Are you still provisioning resources manually through the Azure portal?
Clicking around to deploy your resources has a name: “ClickOps”. While it’s an easy and simple approach, it has significant drawbacks.
In this article, we’ll explain what ClickOps is, why it’s not the best practice for managing your Azure resources, and what you should do instead.
Reading time 4 minutes Published: 22 August 2025
As defined by the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, ClickOps is the process of provisioning, configuring and managing resources by clicking in portals, management consoles, and wizards.
Every time you use the Azure Portal to deploy resources, you’re using “ClickOps”.
We sometimes jokingly say: "Friends don't let friends click in the Azure Portal" but why is that? Do we hold a grudge against Graphical User Interfaces or is it because its cooler to use Command Line Interfaces? Not so much…
To answer that question, let’s start by asking why we use the Azure Portal in the first place.
The reason is simple: It’s your first experience with Azure. You get to click around, learn about its capabilities and get more familiar with the platform. As you gain more experience, you’ll even use it for quick troubleshooting as well.
Not only that, but most users appreciate a visual experience and direct feedback on their actions. That is exactly what a good User Interface such as the Azure Portal provides.
If you have ever used it, you know it’s very easy to use as well. However, these benefits are also the bane of an Azure infrastructure.
ClickOps may seem like an easy way to deploy resources in Azure. After all, it's just a few clicks in the portal, right?
The problem arises when you rely on clicking through the Azure Portal to deploy and manage your infrastructure.
Let's look into why this can be problematic with concrete examples.
Imagine you need to deploy 20 Virtual Machines (VMs) through the Azure Portal. Each VM needs to be configured identically to ensure consistency across your environment. However, when you manually click through the portal (ClickOps) to set up each instance, the risk of human error increases significantly.
A slight deviation in configuration, perhaps an overlooked setting or a misclick, can lead to discrepancies. This means that while 20 VMs are technically deployed, they may not be identical in terms of configuration. This inconsistency can result in unforeseen issues, complicating troubleshooting and maintenance.
Another major issue with ClickOps is the lack of a single source of truth. When infrastructure is deployed manually through the portal, there isn't a centralised record or script that documents the exact configuration. This absence makes it challenging to replicate environments or understand the current state of the infrastructure.
If multiple administrators are involved, the problem compounds as each may have their own approach, leading to further inconsistencies.
Documentation also becomes problematic in ClickOps. Manually recording each step taken to deploy and configure infrastructure is not only tedious but prone to inaccuracies. Without precise documentation, it becomes difficult to audit changes, track configurations, or onboard new team members effectively.
Infrastructure drift happens when the actual state of your infrastructure diverges from its intended state. This usually comes from manual changes in the portal, like someone tweaking settings, adding a resource or updating a configuration without tracking it in code. This leads to unpredictable behaviour, security risks, and reduced performance.
“Relying on the Azure Portal to deploy and manage infrastructure manually comes with risks.”
As the examples explained before have shown, ClickOps, while quick and easy, isn’t the best solution. In contrast, using Infrastructure as Code (laC) offers a more reliable and efficient way to manage your infrastructure.
"Infrastructure as Code (laC) is a modern approach to managing and provisioning computing infrastructure through machine-readable definition files rather than manual configurations or interactive tools."
Read our latest white paper about IaC in Azure, master Azure Bicep, Azure Verified Modules (AVM) and more!
Download the IaC whitepaper for free!This automated process enables developers and systems administrators to manage resources efficiently, offering numerous benefits, including scalability, consistency and reliability:
In this article, we have shown that Infrastructure as Code (IaC) versus ClickOps is not entirely black and white. You must understand the benefits and drawbacks of both so that you can make the best decision for your organisation.
Generally speaking, there is still room for ClickOps, particularly for tasks such as troubleshooting, investigation, learning, and exploration. For example, when you need to diagnose and resolve issues in your IaC deployments quickly, ClickOps can be a valuable approach.
However, for production scenarios that demand scalability, consistency and the possibility of source control, IaC is indispensable.
It resolves the downsides of ClicOps by providing a repeatable, reliable and automated approach to infrastructure management.
There are many popular IaC tools (like Azure Bicep) that can help you transfer your existing environment into code.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools: ARM, Bicep & Terraform