Naming Strategies

Naming Strategies

Overview

az prototype enforces consistent Azure resource naming across all generated infrastructure code (Terraform and Bicep). The naming module provides five built-in strategies that agents use when generating resource definitions. Every resource name is run through constraint checks for Azure-specific length limits and character restrictions.

The naming strategy is configured in the naming section of prototype.yaml. See Configuration for the full config structure.

Strategies

1. microsoft-alz -- Azure Landing Zone (Default)

Based on the Microsoft Azure Landing Zone naming conventions. Uses a zone ID prefix that identifies the landing zone purpose.

Pattern: {zoneid}-{type}-{service}-{env}-{region_short}

Examples (zone=zd, org=contoso, env=dev, region=eastus):

Resource Type	Generated Name
resource_group	zd-rg-api-dev-eus
storage_account	zdstapidevseus
app_service	zd-app-api-dev-eus
key_vault	zd-kv-api-dev-eus
cosmos_db	zd-cosmos-api-dev-eus

Platform resources (networking, identity, monitoring) use pc, pi, or pm zone IDs. Application resources use zd, zt, zs, or zp based on environment.

2. microsoft-caf -- Cloud Adoption Framework

Follows the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework resource naming best practices. Includes organization name and instance number.

Pattern: {type}-{org}-{service}-{env}-{region_short}-{instance}

Examples (org=contoso, env=dev, region=eastus, instance=001):

Resource Type	Generated Name
resource_group	rg-contoso-api-dev-eus-001
storage_account	stcontosoapideveus001
app_service	app-contoso-api-dev-eus-001
key_vault	kv-contoso-api-dev-eus-001
cosmos_db	cosmos-contoso-api-dev-eus-001

Reference: Azure resource naming conventions

3. simple -- Basic Naming

Minimal naming for quick prototypes. No region or instance suffix.

Pattern: {org}-{service}-{type}-{env}

Examples (org=contoso, env=dev):

Resource Type	Generated Name
resource_group	contoso-api-rg-dev
storage_account	contosoapistdev
app_service	contoso-api-app-dev
key_vault	contoso-api-kv-dev
cosmos_db	contoso-api-cosmos-dev

4. enterprise -- Enterprise Naming

Includes a business unit prefix for organizations with multiple teams sharing an Azure environment.

Pattern: {type}-{bu}-{org}-{service}-{env}-{region_short}-{instance}

Examples (bu=it, org=contoso, env=dev, region=eastus, instance=001):

Resource Type	Generated Name
resource_group	rg-it-contoso-api-dev-eus-001
storage_account	rgitcontosoapideveus001
app_service	app-it-contoso-api-dev-eus-001
key_vault	kv-it-contoso-api-dev-eus-001
cosmos_db	cosmos-it-contoso-api-dev-eus-001

The business unit is configured via naming.business_unit (defaults to eng).

5. custom -- Custom Pattern

Define your own naming pattern using placeholders. The pattern is read from naming.pattern in the config.

Default pattern: {type}-{org}-{service}-{env}-{region_short}

Available placeholders:

Placeholder	Description
{org}	Organization name (from naming.org or project.name)
{env}	Environment abbreviation
{region}	Full Azure region name (e.g., eastus)
{region_short}	Short region code (e.g., eus)
{service}	Service/component name (e.g., api, web); defaults to core
{type}	CAF resource type abbreviation (e.g., rg, st, kv)
{suffix}	Optional suffix (from naming.suffix)
{instance}	Instance number (from naming.instance, defaults to 001)
{zoneid}	ALZ zone ID (from naming.zone_id or derived from environment)

Example custom pattern:

az prototype config set --key naming.strategy --value custom
az prototype config set --key naming.pattern --value "{org}-{type}-{service}-{env}-{region_short}"

Zone IDs and Region Codes

ALZ Zone IDs

Zone IDs identify the purpose of a landing zone in the Azure Landing Zone architecture:

