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The Azure Naming Tool was created to help administrators define and manage their naming conventions, while providing a simple interface for users to generate a compliant name. The tool was developed using a naming pattern based on Microsoft's best practices. Once an administrator has defined the organizational components, users can use the tool to generate a name for the desired Azure resource.
Want a deep dive into the tool?
Check out Bryan Soltis' blog here: Deep Diving into the Azure Naming Tool
Dean Cefola with Azure Academy made a great overview video. Click the image below to view the video on installing and configuring the tool as a container.
The Azure Naming Tool is a .NET 8 Blazor application with a RESTful API. The UI consists of several pages to allow the configuration and generation of Azure Resource names. The API provides a programmatic interface for the functionality. Additionally, the application contains Docker support, allowing the site to be run as a stand-alone application or a container.
- UI/Admin
- API
- JSON configuration files
- Dockerfile
Choosing an Installation Option
The following are important notes/aspects of the Azure Naming Tool:
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The application is designed to run as a stand-alone solution, with no internet/Azure connection.
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The application can be run as a .NET 8 site, or as a Docker container.
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The site can be hosted in any environment, including internal or in a public/private cloud.
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The application uses local JSON files to store the configuration of the components.
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The application requires persistent storage. A volume is required to store configuration files, if running as a container.
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The application contains a repository folder, which contains the default component configuration JSON files. When deployed, these files are then copied to the settings folder.
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The Admin interface allows configurations to be "reset", if needed. This process copies the configuration from the repository folder to the settings folder.
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The API requires an API Key for all executions. A default API Key (guid) will be generated on first launch. This value can be updated in the Admin section.
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On the first launch, the application will prompt for the Admin password to be set.
The Home Page provides an overview of the tool and the components.
The Configuration Page shows the current Name Generation configuration. This page also provides an Admin section for updating the configuration.
The Reference Page provides examples for each type of Azure resource. The example values do not include any excluded naming components. Optional components are always displayed and are identified below the example. Since unique names are only required at specific scopes, the examples provided are only generated for the scopes above the resource scope: resource group, resource group & region, region, global, subscription, and tenant.
The Generate Page provides a dropdown menu to select an Azure resource. Once a resource is selected, naming component options are provided. Read-only components, like the value for a resource type or organization, cannot be changed. Optional components, if left blank, will be null and not shown in the output. Required components do not allow a null value, and the first value in the array is set as the default.
