How many subscription shall i create for Azure Dev-Test-Live all 3 enviornment

Question

Hi,

I have 3 environment for development that is below

Dev

Test

Live

How many subscription shall i create for these 3 environment. each one for 3 or 1 subscription is enough for all 3?

Answer 1

The decision to create one subscription or separate subscriptions for your Dev, Test, and Live environments depends on your requirements regarding isolation, billing, management, and security

Option 1: Single Subscription for All Environments

• Pros:
  1. Cost efficiency: A single subscription avoids subscription-level costs (if applicable) and is simpler to manage.
  2. Centralized management: All resources are managed under one subscription, reducing administrative overhead.
  3. Easier RBAC setup: Role-based access control (RBAC) can still be managed at the Resource Group level to separate environments.
  4. Ideal for small setups: Suitable if these environments are small and the teams working on them overlap significantly.
• Cons:
  1. Risk of resource conflicts: Resources for different environments may accidentally impact one another (e.g., misconfiguration or shared quotas).
  2. Billing granularity: Differentiating costs for Dev, Test, and Live environments may require tagging or resource grouping.
  3. Security concerns: A single subscription may lead to accidental access between environments if RBAC is not properly configured.
  4. Quota limits: A single subscription's resource quotas (e.g., vCPUs, storage) are shared across all environments.

Option 2: Separate Subscriptions for Each Environment

• Pros:
  1. Isolation: Each environment is completely separate. Any issues in Dev or Test won't affect Live.
  2. Billing separation: Costs for each environment can be easily tracked and reported without relying on tagging or grouping.
  3. Better governance: Policies, quotas, and compliance requirements can be tailored to the specific needs of each environment.
  4. Security: Access can be restricted per subscription to avoid accidental interference between environments.
• Cons:
  1. Administrative overhead: More subscriptions mean more management effort, including setting up policies, monitoring, and access control for each one.
  2. Cost considerations: Some scenarios may involve subscription-level costs, though this is uncommon for standard Azure services.
  3. Requires planning: Naming conventions, access setup, and cross-environment communication need careful planning.

Effectively

• For small teams or low-complexity setups: Use 1 subscription for all 3 environments but separate them using Resource Groups, tagging, and strict RBAC to enforce isolation.
• For larger teams or mission-critical Live environments: Use 3 separate subscriptions to ensure better isolation, cost tracking, and governance.

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hth

Marcin