Azure Advisor

  • Author: Ronald Fung

  • Creation Date: May 10, 2023

  • Next Modified Date: May 10, 2024

A. Introduction

Advisor is a personalized cloud consultant that helps you follow best practices to optimize your Azure deployments. It analyzes your resource configuration and usage telemetry and then recommends solutions that can help you improve the cost effectiveness, performance, Reliability (formerly called High availability), and security of your Azure resources.

B. How is it used at Seagen

As a biopharma research company using Microsoft Azure, you can use Azure Advisor to optimize your Azure resources, improve your security posture, and reduce your costs. Here are some ways you can use Azure Advisor:

  1. Cost optimization: Azure Advisor provides recommendations for optimizing your costs in Azure. It analyzes your usage patterns and provides suggestions for reducing your costs, such as resizing or shutting down underutilized virtual machines, using Azure Reserved Instances, and optimizing your storage.

  2. Security: Azure Advisor provides recommendations for improving your security posture in Azure. It analyzes your security configurations and provides suggestions for improving your security, such as enabling multi-factor authentication, configuring network security groups, and enabling Azure Security Center.

  3. High availability: Azure Advisor provides recommendations for improving the high availability of your Azure resources. It analyzes your resource configurations and provides suggestions for improving your availability, such as configuring load balancing, using availability sets, and configuring auto-scaling.

  4. Performance: Azure Advisor provides recommendations for improving the performance of your Azure resources. It analyzes your resource configurations and provides suggestions for improving your performance, such as optimizing your SQL databases, using caching, and using Azure Application Insights.

  5. Best practices: Azure Advisor provides recommendations for following Azure best practices. It analyzes your resource configurations and provides suggestions for following best practices, such as using managed disks, using Azure Site Recovery, and using Azure Backup.

Overall, Azure Advisor can help your biopharma research company to optimize your Azure resources, improve your security posture, and reduce your costs. With cost optimization, security, high availability, performance, and best practices recommendations, Azure Advisor can help you to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your Azure deployment.

C. Features

With Advisor, you can:

  • Get proactive, actionable, and personalized best practices recommendations.

  • Improve the performance, security, and reliability of your resources, as you identify opportunities to reduce your overall Azure spend.

  • Get recommendations with proposed actions inline.

You can access Advisor through the Azure portal. Sign in to the portal, locate Advisor in the navigation menu, or search for it in the All services menu.

The Advisor dashboard displays personalized recommendations for all your subscriptions. You can apply filters to display recommendations for specific subscriptions and resource types. The recommendations are divided into five categories:

D. Where implemented

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E. How it is tested

Testing Azure Advisor involves ensuring that the cost optimization, security, performance, and high availability recommendations are functioning correctly, securely, and meeting the needs of all stakeholders involved in the project. Here are some steps to follow to test Azure Advisor:

  1. Define the scope and requirements: Define the scope of the project and the requirements of all stakeholders involved in the project. This will help ensure that Azure Advisor is designed to meet the needs of all stakeholders.

  2. Develop test cases: Develop test cases that cover all aspects of Azure Advisor functionality, including cost optimization, security, performance, and high availability recommendations. The test cases should be designed to meet the needs of the organization, including scalability and resilience.

  3. Conduct unit testing: Test the individual components of Azure Advisor to ensure that they are functioning correctly. This may involve using tools like PowerShell or Azure CLI for automated testing.

  4. Conduct integration testing: Test Azure Advisor in an integrated environment to ensure that it works correctly with other systems and applications. This may involve testing Azure Advisor with different operating systems, browsers, and devices.

  5. Conduct user acceptance testing: Test Azure Advisor with end-users to ensure that it meets their needs and is easy to use. This may involve conducting surveys, interviews, or focus groups to gather feedback from users.

  6. Automate testing: Automate testing of Azure Advisor to ensure that it is functioning correctly and meeting the needs of all stakeholders. This may involve using tools like Azure DevOps to set up automated testing pipelines.

  7. Monitor performance: Monitor the performance of Azure Advisor in production to ensure that it is meeting the needs of all stakeholders. This may involve setting up monitoring tools, such as Azure Monitor, to track usage and identify performance issues.

  8. Address issues: Address any issues that are identified during testing and make necessary changes to ensure that Azure Advisor is functioning correctly and meeting the needs of all stakeholders.

By following these steps, you can ensure that Azure Advisor is tested thoroughly and meets the needs of all stakeholders involved in the project. This can help improve the quality of Azure Advisor and ensure that it functions correctly in a production environment.

F. 2023 Roadmap

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G. 2024 Roadmap

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H. Known Issues

There are several known issues that can impact Azure Advisor. Here are some of the most common issues to be aware of:

  1. Configuration issues: Configuration issues can arise when setting up Azure Advisor. It is important to ensure that all configurations are set up correctly to avoid issues with cost optimization, security, performance, and high availability recommendations.

  2. Performance issues: If the system is not properly sized, it can impact performance and availability, causing issues with the generation of recommendations.

  3. Integration issues: Integration issues can arise when integrating Azure Advisor with other systems and applications. It is important to ensure that Azure Advisor is designed to work seamlessly with other systems and applications to avoid integration issues.

  4. Security issues: Security is a critical concern when it comes to Azure Advisor. It is important to ensure that all data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and that access to Azure Advisor is restricted to authorized personnel.

  5. Accuracy issues: In some cases, the recommendations generated by Azure Advisor may not be accurate or may not apply to a specific environment. It is important to review the recommendations carefully and validate them before taking action.

  6. False positive recommendations: Similar to false positive alerts in Azure ATP, false positive recommendations can cause confusion and lead to wasted time investigating non-existent issues. It is important to fine-tune Azure Advisor’s recommendation system to reduce false positives as much as possible.

  7. Reliability issues: Reliability issues can arise when Azure Advisor is not functioning correctly or when the system experiences downtime. It is important to monitor Azure Advisor’s performance and reliability to ensure that it is meeting the needs of the organization.

Overall, Azure Advisor requires careful planning and management to ensure that it is functioning correctly and meeting the needs of all stakeholders involved in the project. By being aware of these known issues and taking steps to address them, you can improve the quality of Azure Advisor and ensure the success of your project.

[x] Reviewed by Enterprise Architecture

[x] Reviewed by Application Development

[x] Reviewed by Data Architecture