Zone ID	Landing Zone
pc	Connectivity Platform
pi	Identity Platform
pm	Management Platform
zp	Production Zone
zs	Staging Zone
zd	Development Zone (default)
zt	Testing Zone

The zone ID is resolved from naming.zone_id in config. If not set explicitly, it is derived from the environment name:

Environment	Zone ID
dev, development	zd
test, testing, qa	zt
staging, stg, uat	zs
prod, production	zp

Region Short Codes

Azure regions are mapped to short codes for use in resource names:

Region	Code		Region	Code
eastus	eus		northeurope	neu
eastus2	eus2		westeurope	weu
westus	wus		uksouth	uks
westus2	wus2		ukwest	ukw
westus3	wus3		francecentral	frc
centralus	cus		germanywestcentral	gwc
northcentralus	ncus		norwayeast	noe
southcentralus	scus		swedencentral	sec
westcentralus	wcus		switzerlandnorth	szn
canadacentral	cac		australiaeast	aue
canadaeast	cae		australiasoutheast	ause
brazilsouth	brs		eastasia	ea
southeastasia	sea		japaneast	jpe
japanwest	jpw		koreacentral	krc
koreasouth	krs		centralindia	inc
southindia	ins		westindia	inw
southafricanorth	san		uaenorth	uan

For regions not in this table, the first four characters of the region name are used as the short code.

CAF Abbreviations

Resource type abbreviations follow the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework:

Resource Type	Abbreviation		Resource Type	Abbreviation
resource_group	rg		container_app	ca
storage_account	st		container_app_environment	cae
app_service	app		container_registry	cr
app_service_plan	asp		log_analytics	log
function_app	func		application_insights	appi
key_vault	kv		api_management	apim
cosmos_db	cosmos		service_bus	sb
sql_server	sql		event_hub	evh
sql_database	sqldb		event_grid	evg
virtual_network	vnet		front_door	fd
subnet	snet		cdn_profile	cdnp
network_security_group	nsg		dns_zone	dns
public_ip	pip		private_endpoint	pe
load_balancer	lb		managed_identity	id
redis_cache	redis		search_service	srch
cognitive_account	cog		openai_account	oai
signalr	sigr		static_web_app	stapp
web_pubsub	wps		data_factory	adf
databricks	dbw		machine_learning	mlw
monitor_action_group	ag		monitor_alert	al

Reference: Azure resource abbreviations

Configuration

Set the naming strategy and related parameters:

# Choose a strategy
az prototype config set --key naming.strategy --value microsoft-caf

# Set organization name (used in resource names)
az prototype config set --key naming.org --value contoso

# Set environment
az prototype config set --key naming.env --value prod

# Set ALZ zone ID (for microsoft-alz strategy)
az prototype config set --key naming.zone_id --value zp

# Set business unit (for enterprise strategy)
az prototype config set --key naming.business_unit --value platform

# Set instance number (for CAF and enterprise strategies)
az prototype config set --key naming.instance --value 002

# Set custom pattern (for custom strategy)
az prototype config set --key naming.strategy --value custom
az prototype config set --key naming.pattern --value "{org}-{type}-{service}-{env}"

# Override a specific resource type
az prototype config set --key naming.overrides.storage_account --value "st{org}{service}{env}"

Azure Naming Constraints

The naming module enforces Azure-specific constraints automatically. After building a name from the strategy pattern, the following rules are applied:

Resource Type	Max Length	Hyphens Allowed	Lowercase Only
storage_account	24	No	Yes
key_vault	24	Yes	No
container_registry	50	No	Yes
resource_group	90	Yes	No
cosmos_db	44	Yes	Yes
All others	63	Yes	No

Additionally, all non-alphanumeric characters (except hyphens where allowed) are stripped from generated names. Names exceeding the maximum length are truncated.

Per-resource overrides (via naming.overrides) are supported and processed through the same constraint pipeline, so even custom names conform to Azure limits.