Batch Budget Bake – Azure Edition
Automate budget monitoring with native Azure ingredients — no enterprise sauces, no vendor calories.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Budget alerts are your smoke alarms in the cloud kitchen. They won’t stop the fire, but they’ll let you know when something’s starting to burn 🔥💰 These PowerShell recipes offer a no-fuss, code-first way to whip up Azure budget alerts — whether you’re setting limits for a whole subscription or plating out per-resource group portions.
Forget the enterprise stew of dashboards, portals, and premium fluff. These scripts use Azure’s native REST API directly — simple, powerful, and lean enough for any small team, startup, or savvy FinOps side hustle. Perfect for chefs who want cost control without cloud complexity. Just run, bake, and save. 🍞💸
Subscription-Level Budgets
Set up budget alerts for an entire subscription with a single command. Perfect for overall cost management.
Resource Group Budgets
Create multiple resource group budgets from a CSV file. Ideal for team or project-based cost tracking.
Why Use Budget Alerts
Budget alerts are a critical component of any FinOps strategy. They provide:
Early Warning
Get notified before costs spiral out of control. Forecasted alerts warn you about potential overruns.
Cost Accountability
Assign budgets to specific teams or projects via resource groups to drive ownership of cloud costs.
Governance
Demonstrate fiscal responsibility and ensure cloud spending aligns with business objectives.
Budget alerts in Azure are notifications only and don't automatically stop resources from running. For automatic cost control, you would need to implement additional automation or use Azure Policy.
Script Comparison
Choose the right script based on your specific needs:
| Feature | Subscription Budget Script | Resource Group Budget Script |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Entire subscription | Individual resource groups |
| Input Method | Command-line parameters | CSV file |
| Best For | Overall subscription governance | Team or project-based budgeting |
| Multiple Budgets | One at a time | Multiple in a single run |
| Email Notifications | Single recipient | Different recipients per budget |
| Customization | Parameters for each setting | CSV columns for flexible configuration |
| Execution Time | Faster for single budget | Efficient for multiple budgets |
Use the Subscription Budget script when:
- You need a quick setup for overall subscription monitoring
- You want to create a single budget with specific parameters
- You're integrating the script into another automation workflow
Use the Resource Group Budget script when:
- You need to create multiple budgets across different resource groups
- You want to maintain budget configurations in a spreadsheet
- Different teams need separate budgets with their own notification contacts
Subscription Budget Setup
The Create-SubscriptionBudget-REST.ps1 script creates a single budget alert at the subscription level.
Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| SubscriptionId | Yes | None | The Azure subscription ID where the budget will be created |
| BudgetName | Yes | None | A unique name for the budget |
| BudgetAmount | Yes | None | The budget amount in USD |
| NotificationEmail | Yes | None | Email address to receive budget alerts |
| TimeGrain | No | Monthly | Budget time period (Monthly, Quarterly, Annually) |
| NotificationThreshold | No | 80 | Percentage threshold for alerts (e.g., 80 for 80%) |
| StartDate | No | Current month start | Budget start date in ISO format (yyyy-MM-ddT00:00:00Z) |
| EndDate | No | 1 year from start | Budget end date in ISO format (yyyy-MM-ddT00:00:00Z) |
Usage Examples
Basic usage with required parameters only:
# Create a basic monthly budget of $1000 with alerts at 80%
.Create-SubscriptionBudget-REST.ps1 -SubscriptionId "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" -BudgetName "Marketing-Monthly-Budget" -BudgetAmount 1000 -NotificationEmail "team@example.com"The script uses the current Azure PowerShell context for authentication. Make sure you're logged in withConnect-AzAccount before running the script.
Resource Group Budget Setup
The Create-ResourceGroupBudgets-REST.ps1 script creates multiple budget alerts at the resource group level based on a CSV file input.
CSV Format
Create a CSV file with the following columns:
SubscriptionId,ResourceGroupName,BudgetName,BudgetAmount,NotificationEmail,NotificationThreshold,TimeGrain,StartDate,EndDate
00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000,Marketing,Marketing-Monthly,1000,marketing@example.com,80,Monthly,,
00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000,Development,Dev-Monthly,2000,dev@example.com,70,Monthly,,
00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000,Infrastructure,Infra-Quarterly,5000,infra@example.com,75,Quarterly,2025-07-01T00:00:00Z,2026-06-30T00:00:00ZOnly the first five columns are required. The rest are optional and will use default values if not specified.
Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CsvFilePath | Yes | None | Path to the CSV file containing budget configurations |
| DefaultNotificationThreshold | No | 80 | Default percentage threshold for alerts if not specified in CSV |
Usage Examples
Basic usage:
# Create budgets from a CSV file with default threshold (80%)
.Create-ResourceGroupBudgets-REST.ps1 -CsvFilePath "C:Budgets
esource-group-budgets.csv"You can maintain your budget configurations in Excel or Google Sheets and export to CSV when needed. This makes it easy to track and update your budget settings over time.
Implementation Tips
Naming Conventions
Use consistent naming conventions for your budgets to make them easier to manage:
[Team]-[TimeGrain]-Budget[Project]-[Year]-[Month][Department]-[Category]-[TimeGrain]
Multiple Thresholds
Consider creating multiple budgets with different thresholds for the same resource group:
- 70% - Early warning
- 90% - Urgent attention needed
- 100% - Budget exceeded
Azure budgets reset based on the TimeGrain parameter. For monthly budgets, this means the budget resets on the first day of each month. Plan your budget amounts accordingly, especially for months with different numbers of days.
Automation Considerations
These scripts can be integrated into your automation workflows:
- Azure DevOps Pipelines - Run as part of your infrastructure deployment
- GitHub Actions - Automate budget creation from your repository
- Azure Automation - Schedule regular budget updates
- Resource Provisioning - Add budget creation to your resource provisioning scripts
For automation scenarios, you'll need to modify the authentication method to use a service principal instead of interactive login. Replace the token acquisition code with:
# Service Principal Authentication
$tenantId = "your-tenant-id"
$clientId = "your-client-id"
$clientSecret = "your-client-secret"
$tokenUrl = "https://login.microsoftonline.com/$tenantId/oauth2/token"
$body = @{
grant_type = "client_credentials"
client_id = $clientId
client_secret = $clientSecret
resource = "https://management.azure.com/"
}
$response = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -Uri $tokenUrl -Body $body
$token = $response.access_tokenTroubleshooting
| Error | Possible Cause | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Failed to get access token | Not logged in to Azure PowerShell | Run Connect-AzAccount before executing the script |
| CSV file not found | Incorrect file path or file doesn't exist | Verify the file path and ensure the file exists |
| Failed to create budget: AuthorizationFailed | Insufficient permissions | Ensure you have Contributor or Owner role on the subscription/resource group |
| Failed to create budget: InvalidResourceId | Resource group doesn't exist | Verify the resource group exists in the specified subscription |
| Failed to create budget: InvalidTemplate | Malformed request body | Check for special characters in budget name or invalid date formats |
Both scripts include detailed error output. If you encounter issues, check:
- The full error message in the console output
- The error details section which contains the raw API response
- Azure Activity Log for any authorization or resource-related issues
Next Steps
After setting up your budget alerts, consider these next steps to enhance your Azure cost management:
Tagging Strategy
Implement a comprehensive tagging strategy to better track and allocate costs across your organization.
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