Compute and web vm

Virtual machine naming convention

The CAF abbreviation for Virtual machine is vm. Names can be 1 to 64 characters long and allow alphanumerics and hyphens. The name must be unique within the resource group.

Naming rules

CAF abbreviation	vm
Length	1 to 64 characters
Allowed characters	Alphanumerics (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens
Scope of uniqueness	Unique within the resource group
CAF pattern	vm-{workload}-{environment}-{region}-{instance}

Worth knowing: This is the resource name (up to 64). The computer/host name is separate: 15 chars for Windows, 64 for Linux. If your resource name is longer than the OS limit, set the computer name explicitly in IaC (e.g. Terraform computer_name).

Rules follow Microsoft's resource naming rules and CAF abbreviations. Some resource types have extra start/end character restrictions, so verify against the official docs before locking in a convention.

Example names

Generated by the same engine as the name generator, so length and character rules are already applied.

Scenario	Generated name	Length
Payments API, production	`vm-payments-prod-eus-001`	24/64
Web app, development	`vm-webapp-dev-weu-002`	21/64
Analytics with company prefix	`vm-contoso-analytics-stage-uks-001`	34/64

Naming in Terraform and Bicep

Build the name from variables so one module produces the right name in every environment.

Terraform

locals {
  virtual_machine_name = "vm-${var.workload}-${var.environment}-${var.region}-001"
}

Bicep

var virtualMachineName = 'vm-${workload}-${environment}-${region}-001'

Generate Virtual machine names for your workload

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Related Compute and web resources

ase App Service environment asp App Service plan lt Azure Load Testing instance avail Availability set arcs Azure Arc enabled server arck Azure Arc enabled Kubernetes cluster pls Azure Arc private link scope arcgw Azure Arc gateway

See the full list of Azure resource naming rules or read the complete CAF naming guide.