Naming Azure IT resources has always been an interesting topic as there is no ONE policy to which everyone adheres. There are many naming convention theories that work, as well as those that should be avoided.  MessageOps is here to help you understand why appropriately naming your resources is a crucial step of the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework, (CAF).  Azure Resource naming conventions should make sense; should be easy to understand and not meant to “stump the newbie”.

“The World is Flat”

Globalization continues to bring the world together one technological advancement at a time.  With its expanding reach, you never know when, nor to whom, access to your Azure platform may be given.  Whether it be a new Azure Administrator, a subcontractor, or just a new set of eyes in your environment, it is essential to remember that differences in language and culture leaves a great deal open to interpretation.  Resource names should be universally understood by all.

Nothing fancy, please!  

Azure Resource Names do need to be unique. Using special characters, that make no sense except to the original creator of the naming convention, however, is not best practice.  Microsoft has provided a detailed list of recommended naming and tagging components, including their “Recommended resource-type prefixes”. By adhering to these guidelines, applications and workloads are visually identifiable for quick and easy reference.  Below are some examples based on key pieces of information that should be considered when naming resources:

Naming Azure Resources with clear abbreviations provides significant benefits on both a general as well as high level.

  • Using a naming system that is simple to understand reduces the time it takes to locate resources as well as easily distinguish the various roles that the resources play within the Azure environment.

  • Keeping universal naming configurations helps provide consistency & governance. With just a glance, each resource is easily identified and located.
  • Compliance is guaranteed as everyone must follow the same naming convention; no “rogue ones” going it their way.

Microsoft recommends, at a high level, the following naming convention:

Company, Department (optional), Product line (optional) Environment.

When naming web applications, for example, it is recommended to use ‘web’.
This would be combined with common prefixes/ suffixes such as ‘dev’, ‘prod’, or ‘qa’.
Using this formula, an internal test web App for Your Company would be named:
yc-int-web-test

Additional tips to consider when choosing Azure Resource Names: 

  • Use Hyphens when permitted for easy identification
  • In some cases, capital letters are not permitted so try to stick with using lower case
  • At this time, there is no way to rename items in Azure. The resource would need to be deleted and then recreated using the new name.

We hope this helps with your Azure Governance naming convention strategy.  Please continue to use our blogs to discover more about Azure, its terminology and definitions, and how it relates to Azure Governance.  MessageOps has developed GlidePath™ services for Cloud Governance to help you take the complicated out of creating an Azure Governance program. Learn more by calling 877-788-1617 or visit: https://messageops.com/azure-governance/

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