Azure Prepare

Azure Prepare

Prepare subscriptions, resource groups, identity, governance, and cost controls per the Cloud Adoption Framework. Landing zone setup is foundational; all deployments depend on this layer.

Use This Skill When

• The user is starting a new Azure project or subscription
• Deployment keeps failing due to missing prerequisites (permissions, providers, quotas)
• The user asks for preflight checks, environment bootstrap, or landing zone design
• The user needs Azure Policy, tagging strategy, or access control baseline

Context: Landing Zone Maturity

Immature: Ad hoc resource creation, no policies, inconsistent naming, mixed environments
Developing: Basic resource groups, manual access control, some tagging
Managed: Landing zone deployed, policies enforced, RBAC standardized, centralized logging ← Target
Optimized: GitOps for infrastructure, automated drift detection, cost governance, full audit trail

Required Inputs

• Tenant and subscription: Tenant ID, subscription ID, billing account
• Environment scope: Single tenant or multi-tenant? Dev/test/prod separation?
• Region strategy: Primary and secondary regions, data residency constraints
• Naming convention: Org-env-workload-resource-seq (e.g., contoso-prod-web-vm-01)
• Networking model: Hub-spoke, vWAN, or flat? Private or public endpoints?
• Identity model: Entra ID only, on-premises sync, hybrid?
• Security baseline: Encryption, firewalls, NSGs, private link requirements
• Team structure: Who owns the platform? Who owns workloads?
• Cost targets: Monthly budget, chargeback model, reserved capacity?

Decision Tree

Is this the first Azure subscription for the organization?
├─ Yes → Deploy landing zone from template (Microsoft Foundational or Enterprise)
└─ No → Align with existing landing zone patterns

Do you have on-premises infrastructure?
├─ Yes → Enable ExpressRoute, Site-to-Site VPN, DNS forwarders
└─ No → Direct internet egress acceptable

How many teams will share this subscription?
├─ Single team → Simple RBAC, one resource group per environment
└─ Multiple teams → Multiple resource groups, centralized policy, shared services

Are there compliance or regulatory requirements?
├─ Yes → Deploy Azure Policy, enable Defender, configure audit logging
└─ No → Basic security baseline sufficient

Workflow

Phase 1: Landing Zone Foundation

1. Choose landing zone template:

   • Foundational (Startups, small teams): VNet, NSG, basic RBAC
   • Standard (Mid-market): Hub-spoke, centralized DNS, policy enforcement
   • Enterprise (Large org): Management groups, policy cascade, full governance

2. Provision landing zone:

   # Use Azure landing zone Bicep templates from Microsoft
   az deployment tenant create \
     --name alz-deployment \
     --location eastus \
     --template-uri https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/landing-zones-accelerator/main/templates/
   

3. Validate foundational resources:

   • Management groups created (root > platform > landing zones)
   • Subscription placed in correct management group
   • Policy definitions assigned at appropriate scope

Phase 2: Subscription Baseline

1. Provider registration:

   # Enable required resource providers
   az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Compute
   az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Network
   az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Storage
   # (List depends on workload)
   

2. Create resource groups by lifecycle:

   • Shared: Logging, monitoring, networking (long-lived)
   • Dev/Test: Short-lived, high churn, lower security bar
   • Production: Long-lived, strict change controls, backup/DR

3. Apply Azure Policy:

   • Enforce tagging (owner, environment, cost-center)
   • Enforce encryption (storage, databases)
   • Prevent public IP creation (unless whitelisted)
   • Require network security groups

Phase 3: Identity & Access

1. Define role structure:

   • Subscription Owner (2-3 people, max): Rare, emergency escalation only
   • Resource Group Owners (teams): Manage resources within group
   • Workload Contributors (developers): Deploy, configure; no delete
   • Readers (auditors, ops): View-only, troubleshooting

2. Configure managed identities:

   • System-assigned for single-app identities (App Service, Functions, AKS pods)
   • User-assigned for shared or multi-app identities
   • Never use connection strings in app settings

