Azure Tags

Consistent tagging is essential for managing, automating, and governing Azure resources at scale. Tags enable cost allocation, compliance, automation, and resource organization—critical for DevOps and Cloud Architects.

Why Tagging Matters

• Resource Management: Filter, group, and report on resources by tag.

• Cost Allocation: Track spend by project, environment, or owner.

• Automation: Drive lifecycle actions (e.g., auto-shutdown, backups) based on tags.

• Compliance: Enforce policies and reporting for regulatory needs.

Recommended Standard Tags

Key	Example Value	Purpose
Environment	prod, dev, test	Environment classification
Owner	alice, devops	Resource owner or team
Project	website, mlops	Project or workload name
CostCenter	1234, IT-OPS	Cost allocation
Application	webapp, api	Application name
Department	Finance, HR	Business unit
Criticality	high, medium	Business impact
ManagedBy	terraform, bicep	Deployment tool
ExpiryDate	2024-12-31	Resource lifecycle management

Real-Life Tagging Policy Example

• All production resources must have: Environment, Owner, CostCenter, and Project tags.

• Automation scripts enforce tagging at deployment and audit for missing tags weekly.

Tagging with Terraform

resource "azurerm_resource_group" "main" {
  name     = "rg-myapp-prod-weu"
  location = "westeurope"
  tags = {
    Environment = "prod"
    Owner       = "alice"
    Project     = "website"
    CostCenter  = "1234"
  }
}

Tagging with Bicep

resource rg 'Microsoft.Resources/resourceGroups@2021-04-01' = {
  name: 'rg-myapp-prod-weu'
  location: 'westeurope'
  tags: {
    Environment: 'prod'
    Owner: 'alice'
    Project: 'website'
    CostCenter: '1234'
  }
}

Tagging with Azure CLI

az group create --name rg-myapp-prod-weu --location westeurope --tags Environment=prod Owner=alice Project=website CostCenter=1234
az tag create --resource-id <resource-id> --tags Department=Finance Criticality=high

Best Practices

• Define and document a standard tag set for your organization.

• Enforce tags using Azure Policy or CI/CD checks.

• Use automation to remediate missing or incorrect tags.

• Avoid sensitive data in tag values.

• Regularly audit tags for consistency.

Common Pitfalls

• Inconsistent tag keys (e.g., owner vs Owner).

• Exceeding Azure’s tag limits (50 tags per resource, 256 chars per key/value).

• Relying on manual tagging—always automate.

References

• Azure Tagging Best Practices
• Azure Policy for Tag Enforcement

Joke: Why did the Azure resource get tagged as 'critical'? Because it always demanded attention!