group with resources. There no property for you to refer to the Vnet in another group.

If you really want to create a new subnet in another group in one template, you could take a look at linked and nested template. Hope this will help you.