3. Set up Key Vault:

   az keyvault create --name "kv-${environment}-${org}" \
     --resource-group $RG --enable-rbac-authorization
   

Phase 4: Networking

1. Plan IP address space:

   • Hub VNet: 10.0.0.0/8 reserved for platform services
   • Spoke VNets: Subdivided by workload/environment
   • Document all subnets, gateways, and external routes

2. Deploy network infrastructure:

   • Hub VNet with bastion host (secure RDP/SSH)
   • Spoke VNets peered to hub
   • Network Security Groups with default-deny ingress
   • Azure Firewall (hub) or Network Virtual Appliance (NVA)

3. Configure DNS:

   • Azure DNS zones for public DNS
   • Private DNS zones for internal resolution (*.privatelink.database.windows.net)
   • Conditional forwarders to on-premises DNS

Phase 5: Logging & Monitoring

1. Centralize diagnostics:

   • All subscriptions → Central Log Analytics workspace
   • All storage accounts → Central storage for archival
   • All activity logs → Central audit trail

2. Configure alerts:

   • Failed logins, privilege escalation, unused roles
   • Resource deletion, policy violations
   • Cost threshold breaches

Phase 6: Cost Governance

1. Set budgets:

   • Subscription-level budget with notifications at 50%, 75%, 100%
   • Resource group budgets for shared services
   • Alert on anomalies

2. Reserved capacity (if production):

   • Analyze 1-year usage
   • Purchase 1-year or 3-year reservations for 20-35% discount

3. Cost allocation:

   • Tag all resources with cost-center tag
   • Use Cost Management + Billing to show chargeback per team

Output Contract

1. Landing Zone Summary

   • Subscription ID, tenant ID, region(s)
   • Chosen landing zone template and justification
   • High-level network topology

2. Pre-Deployment Checklist

   • Provider registration status
   • Required role assignments (who needs what)
   • API and resource type quota headroom

3. Setup Commands or IaC

   • Bicep template or Terraform code to replicate landing zone
   • Order of operations (dependency graph)
   • Sample parameter files for different environments

4. Access & Governance Model

   • Role hierarchy and assignment plan
   • Policy definitions and exceptions
   • Tagging strategy with mandatory tags

5. Network & Identity Baseline

   • VNet design, subnets, routing
   • Managed identity and Key Vault setup
   • DNS configuration

6. Monitoring & Cost Plan

   • Log Analytics workspace scope
   • Budget and alerting thresholds
   • Reserved capacity recommendation

Practical Examples

Example 1: Dev/Test Landing Zone

- Single VNet (10.1.0.0/16)
- Three subnets: app (10.1.1.0/24), data (10.1.2.0/24), mgmt (10.1.3.0/24)
- Minimal NSGs (allow internal, deny external)
- Shared Log Analytics (7-day retention)
- Budget alert at $500/month

Example 2: Production Landing Zone with Hub-Spoke

- Hub VNet (10.0.0.0/16): Firewall, Bastion, DNS forwarders
- Spoke VNet per workload: Web (10.1.0.0/16), Data (10.2.0.0/16), API (10.3.0.0/16)
- All spokes peered to hub
- Strict NSGs per spoke with specific ingress rules
- Centralized logging to shared workspace
- 30-day retention, archive to storage after 90 days
- Budget alerts at 50%, 75%, 100% thresholds

Guardrails

• Never skip tagging strategy; enforce with Azure Policy from day one.
• Do not hardcode secrets in IaC or templates; use Key Vault references.
• Avoid manual post-setup configuration; all infrastructure must be in IaC.
• Do not share subscriptions across business units unless governance is extreme.
• Ensure network segmentation by default; permit traffic explicitly.
• Test landing zone teardown before production; ensure cleanup works end-to-end.
• Keep environment names consistent: dev-, test-, prod-* naming enforced by policy.