MSFTCOST01-BP03 Run platform-specific tools
Platform-specific tools, such as Azure Resource Discovery Tool, are useful for environment understanding. This is a PowerShell script provided by AWS that generates an inventory report including detailed metrics of an Azure environment to which you have read access for the previous 30 days. Especially useful for non-virtual machine(VM) resources.
Desired outcome: Generate a comprehensive 30-day inventory report using platform-specific tools to provide detailed resource metrics, asset visibility, and usage patterns across the Azure environment, enabling informed decisions for cloud resource management and optimization, while documenting key metrics that would be essential for planning a potential AWS migration.
Common anti-patterns:
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Manual Resource Tracking: Relying solely on manual methods or spreadsheets to track cloud resources and their usage, instead of leveraging automated platform-specific tools. This approach is error-prone, time-consuming, and often results in incomplete or outdated information about the environment.
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One-Size-Fits-All: Using generic assessmetn tools that are not tailored to the specific cloud platform (in this case, Azure). This can lead to missed insights, inability to capture platform-specific metrics, and incomplete understanding of resource utilization and costs, especially for non-VM resources that may have unique characteristics in Azure.
Benefits of establishing this best practice:
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Comprehensive Resource Visibility: Platform-specific tools provide detailed, accurate insights into all resources within the Azure environment, including often overlooked non-VM resources. This comprehensive view enables better resource management, cost optimization, and capacity planning.
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Time and Effort Efficiency: Automated platform-specific tools can quickly generate detailed reports that would take significantly longer to compile manually. This efficiency allows IT teams to focus on analyzing the data and making strategic decisions rather than spending time on data collection and organization.
Level of risk exposed if this best practice is not established: Low
Implementation guidance
To implement this best practice, start by identifying and selecting appropriate platform-specific tools for Azure, such as Resource Discovery. Ensure you have the necessary read permissions across your Azure environment. Schedule regular automated runs of these tools, ideally on a monthly basis, to capture a rolling 30-day window of resource utilization. Set up a process to review and analyze the generated reports, focusing on resource allocation, usage patterns, and potential optimization opportunities. Integrate these insights into your cloud management and decision-making processes, and use the data to inform capacity planning, cost optimization strategies, and potential migration assessments. Regularly update and refine your use of these tools as your Azure environment evolves and as new features become available.
Implementation steps
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Verify the required access permissions across all target Azure subscriptions and resource groups
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Install and configure the chosen platform-specific tool (for example, Azure Resource Discovery Tool)
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Save the output data
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Contact your AWS account team to help analyzing Azure resources in preparation for potential AWS migration scenarios
Resources
Related tools:
