Finally! Azure Service Groups Are Here (And They Fix a Big Problem)

Microsoft has launched something exciting in preview – Azure Service Groups.

Let’s be honest… managing Azure resources using tags has always been tricky:

• Tags are often inconsistent
• Not all resources support tags
• Tags don’t enforce structure
• Everyone has their own tagging style

🔷 What Are Azure Service Groups?

Service Groups let you create custom groups of Azure resources – no matter where they are. It doesn’t matter what subscription, region, or resource group they’re in – you decide what belongs together.

🔷 How It Works:

1. Create a Service Group
2. Add existing Azure resources to it (VMs, web apps, etc.)

The resources stay in place, but now you have a new organized view.

🔷 Example Use Cases:

• A group for all production workloads
• A group for the Dev team in Europe
• A group of all VMs, across environments
• A group for SREs to track uptime
• A group for audit and compliance reviews

🔷 Why This Is Useful:

In big environments, things can be spread out. Service Groups make life easier by helping you:

• Build custom dashboards
• Set alerts for specific groups
• Apply access controls (RBAC) on just what’s needed
• Track costs more easily
• Give teams better visibility

🔷 Key Features:

• ✅ No moving or duplicating resources
• ✅ A resource can belong to multiple groups
• ✅ Up to 10 levels of nested groups
• ✅ You can apply RBAC directly
• ✅ Works with low permissions
• ✅ Integrated with Azure Resource Graph
• ✅ Available via Azure Portal and REST API

💬 My Thoughts?

This isn’t replacing Resource Groups. It’s giving us much-needed flexibility. Still in preview – but very promising!

🔗 Learn more here: Azure Service Groups Overview