Subscription-scoped naming for Azure resources
Human Architected • AI-Augmented Development
Azure enforces inconsistent naming constraints across resource types—Storage Accounts require lowercase only (24 chars), KeyVaults allow alphanumeric and dashes (24 chars), and VMs cap at 15 characters due to the NetBIOS/Active Directory computer name limit. Traditional naming conventions either use unreadable GUIDs or create collisions across subscriptions at scale.
The Front9/Back9 algorithm extracts subscription identity (first 9 + last 9 characters) and adapts it to each resource type's constraints. This creates globally unique, human-readable names without external configuration databases.
Subscription-scoped resources (Resource Groups, KeyVaults, Storage Accounts) contain NO region codes—they serve all datacenters. Only VMs include region codes (az1/az2/az3) because they're physically located in specific datacenters. This prevents the common mistake of naming a Resource Group "RG-Production-EastUS" when it actually contains VMs in West US, Central US, and East US.