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Azure Policy: Governance at Scale for Azure Resources

Azure Policy is a service in Microsoft Azure that allows organizations to create, assign, and enforce policies across their Azure resources. It enables governance at scale by defining rules and best practices for resource configuration and compliance. Here's a comprehensive list of Azure Policy features along with their definitions:

1. Policy Definitions:

   • Definition: Policy definitions are the rules and conditions that you want to enforce. They define what is allowed or denied in your Azure environment. Policy definitions can be built-in, custom, or obtained from the Azure Policy community.

2. Built-In Policies:

   • Definition: Azure provides a set of built-in policies that cover common scenarios and best practices. These policies can be used as-is or customized to meet specific organizational requirements.

3. Custom Policies:

   • Definition: Organizations can create custom policies to address specific governance requirements. Custom policies allow fine-grained control over resource configurations and compliance checks.

4. Policy Assignments:

   • Definition: Policy assignments are the application of policy definitions to specific scopes, such as subscriptions, resource groups, or individual resources. Assignments define where and how policies are enforced.

5. Scopes and Hierarchy:

   • Definition: Azure Policy supports hierarchical enforcement, allowing policies to be applied at different scopes, including management group, subscription, and resource group levels. This provides flexibility in governance.

6. Policy Parameters:

   • Definition: Policies can have parameters, allowing organizations to create flexible and reusable policies. Parameters enable customization without the need to create entirely new policies.

7. Effect Types:

   • Definition: Policy effects define the enforcement action when a policy rule is evaluated. Common effects include Deny, Audit, and Append. Policies can be used to deny non-compliant resources, audit configurations, or append tags, among other actions.

8. Policy Exemptions:

   • Definition: Policy exemptions allow specific resources or resource types to bypass policy enforcement. Exemptions provide flexibility for scenarios where certain resources need to be excluded from policy requirements.

9. Policy Compliance Reporting:

   • Definition: Azure Policy provides reporting on policy compliance, showing the status of resources against policy rules. This helps organizations assess and improve their adherence to governance standards.

10. Initiative Definitions:

    • Definition: Initiative definitions are collections of policy definitions grouped together for simplified assignment. They allow organizations to enforce multiple policies as a single unit.

11. Policy Initiative Assignments:

    • Definition: Like policy assignments, initiative assignments apply initiative definitions to specific scopes. Initiative assignments are used to enforce a set of policies collectively.

12. Policy Remediation:

    • Definition: Azure Policy includes remediation tasks that automatically correct non-compliant resources. Remediation allows organizations to bring existing resources into compliance with policy rules.

13. Policy Compliance Insights:

    • Definition: Policy compliance insights provide visibility into the overall compliance posture of an Azure environment. This includes compliance trends, non-compliant resources, and remediation actions.

14. Policy Guest Configuration (Preview):

    • Definition: Azure Policy Guest Configuration extends policy enforcement to non-Azure resources, such as virtual machines. It uses Desired State Configuration (DSC) to ensure configuration compliance.

15. Policy Integration with Azure DevOps:

    • Definition: Azure Policy integrates with Azure DevOps pipelines, allowing organizations to enforce policies during the deployment process. This ensures that resources comply with policies from the start.

16. Policy Locks:

    • Definition: Azure Policy Locks allow organizations to prevent accidental or unauthorized changes to resources. Locks can be applied at the resource or resource group level to restrict modifications.

17. Policy Change History:

    • Definition: Azure Policy maintains a change history that logs modifications to policy definitions and assignments. This helps organizations track and audit policy changes over time.

18. Integration with Azure Monitor and Logs:

    • Definition: Azure Policy integrates with Azure Monitor, allowing organizations to monitor policy compliance and receive alerts on policy violations. Policy logs provide detailed information for analysis.

Azure Policy is a key component of Azure Governance, providing organizations with the tools needed to enforce compliance, manage risk, and ensure resource configurations align with organizational standards and best practices.