Resource templates are a great concept, but are fraught with danger. Badly named resources and naming inconsistency across resources in different subscriptions can make it difficult to determine purpose.<\/p>\n
If a resource such as a Virtual Network or a Storage Account is badly named in a resource template file, you may find that you have to rely on the icon pictures in the Azure portal to indicate what type of resources you are looking at.<\/p>\n
What if you need to see at a glance:<\/p>\n
The problem comes from trying to keep the names meaningful and consistent. How do you ensure that your naming standards are adhered to?<\/p>\n
In my case I would like to name resources as follows:<\/p>\n
<Resource Prefix>_<Environment>_<Location><\/span><\/pre>\nFor instance:<\/p>\n
\"Vnet_Prod_auSoutheast\"<\/span> <\/span><\/pre>\nSolution<\/h3>\n
Create new parameters (under the parameters section) in the main JSON (AzureDeploy.json) file for:<\/p>\n
\n- Current location (i.e. \u201cAustralia East\u201d)<\/li>\n
- Short form of the location (i.e. \u201cauEast\u201d)<\/li>\n
- Environment (i.e. \u201cProd\u201d or \u201cTesting\u201d)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n1<\/div>\n2<\/div>\n3<\/div>\n4<\/div>\n5<\/div>\n6<\/div>\n7<\/div>\n8<\/div>\n9<\/div>\n10<\/div>\n11<\/div>\n12<\/div>\n13<\/div>\n14<\/div>\n15<\/div>\n16<\/div>\n17<\/div>\n18<\/div>\n19<\/div>\n20<\/div>\n<\/td>\n\n\n“location” : {<\/div>\n “type” : “string”,<\/div>\n “allowedValues” : [“Australia East”, “Australia Southeast”],<\/div>\n “metadata” : {<\/div>\n “description” : “Deployment location”<\/div>\n }<\/div>\n},<\/div>\n“shortlocation” : {<\/div>\n “type” : “string”,<\/div>\n “defaultValue” : “[replace(resourceGroup().location,’australia’,’au’)]”,<\/div>\n “metadata” : {<\/div>\n “description” : “Short Deployment location”<\/div>\n }<\/div>\n},<\/div>\n“Environment” : {<\/div>\n “type” : “string”,<\/div>\n “allowedValues” : [“Prod”, “Testing”],<\/div>\n “metadata” : {<\/div>\n “description” : “Production or Testing”<\/div>\n }<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCreate additional parameters (under the parameters section) in the main JSON file to define the naming convention prefixes (In this case for Virtual Networks and Subnets):<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n1<\/div>\n2<\/div>\n3<\/div>\n4<\/div>\n5<\/div>\n6<\/div>\n7<\/div>\n8<\/div>\n9<\/div>\n10<\/div>\n11<\/div>\n12<\/div>\n13<\/div>\n14<\/div>\n<\/td>\n\n\n“VNETNamingStandard” : {<\/div>\n “type” : “string”,<\/div>\n “defaultValue” : “VNet_”,<\/div>\n “metadata” : {<\/div>\n “description” : “VNet Naming Standard”<\/div>\n }<\/div>\n},<\/div>\n“SubnetNamingStandard” : {<\/div>\n “type” : “string”,<\/div>\n “defaultValue” : “Subnet_”,<\/div>\n “metadata” : {<\/div>\n “description” : “Subnet Naming Standard”<\/div>\n }<\/div>\n}<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nUse the \u2018Concat\u2019 command in the main JSON file (under the parameters section) to create new standardized names by concatenating the prefix, environment and short location :<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n1<\/div>\n2<\/div>\n3<\/div>\n4<\/div>\n5<\/div>\n6<\/div>\n7<\/div>\n8<\/div>\n9<\/div>\n10<\/div>\n11<\/div>\n12<\/div>\n13<\/div>\n14<\/div>\n15<\/div>\n16<\/div>\n<\/td>\n\n\n“vnetName” : {<\/div>\n “type” : “string”,<\/div>\n “defaultValue” :<\/div>\n “[concat(parameters(‘VNetNamingStandard’),parameters(‘Environment’),’_’, parameters(‘shortlocation’))]”,<\/div>\n “metadata” : {<\/div>\n “description” : “VNet name”<\/div>\n }<\/div>\n},<\/div>\n“SubnetName” : {<\/div>\n “type” : “string”,<\/div>\n “defaultValue” :<\/div>\n “[concat(parameters(‘SubnetNamingStandard’),parameters(‘Environment’),’_’, parameters(‘shortlocation’))]”,<\/div>\n “metadata” : {<\/div>\n “description” : “Subnet name”<\/div>\n }<\/div>\n}<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nFor Storage accounts it\u2019s a little trickier. They have to be lowercase.<\/p>\n
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