Describe the purpose of tags
Tags can contain metadata. It is useful for:
- Resource management: I can group resources together and manage them as a group.
- Cost management: I can tag resources and then filter them in the cost management tool.
- Operations management: I can tag resources according to theri criticality and then define the formalities in the SLA.
- Security: Data classification can be created defining the sensitivity of the data. (Public availibility, internal use only, confidential, etc.)
- Governance and regulatory compliance: Identify resources that are subject to specific regulations (ISO 27001).
- For example, all resources need to be tagged with the owner, department, telephone number and expiration date.
- Workload optimization and automation: Can help to visualize resources which are complex. For example, I can tag resources with the environment (dev, test, prod) and then automate the deployment of resources based on the tag.
How to manage resource tags
Can be modified with the usual Azure tools (Portal, CLI, PowerShell, SDKs, etc.) Azure Policy can be used to enforce tagging rules.
Example structure of tags
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| Environment | Prod, Dev, Test, QA |
| Department | IT, HR, Finance, Advisory |
| Owner | John Doe, Jane Doe |
| Cost Center | 12345, 67890 |
| Expiration Date | 2022-12-31 |
| Confidentiality | Public, Internal, Confidential, Secret, Top Secret |