Using an ampersand (&) in the database password breaks Azure template

Summary

Using an ampersand (&) in the database password breaks the Confluence Azure template

Steps to replicate

1. Start a Confluence Data Center Template in Azure
2. Under step 4 (database admin account) create a password that includes an &, for example:

   Charlie123charlie&
   

1. Complete the template

Expected results

Template creates instance without issues

Actual results

Template creation times out:

• Node 1 is created and ampersand is entered in the confluence.cfg.xml file incorrectly
  & should be encoded as follows in all XML files:

  &
  

• Node 2 waits on node 1 to start up
• Due to the encoding issue, node 1 never starts up and throws this error:

  2019-01-04 00:00:75,858 ERROR [localhost-startStop-1] [atlassian.config.bootstrap.DefaultAtlassianBootstrapManager] init Home is not configured properly: 
  com.atlassian.config.ConfigurationException: Failed to parse config file: Error on line 31 of document  : The entity name must immediately follow the '&' in the entity reference. Nested exception: The entity name must immediately follow the '&' in the entity reference.
  

• The template times out:

  "Provisioning of VM extension 'confluence-install-script' has timed out. Extension installation may be taking too long or extension status could not be obtained"
  

Workaround

Make sure your database password does not include an &