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azure-create-policy-exceptions

An automation to programmatically create policy exceptions in Azure Cloud

Why Automation for Policy Exemptions is Essential

In modern cloud environments, policies play a crucial role in maintaining security, compliance, and governance. However, there are instances where exceptions to these policies are necessary due to specific circumstances or operational needs. Automating the process of creating and managing policy exemptions offers several key benefits:

  • Efficiency
  • Consistency
  • Scalability
  • Auditability
  • Reduced Administrative Overhead

Overview of Policy Exemption Automation

Policy exemption automation simplifies the process of managing exceptions to cloud policies.

Note

Policy Exemptions are applied at Subscription level scope

Here’s a brief overview of how it works:

Triggering Automation:

Automation can be triggered manually (e.g., via a request form) or automatically (e.g., based on specific conditions or events).

Input Collection:

Gather necessary details such as policy name, exemption reason, scope (e.g., subscription or resource group), and expiration date.

Validation:

Validate inputs to ensure they meet the criteria and constraints. checks of the entered policy assignmentexists on the scope provided.

Create/Update Exemption:

Use Azure python SDKs to create or update the policy exemption based on the provided details.

Inputs

Input Description Required
policy_name Policy Name to be given Exception to ✔️
subscription_name From which subscription we need to provide exemption. the scope ✔️
expires_after Policy exemption should be automatically revoked after how long ✔️
unit How long . Possible values are hour , day, month ✔️

  • The Expiration of Policy Exemption depends on 2 factors . expires_after value and the unit.

  • Lets say the value of expires_after is 3 and unit is day - the expiration will be after 3 days of executing the job

  • If value of expires_after is 2 and unit is hour - the expiration will be after 2 hours of executing the job

  • If value of expires_after is 4 and unit is month - the expiration will be after 4 months of executing the job

Streamlit UI

  • Using streamlit to Create pythin application

policy-exemption-example.jpeg

  • Provide valid Subscription Name

  • This returns the Subscription Id corresponding to the Subscription name

  • If entered Subscription Name is not found, None value is returned for Subscription Id

  • Once a valid subscription Id is returned using it, it will show us all assigned policies at the subscription level

  • Select the policy from dropdown which needs exemption

  • Provide a expires after value like 1 or 2 or 10 or 4.5 etc and unit value like day or month or hour.

  • Click on Apply Exemption to apply exemption.

Run code locally

  • Clone the repository and change direcctory into this

  • Install all dependancies using poetry install

  • Execute poetry run streamlit run .\streamlit_app.py

Azure Python SDKs used

use azure-identity for auth

  • The Azure Identity library provides Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) token authentication support across the Azure SDK azure-identity for auth

  • We need the below Env variables present for the code to execute without any exceptions environmentcredential

Service principal with secret:

AZURE_TENANT_ID: ID of the service principal's tenant. Also called its 'directory' ID.

AZURE_CLIENT_ID: the service principal's client ID

AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET: one of the service principal's client secrets

Tip

The policy exemption name length must not exceed '64' characters. I am using the same as policy name for exception. You can choose to change it as you see fit