Description

Ensure that auto-pause is enabled for Azure Synapse Spark pools. Auto-pause pauses a pool after its configured period of inactivity, reducing the cost of idle compute.

Rationale

Spark pools can continue consuming compute resources when no Spark jobs are running. Enabling auto-pause reduces unnecessary spend while preserving the pool configuration for future workloads.

Impact

Without auto-pause, idle Spark pools can incur avoidable compute charges. Enabling it can add resume latency to scheduled and interactive workloads, so the delay must suit the workload's startup tolerance.

Audit

This policy evaluates an Azure Synapse Spark pool only when its Provisioning State is Succeeded.

A pool is marked as INCOMPLIANT when Auto Pause: State is Disabled.

A pool is marked as INAPPLICABLE when its Provisioning State is not Succeeded.

A pool is marked as UNDETERMINED when the provisioning state is unavailable, the auto-pause state is missing or unrecognized, or an enabled pool has no configured delay.