Create and manage Tags for Workloads in Azure Migrate

Tags in Azure Migrate help you add business and operational context to discovered workloads. By creating and managing tags, you can classify, group, and filter workloads based on attributes such as environment, migration intent, department, or ownership. Tagging enables more accurate scoping of assessments, business cases, and reports, and supports effective migration planning across your inventory.

In this article, you learn how to:

• Understand reserved and custom tags in Azure Migrate
• After tags are created, you can modify or delete them later to keep discovered workloads up to date in Azure Migrate.
• Using Azure Migrate tags to scope assessments, business cases, and reports.

Prerequisites

Before you begin

• Ensure that you have an Azure Migrate project with discovery completed using one of the following methods:
  • Microsoft Azure Migrate: Server Migration center
  • Azure Migrate appliance
  • CSV import
  • RVTools import
• Verify that at least one workload has been successfully discovered and is visible in the Azure Migrate inventory.

Reserved

Use reserved attributes to define the environment and migration intent for workloads so Azure Migrate can apply the correct sizing logic, pricing model, and prioritization during analysis.

Environment

Use the environment value to classify workloads as Prod, Dev, Test, or UAT. Setting this value allows Azure Migrate to apply appropriate pricing, recommend suitable target SKUs, and prioritize workloads during migration planning.

Migration intent

The Migration intent attribute indicates the planned outcome for a workload. It classifies workloads into one of the following categories: Migrate, Retain, or Retire.

Custom tags

Custom tags are user-defined key-value pairs used to represent organizational attributes. You can define any tag names and values that meet your organization's requirements.

Custom tags appear in the Tags column of the exported All inventory CSV file, with values shown in JSON format.

The following table provides example custom tags for reference only. You can define tags based on your organization's needs.

Custom tags don't affect cost modeling or SKU recommendations. You can use custom tags to:

• Filter and scope assessments or reports using organizational dimensions such as department, cost center, or compliance requirements.
• Analyze ROI for stakeholder-specific proposals.
• Group workloads into applications based on shared tags.

Add tags to workloads

You can add both reserved tags and custom tags to workloads by using one of the following methods:

• The Azure portal
• CSV export and import

Add tags in the Azure portal

You can use the Azure portal to add reserved and custom tags to discovered workloads directly from the Azure Migrate inventory.

To add tags, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Azure portal.

2. In the Azure portal, search for Azure Migrate, and then go to Migrate dashboard.

3. Go to Inventory pane.

   

4. Select the workloads that you want to tag.

   1. Use filters to narrow the list by name, OS type, location, or other attributes.
   2. Select individual workloads, or select Select all to choose all workloads in the filtered view.

5. Select Tags and then select Add and Edit tags.

   

6. To add an Environment tag, enter:

   1. Name: AzM_Environment.
   2. Value: Prod, Dev, Test, or UAT.

   

7. To add a Migration intent tag, enter:

8. 1. Name: AzM_MigrationIntent.
   2. Value: Migrate, Retain, or Retire.

9. To add a Custom tag, enter a name and value that match your organizational requirements, for example: Name: Dept, Value: Finance.

Add tags by using CSV export and import

You can use CSV export and import to add or update tags in bulk, which is useful when managing tags for multiple resources at scale.

To add tags, follow these steps:

1. In the Azure Migrate project, go to the Inventory pane.

2. Select Export and then select All inventory.

   

3. Open the exported CSV file. Each row represents a workload, including servers, SQL instances, and web apps.

4. Update the required columns in the CSV file:

   • Reserved tags: Use the dedicated columns provided in the CSV:
     • Environment: Enter Prod, Dev, Test, or UAT.
     • Migration Intent: Enter Migrate, Retain, or Retire.
   • Custom tags: Use the Tags column and add tags in JSON format.
     • Single tag example: {"Dept":"Finance"}
     • Multiple tags example: {"Dept":"Finance","CostCenter":"CC100","Owner":"JohnDoe"}
     • Adding to existing tags: if the cell already contains {"Dept":"Finance"}, add the new key-value pair inside the JSON, for example: {"Dept":"Finance","AppTier":"Web"}. You can use any tag names and values.

   

5. Save the file.

6. In the Azure portal, go to Inventory, select Tags. Select Import tags, and then upload the updated CSV file.

   

Next step

• Modify and delete Tags.