Looping to create Storage Accounts, blob service and containers

[JonnyManc]

Hi

I have a requirement to deploy multiple storage account with the same Blob containers attached.
I am aware that currently directly referencing a looping resource is not allowed....and I have tried using an indexer but it just isnt quite right:

resource myStorageAccount 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts@2025-06-01' = [for sa in myStorageAccounts: {
  name: 'saName'
  location: location
  tags: tags
  sku: {
    name: storageAccountType
  }
  kind: 'StorageV2'
  identity: {
    type: 'UserAssigned'
    userAssignedIdentities: {
      '${myIdentity.id}': {}
    }
  }
  properties: {
    accessTier: 'Hot'
    publicNetworkAccess: 'Disabled'
    allowBlobPublicAccess: false
    allowSharedKeyAccess: true
    minimumTlsVersion: 'TLS1_2'
    networkAcls: {
      bypass: 'AzureServices'
      virtualNetworkRules: []
      ipRules: []
      defaultAction: 'Deny'
    }
    encryption: {
      requireInfrastructureEncryption: true
      keySource: 'Microsoft.Keyvault'
      identity: {
        userAssignedIdentity: myIdentity.id
      }
      services: {
         file: {
           enabled: true
         }
      }
      keyvaultproperties: {
        keyname: kvKeyName
        keyvaulturi: kvUri
      }
    }
  }
}]

//Create blob service for the myStorageAccount
resource myBlobService 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices@2025-06-01' = [for (sa, i) in myStorageAccounts : {
  parent: myStorageAccount[i]
  name: 'default'
  properties: {
    changeFeed: {
      enabled: true
    }
    restorePolicy: {
      enabled: false
    }
    containerDeleteRetentionPolicy: {
      enabled: true
      days: 7
    }
    cors: {
      corsRules: []
    }
    deleteRetentionPolicy: {
      allowPermanentDelete: false
      enabled: true
      days: 7
    }
    isVersioningEnabled: true
  }
}]

--------ITS ALL OK TO HERE----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

//create container(s) based on the myStorageBlob list param (array)
resource myBlob 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices/containers@2025-06-01' = [for (sa,i) in myStorageAccounts : {  //this isn't right
resource myBlob 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices/containers@2025-06-01' = [for (container,i) in myBlobs : {  //this isn't right either
  parent: myBlobService[i]
  name: myBlobs
  properties: {
    immutableStorageWithVersioning: {
      enabled: false
    }
    defaultEncryptionScope: '$account-encryption-key'
    denyEncryptionScopeOverride: false
    publicAccess: 'None'
  }
  dependsOn: []
}]

Its the creation of the blobs where the issue is.

I cant nest the blob service (loop issue)
I cant nest the blob loop in the blob service (loop issue)
I cant reference the resources directly

I've got a temp workaround as its only 1 of everything in dev, but test and prod need multiple SA and blobs.....

Thanks

[anthony-c-martin]

The simplest option is to create a module to deploy a set of containers, and loop over it:

module containers 'blobContainers.bicep' = [for (sa,i) in myStorageAccounts: {
  params: {
    storageAccountName: sa.name
    containers: blobs
  }
}]

The other option would be to simulate a multi-dimensional array using modulo, but that gets hard to wrap your head around - e.g. something like

resource myBlob 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices/containers@2025-06-01' = [for i in length(myStorageAccounts) * length(myBlobs): {
  // indexes if both lengths are 3 will be: 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2
  parent: myBlobService[i / length(myStorageAccounts)]
  // indexes if both lengths are 3 will be: 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2
  name: blobs[i % length(myStorageAccounts)]
  ...
}]

[JonnyManc]

Hi Anthony

I've just been reading up on that, thanks......(module, not the multi-dimensional array).
Seems to make sense....

Thank you :)