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Description

This policy identifies Azure Virtual Machines that are provisioned in Azure regions known to have higher pricing compared to nearby alternatives.

Rationale​

Selecting the appropriate Azure region is essential for optimizing both cost and performance. Service pricing can vary across regions due to factors such as infrastructure expenses, energy costs, and local taxes. Deploying workloads in cost-efficient regions can result in substantial savings on monthly Azure expenditures.

Impact​

Migrating workloads to different regions requires careful planning to avoid service disruptions and to ensure latency, compliance, and data sovereignty requirements continue to be met.

Audit​

This policy flagged an Azure Virtual Machine as INCOMPLIANT if it is running in one of the following regions identified as less cost-efficient:

RegionRecommended Alternative
westus,
westcentralus		westus3, westus2
southcentralus,
centralus		northcentralus, westus3, westus2
canadaeast,
canadacentral		eastus, eastus2
ukwest,
uksouth,
francecentral,
francesouth,
westeurope,
germanywestcentral,
germanynorth,
switzerlandnorth,
switzerlandwest,
italynorth,
polandcentral,
norwayeast,
norwaywest,
swedensouth,
spaincentral		swedencentral, northeurope
southindia,
westindia		centralindia
australiasoutheastaustraliacentral, australiacentral2, australiaeast
japaneast,
japanwest,
koreacentral		koreasouth

If the Azure Virtual Machine is not running, it is marked as INAPPLICABLE.