A Comprehensive Guide - Microsoft Azure Governance, Compliance, and Resource Management

This article covers essential Microsoft Azure tools for governance, compliance, risk management, and resource monitoring. It’s designed to help professionals and exam candidates understand the purpose of Microsoft Purview, Azure Policy, Azure Resource Manager (ARM), and other key Azure services.

Microsoft Purview

Microsoft Purview is a comprehensive suite designed for data governance, risk management, and compliance across your organization’s data environment. It unifies insights from on-premises, multi-cloud, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) data sources, providing a single view for data governance.

Key Features of Microsoft Purview

Risk and Compliance: Identify sensitive data across clouds, applications, and devices, and manage regulatory compliance.
Unified Data Governance: Create a map of your entire data estate with data classification and lineage tracking.
Data Insights: Generate insights into data storage, usage, and security.
Access Management: Control and manage secure access to data at scale, providing a secure environment for data discovery.

Azure Policy: Enforcing Governance Through Policies

Azure Policy enables organizations to create, assign, and manage policies that govern Azure resources. These policies help maintain compliance by monitoring, auditing, and enforcing organizational standards.

Azure Policy Initiatives

An initiative is a group of related policies that help track compliance for a broader goal. Common Azure Policy initiatives include:

Unencrypted SQL Database Monitoring: Detects unencrypted SQL databases.
OS Vulnerability Monitoring: Tracks servers against an OS vulnerability baseline.
Endpoint Protection Monitoring: Identifies servers missing endpoint protection.

Resource Locks

Resource locks in Azure safeguard resources from accidental deletion or modification. Locks come in two types:

Delete: Allows modification but prevents deletion.
ReadOnly: Grants read access only, preventing updates or deletions, similar to the "Reader" role permissions.

Service Trust Portal

The Microsoft Service Trust Portal offers resources on Microsoft’s security, privacy, and compliance practices.

My Library: Users can save documents for quick access and receive update notifications.
All Documents: Provides a comprehensive list of compliance resources for easy reference.

Tools for Interacting with Azure

Azure offers various tools to manage resources effectively, whether you prefer a graphical interface or command-line control.

Azure Portal

The Azure Portal is a unified, web-based console for managing Azure resources. It provides a graphical interface where you can:

Build, manage, and monitor resources, from simple apps to complex deployments.
Customize dashboards to track and manage resources.

Azure Cloud Shell

Azure Cloud Shell is a browser-based shell with Azure PowerShell and Azure CLI (Bash). It enables you to manage resources via a command-line interface.

Azure PowerShell

Azure PowerShell allows users to perform Azure management tasks with command-lets (cmdlets). Use it for both single resource changes and complex deployments, such as:

Routine setup, maintenance, or teardown of resources.
Infrastructure deployment involving multiple interconnected resources.

Azure CLI

The Azure CLI provides similar functionality to Azure PowerShell but uses Bash commands. It is a versatile tool for developers who prefer a command-line interface.

Azure Arc: Extending Azure Management Beyond the Cloud

Azure Arc extends Azure’s management capabilities to on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge environments. With Azure Resource Manager (ARM) integration, it enables unified management, governance, and compliance across all resources, regardless of where they reside.

Azure Resource Manager and ARM Templates: Infrastructure as Code

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is the service for deploying and managing resources in Azure. ARM enables you to organize, secure, and control access to your resources.

ARM Templates: Declarative Infrastructure Deployment

ARM templates use JSON format for defining resources, enabling infrastructure deployment with consistency and repeatability.

Declarative Syntax: Specifies resources and their configurations.
Repeatable Results: Ensures consistent deployment across environments.
Orchestration: ARM manages deployment order for interdependent resources.
Modularity and Extensibility: Templates can include smaller components and scripts for complex configurations.

Bicep: Simplifying ARM Templates

Bicep provides a more user-friendly syntax for defining Azure infrastructure, allowing for simplified configuration and management.

Azure Advisor: Resource Optimization Recommendations

Azure Advisor assesses your resources and offers recommendations to improve:

Reliability, security, and performance.
Cost efficiency and operational excellence.

Azure Service Health: Tracking Azure Service Status

Azure Service Health provides insights into Azure service availability:

Azure Status: Broad view of service status across Azure.
Service Health: Tracks issues specific to the services and regions you use.
Resource Health: Offers a personalized view of the health of your resources.

Azure Monitor: Collecting, Analyzing, and Acting on Resource Data

Azure Monitor is a platform for tracking and analyzing data across Azure resources.

Key Components of Azure Monitor

Log Analytics: Runs complex queries for in-depth data analysis.
Monitor Alerts: Sets thresholds and notifications for specific conditions.
Application Insights: Tracks and optimizes application performance across Azure, on-premises, and other environments. It can be configured through SDK or agent installation.

Conclusion

Microsoft Azure offers a robust suite of governance, compliance, resource management, and monitoring tools. With Microsoft Purview for unified data governance, Azure Policy for policy enforcement, ARM templates for infrastructure as code, and tools like Azure Advisor and Azure Monitor, organizations can effectively manage, secure, and optimize their cloud environments. Understanding these tools equips cloud professionals to manage resources efficiently while ensuring compliance and cost-effectiveness.

This article is my revision notes for preparing for the Microsoft Certified : Azure Fundamentals certification, which follows this particular learning path - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: Describe Azure management and governance