2.1.4. Manage Azure Subscriptions and Governance

💡 First Principle: A well-defined hierarchy of management groups, subscriptions, and resource groups is the foundation for scalable Azure governance, enabling clear boundaries for billing, security, and policy enforcement across an enterprise.

Scenario: Your growing organization uses Azure for various departments and projects. You need to organize your cloud resources, manage costs, and apply consistent policies across different environments and business units.

This task delves into the practical application of managing these organizational units. You'll explore how to:

• Manage Resource Groups: Organize related resources for unified lifecycle management.
• Manage Azure Subscriptions: Define billing boundaries and security scopes.
• Configure Cost Management: Implement tools and strategies to monitor and control cloud spending.
• Configure Management Groups: Establish a hierarchical structure to apply governance at enterprise scale.

Mastering these concepts is crucial for the AZ-104 exam, as it assesses your ability to implement and manage foundational governance components.

Visual: Azure Governance Hierarchy (Consolidated)

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⚠️ Common Pitfall: Creating a flat, disorganized structure with a single subscription and a few resource groups. This becomes unmanageable and insecure as the organization's cloud usage grows.

Key Trade-Offs:

• Hierarchical Control vs. Simplicity: A deep hierarchy of management groups and subscriptions provides granular control but can be complex to manage. A flatter structure is simpler but offers less granular governance.

Reflection Question: How does a well-structured hierarchy of management groups, subscriptions, and resource groups fundamentally simplify billing, enhance security, and enable efficient policy enforcement across a large Azure estate?