web_docs/docs/deployment/azure-naming-conventions.md

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Azure Naming Conventions

We follow Microsoft's Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) naming and tagging guidance for all Azure resources. Consistent names make resources self-describing (type, workload, environment, region) and keep cost reports, RBAC, and automation predictable.

Our subscription naming (opennav-prod, etc.) already uses this convention — see Azure Subscriptions Setup. This page is the standard to follow inside those subscriptions.

The pattern

<resource-type>-<workload>-<environment>-<region>-<instance>

Component	Meaning	Examples
resource-type	CAF abbreviation for the resource	rg, st, kv, psql
workload	App / project short code	opennav
environment	Deployment stage	prod, nonprod, sandbox
region	Azure region short name	eastus
instance	Zero-padded instance number	001

Example: a production resource group → rg-opennav-prod-eastus-001.

Rules: lowercase, hyphen-separated, segments in this fixed order. Omit a segment only when it doesn't apply (e.g. globally-unique types that forbid hyphens — see below).

Our standard values

Slot	Allowed values
Workload (org_prefix)	opennav
Environment	prod, nonprod, sandbox
Region	eastus (primary)
Instance	001, 002, …

These mirror the Terraform variables in infra/azure (org_prefix, the subscriptions map keys).

Resource type abbreviations (CAF)

Common ones we use. Full list in the CAF abbreviation reference.

Resource	Abbrev	Example
Resource group	rg	rg-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Storage account	st	stopennavprodeus001 ¹
Key Vault	kv	kv-opennav-prod-eus ¹
PostgreSQL flexible server	psql	psql-opennav-prod-eastus-001
App Service plan	asp	asp-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Web App / App Service	app	app-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Function App	func	func-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Container registry	cr	cropennavprod001 ¹
Virtual network	vnet	vnet-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Subnet	snet	snet-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Network security group	nsg	nsg-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Log Analytics workspace	log	log-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Application Insights	appi	appi-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Managed identity	id	id-opennav-prod-eastus-001
Management group	mg	mg-opennav-platform
Databricks workspace	dbw	dbw-opennav-prod-eastus-001

Databricks managed resource group. Creating a Databricks workspace auto-creates a second, Azure-managed resource group named databricks-rg-<workspace>-<hash> (holding the workspace's VNet, storage, NAT gateway, etc.). You don't name or manage that one — Azure owns it.

¹ Globally-unique / restricted names. Some resources have tight rules that break the standard pattern:

• Storage account — 3–24 chars, lowercase letters + digits only, no hyphens, globally unique. Use a compact form: st + workload + env + region-short + instance, e.g. stopennavprodeus001.
• Key Vault — 3–24 chars, globally unique; hyphens allowed but keep it short.
• Container registry — 5–50 chars, alphanumeric only, globally unique.

When hyphens aren't allowed, drop them and shorten the region (e.g. eus for East US) — but keep the same segment order.

Tagging

Every resource carries these tags (the Terraform applies them via common_tags):

Tag	Value
managed_by	terraform
project	open-navigator
environment	prod / nonprod / sandbox
cost_center	engineering
owner	resource owner

Tags drive cost attribution and lifecycle policies — prefer them over encoding extra metadata into names.

Region short names

Region	Long	Short
East US	eastus	eus
West US 2	westus2	wus2
Central US	centralus	cus

Use the long form in the standard pattern; use the short form only for hyphen-restricted names.

References

• CAF — Define your naming convention
• CAF — Recommended abbreviations
• CAF — Tagging strategy
• This repo: infra/azure/README.md