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Resource Tagging Strategy

Overview

  • Resouce tagging is used for organizing cloud-based resources for better resource management in terms of cost and security.
  • A consistent naming convention on the cloud platform can quickly locate resources associated with specific workloads, environments, ownership groups, or other important information.
  • Application of a consistent set of global tags, as part of a comprehensive naming and tagging policy, is a critical part of an overall governance policy.
  • Resource tagging decisions determine how metadata is applied to Azure resources within a subscription to support operations, management, and accounting purposes.

Resource Tag?

  • Tags are metadata elements attached to the resources. Tags consist of pairs of key/value strings.
  • A standardized naming convention is the starting point for organizing your cloud-hosted resources.

Resource Tagging Strategy

  • Tags should capture important context and information about a resource.
  • When you apply metadata tags for the cloud resources, include information about the assets that couldn't be included in the resource name.
  • It is recommended that tags should include context about the resource's associated workload or application, operational requirements, and ownership information.
  • Tags sould be such that the IT or business teams can easily find resources or generate reports about resource usage and billing.
  • Overall Tagging strategy should be such that it include the business and operational details as components of the metadata tags.
  • The business side ensures that resource tags include the organizational information needed to identify the teams.
  • The operational side ensures that the tags include information that IT teams use to identify the workload, application, environment, criticality, and other information useful for managing resources.

Suggested Resource Tags

Minimum Suggested Tags

  • mdt-dept - Name of the department. Use tag mdt-CRM, unless the resource is not for our department.
  • mdt-owner - Owner of the application, workload, or service. Consider providing login name of owner to contact about this resource.
  • mdt-project - Azure DevOps "project" using the resource. If many projects are using the resource, use "global".
  • mdt-purpose - A keyword/keywords to describe the purpose, SonarQube, Build Agents, Global Resources, Pipeline Storage, etc.
  • mdt-environment - Deployment environment of the application, workload, or service. e.g. Prod, Dev, QA
  • mdt-costcenter - Project cost center, to group usage by environment, costcenter.
  • mdt-teamdl - Team email contact, to reach out for any notifications. e.g Team DL

Additional Common Tags (Optional)

  • mdt-team - Team name using the resource. Use "shared" if multiple teams are using the resource.
  • mdt-workload name : Name of the workload the resource supports. e.g. ControlCharts
  • mdt-data classification : Sensitivity of data hosted by this resource. e.g. Public, General, Confidential, Highly confidential
  • mdt-business criticality : Business impact of the resource or supported workload. e.g. Low, Medium, High
  • mdt-business unit : Top-level division of your company that owns the subscription or workload that the resource belongs to. e.g. Finance, Marketing
  • mdt-operations commitment : Level of operations support provided for this workload or resource. e.g. Enhanced baseline, Baseline only
  • mdt-operations team : Team accountable for day-to-day operations. e.g. Central IT, Cloud operations
  • mdt-application name : Added granularity, if the workload is subdivided across multiple applications or services.
  • mdt-approver name : Person responsible for approving costs associated to this resource
  • mdt-requester name : User who requested the creation of this application.