Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure (AZ-204) Practice Exam

What can be used to manage governance across multiple Azure subscriptions?

1. Resource groups

2. Azure initiatives

3. Management groups

4. Azure policies

The correct answer is: Management groups

Managing governance across multiple Azure subscriptions is effectively achieved through the use of management groups. Management groups provide a way to organize and manage your subscriptions in Azure to allow you to apply governance and compliance rules broadly across those subscriptions. By using management groups, you can set policies, role-based access controls, and compliance at a higher level, rolling down to the subscriptions and resources within them. This hierarchical structure allows organizations to align to their business structure, making it easier to apply governance policies globally rather than individually at each subscription level. This not only simplifies management but also ensures consistent policy enforcement and security across all subscriptions. While resource groups, Azure initiatives, and Azure policies play important roles within Azure governance, they serve different purposes. Resource groups are used for organizing resources within a single subscription. Azure initiatives bundle a set of Azure policies for easier management and implementation but operate on specific subscriptions. Azure policies, on the other hand, allow for enforcing rules and effects on resources in a subscription but do not provide the overarching management layer that management groups do.