Azure.ResourceManager.ApiManagement (.NET)

Management plane SDK for provisioning and managing Azure API Management resources via Azure Resource Manager.

⚠️ Management vs Data Plane

• This SDK (Azure.ResourceManager.ApiManagement): Create services, APIs, products, subscriptions, policies, users, groups
• Data Plane: Direct API calls to your APIM gateway endpoints

Installation

dotnet add package Azure.ResourceManager.ApiManagement
dotnet add package Azure.Identity

Current Version: v1.3.0

Environment Variables

AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID=<your-subscription-id>
# For service principal auth (optional)
AZURE_TENANT_ID=<tenant-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=<client-id>
AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET=<client-secret>

Authentication

using Azure.Identity;
using Azure.ResourceManager;
using Azure.ResourceManager.ApiManagement;

// Always use DefaultAzureCredential
var credential = new DefaultAzureCredential();
var armClient = new ArmClient(credential);

// Get subscription
var subscriptionId = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID");
var subscription = armClient.GetSubscriptionResource(
    new ResourceIdentifier($"/subscriptions/{subscriptionId}"));

Resource Hierarchy

ArmClient
└── SubscriptionResource
    └── ResourceGroupResource
        └── ApiManagementServiceResource
            ├── ApiResource
            │   ├── ApiOperationResource
            │   │   └── ApiOperationPolicyResource
            │   ├── ApiPolicyResource
            │   ├── ApiSchemaResource
            │   └── ApiDiagnosticResource
            ├── ApiManagementProductResource
            │   ├── ProductApiResource
            │   ├── ProductGroupResource
            │   └── ProductPolicyResource
            ├── ApiManagementSubscriptionResource
            ├── ApiManagementPolicyResource
            ├── ApiManagementUserResource
            ├── ApiManagementGroupResource
            ├── ApiManagementBackendResource
            ├── ApiManagementGatewayResource
            ├── ApiManagementCertificateResource
            ├── ApiManagementNamedValueResource
            └── ApiManagementLoggerResource

Core Workflow

1. Create API Management Service

using Azure.ResourceManager.ApiManagement;
using Azure.ResourceManager.ApiManagement.Models;

// Get resource group
var resourceGroup = await subscription
    .GetResourceGroupAsync("my-resource-group");

// Define service
var serviceData = new ApiManagementServiceData(
    location: AzureLocation.EastUS,
    sku: new ApiManagementServiceSkuProperties(
        ApiManagementServiceSkuType.Developer, 
        capacity: 1),
    publisherEmail: "admin@contoso.com",
    publisherName: "Contoso");

// Create service (long-running operation - can take 30+ minutes)
var serviceCollection = resourceGroup.Value.GetApiManagementServices();
var operation = await serviceCollection.CreateOrUpdateAsync(
    WaitUntil.Completed,
    "my-apim-service",
    serviceData);

ApiManagementServiceResource service = operation.Value;

2. Create an API

var apiData = new ApiCreateOrUpdateContent
{
    DisplayName = "My API",
    Path = "myapi",
    Protocols = { ApiOperationInvokableProtocol.Https },
    ServiceUri = new Uri("https://backend.contoso.com/api")
};

var apiCollection = service.GetApis();
var apiOperation = await apiCollection.CreateOrUpdateAsync(
    WaitUntil.Completed,
    "my-api",
    apiData);

ApiResource api = apiOperation.Value;

3. Create a Product

var productData = new ApiManagementProductData
{
    DisplayName = "Starter",
    Description = "Starter tier with limited access",
    IsSubscriptionRequired = true,
    IsApprovalRequired = false,
    SubscriptionsLimit = 1,
    State = ApiManagementProductState.Published
};

var productCollection = service.GetApiManagementProducts();
var productOperation = await productCollection.CreateOrUpdateAsync(
    WaitUntil.Completed,
    "starter",
    productData);

ApiManagementProductResource product = productOperation.Value;

// Add API to product
await product.GetProductApis().CreateOrUpdateAsync(
    WaitUntil.Completed,
    "my-api");

