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Hey everyone! 👋

Starting the journey to explore AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions – one topic at a time, every day. Each post will break down key concepts in simple terms. No jargon, no confusion – just bite-sized learning! 😊

Today’s topic is:

🧭 What is Azure Governance?

Think of Azure Governance as setting rules for how things should be done in your Azure environment. It’s like telling your team:

“Hey, only create stuff in the US, name everything properly, and don’t delete important resources by mistake!”

Let’s break down the main tools we use for governance in Azure.

🧩 1. Management Groups

If you have multiple Azure subscriptions (like different departments or environments), Management Groups help you organize them. You can apply rules (policies) to a whole group of subscriptions at once.

🎯 Example: Put all production subscriptions in one management group and apply security policies to all of them in one go.

🛡️ 2. Azure Policy

This is where you define the rules.

✅ Want to allow only certain VM types?
✅ Need to make sure resources are only created in “East US” or “West US”?
✅ Require every resource to have a “CostCenter” tag?

Azure Policy helps with all that!

🧰 3. Azure Blueprints

Imagine you need to deploy a compliant Azure environment again and again. With Blueprints, you can package everything – resource groups, policies, RBAC roles, and templates – and deploy it with a single click.

🚀 Super useful when setting up new environments for new teams or projects!

🔒 4. Resource Locks

Ever accidentally deleted a resource and regretted it?

Use Locks to prevent that:

• CanNotDelete: You can modify but not delete.
• ReadOnly: You can’t modify or delete.

Put a lock on critical resources like databases or production VMs. Better safe than sorry!

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 5. RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)

This is all about who can do what.

Examples:

• Give your developers Contributor access to the dev environment.
• Give your finance team Reader access to check reports.

No need to give full access to everyone!

🏷️ 6. Naming and Tagging

Set a standard naming system for resources like:

vm-prod-hr-westus
storage-dev-it-eastus

And use tags to track cost, owners, environments, etc. It helps you stay organized and makes billing easier.

🎯 Real-Life Example

Let’s say I’m designing for a healthcare company that wants to stay HIPAA-compliant. Here’s what I’d do:

• Create a management group for all production subscriptions.
• Apply a policy to allow only East US/West US locations.
• Use RBAC to restrict who can create resources.
• Deploy a Blueprint for a secure environment.
• Add Locks to critical databases.

Done! 🎉

🧠 Quick Quiz (Just for Fun!)

1. What tool helps prevent deletion of critical resources?
   👉 Answer: Resource Locks
2. What do we use to limit VM types or regions?
   👉 Answer: Azure Policy
3. Want to deploy a whole environment in one go?
   👉 Answer: Azure Blueprints

✍️ Final Thoughts

This was a great start! Azure Governance is all about staying in control – not letting things get messy. Tomorrow I’ll explore Identity and Access Design – stay tuned!

If you’re also on the AZ-305 journey, feel free to follow along or comment with your thoughts!

Cheers! 🙌