4. Create a Subscription

var subscriptionData = new ApiManagementSubscriptionCreateOrUpdateContent
{
    DisplayName = "My Subscription",
    Scope = $"/products/{product.Data.Name}",
    State = ApiManagementSubscriptionState.Active
};

var subscriptionCollection = service.GetApiManagementSubscriptions();
var subOperation = await subscriptionCollection.CreateOrUpdateAsync(
    WaitUntil.Completed,
    "my-subscription",
    subscriptionData);

ApiManagementSubscriptionResource subscription = subOperation.Value;

// Get subscription keys
var keys = await subscription.GetSecretsAsync();
Console.WriteLine($"Primary Key: {keys.Value.PrimaryKey}");

5. Set API Policy

var policyXml = @"
<policies>
    <inbound>
        <rate-limit calls=""100"" renewal-period=""60"" />
        <set-header name=""X-Custom-Header"" exists-action=""override"">
            <value>CustomValue</value>
        </set-header>
        <base />
    </inbound>
    <backend>
        <base />
    </backend>
    <outbound>
        <base />
    </outbound>
    <on-error>
        <base />
    </on-error>
</policies>";

var policyData = new PolicyContractData
{
    Value = policyXml,
    Format = PolicyContentFormat.Xml
};

await api.GetApiPolicy().CreateOrUpdateAsync(
    WaitUntil.Completed,
    policyData);

6. Backup and Restore

// Backup
var backupParams = new ApiManagementServiceBackupRestoreContent(
    storageAccount: "mystorageaccount",
    containerName: "apim-backups",
    backupName: "backup-2024-01-15")
{
    AccessType = StorageAccountAccessType.SystemAssignedManagedIdentity
};

await service.BackupAsync(WaitUntil.Completed, backupParams);

// Restore
await service.RestoreAsync(WaitUntil.Completed, backupParams);

Key Types Reference

Type	Purpose
ArmClient	Entry point for all ARM operations
ApiManagementServiceResource	Represents an APIM service instance
ApiManagementServiceCollection	Collection for service CRUD
ApiResource	Represents an API
ApiManagementProductResource	Represents a product
ApiManagementSubscriptionResource	Represents a subscription
ApiManagementPolicyResource	Service-level policy
ApiPolicyResource	API-level policy
ApiManagementUserResource	Represents a user
ApiManagementGroupResource	Represents a group
ApiManagementBackendResource	Represents a backend service
ApiManagementGatewayResource	Represents a self-hosted gateway

SKU Types

SKU	Purpose	Capacity
Developer	Development/testing (no SLA)	1
Basic	Entry-level production	1-2
Standard	Medium workloads	1-4
Premium	High availability, multi-region	1-12 per region
Consumption	Serverless, pay-per-call	N/A

Best Practices

1. Use WaitUntil.Completed for operations that must finish before proceeding
2. Use WaitUntil.Started for long operations like service creation (30+ min)
3. Always use DefaultAzureCredential — never hardcode keys
4. Handle RequestFailedException for ARM API errors
5. Use CreateOrUpdateAsync for idempotent operations
6. Navigate hierarchy via Get* methods (e.g., service.GetApis())
7. Policy format — Use XML format for policies; JSON is also supported
8. Service creation — Developer SKU is fastest for testing (~15-30 min)

Error Handling

using Azure;

try
{
    var operation = await serviceCollection.CreateOrUpdateAsync(
        WaitUntil.Completed, serviceName, serviceData);
}
catch (RequestFailedException ex) when (ex.Status == 409)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Service already exists");
}
catch (RequestFailedException ex) when (ex.Status == 400)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Bad request: {ex.Message}");
}
catch (RequestFailedException ex)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"ARM Error: {ex.Status} - {ex.ErrorCode}: {ex.Message}");
}

Reference Files

File	When to Read
references/service-management.md	Service CRUD, SKUs, networking, backup/restore
references/apis-operations.md	APIs, operations, schemas, versioning
references/products-subscriptions.md	Products, subscriptions, access control
references/policies.md	Policy XML patterns, scopes, common policies

Related Resources

Resource	Purpose
API Management Documentation	Official Azure docs
Policy Reference	Complete policy reference
SDK Reference	.NET API reference

When to Use

This skill is applicable to execute the workflow or actions described in the overview.