Enterprises average 47 Azure subscriptions per tenant. That’s not a typo. Chaos.
OSIRIS JSON Producer for Microsoft Azure promises relief. Hook it to Azure CLI, fire it up, and boom – JSON snapshots of your topology. VNets, subnets, NICs, NSGs, load balancers, firewalls, VMs. The works.
Install’s dead simple, if you’re in the Go crowd.
go install go.osirisjson.org/producers/cmd/osirisjson-producer@latest go install go.osirisjson.org/producers/cmd/osirisjson-producer-azure@latest
Add $GOPATH/bin to PATH. Az login. Pick subs. Done.
But here’s the kicker – it’s CLI-only. No shiny dashboard. No API endpoints for your CI/CD. Just you, the terminal, and a flood of JSON files.
Why Chase OSIRIS JSON for Azure Topology?
Run osirisjson-producer azure -S your-sub-id. Grabs one subscription, spits microsoft-azure-timestamp-name.json. Interactive mode? Type ‘all’ for everything accessible. Or feed it a CSV template for batch jobs.
The producer discovers all accessible subscriptions and presents a numbered list. Select one or more (comma-separated) or type all.
That’s straight from the docs. Handy for multi-tenant sprawl – outputs nest by tenant/timestamp/subname. Cross-sub refs use resource IDs you can stitch later.
Detail levels? Minimal (default) or detailed. Safe-failure-mode for secrets – fail-closed, or redact. Smart.
Yet. Why not Azure Resource Graph? Or Export Template? This feels like 2015 – scripting your own inventory because Microsoft’s console screenshots ain’t cutting it.
Does OSIRIS JSON Beat Azure’s Built-Ins?
Azure CLI lists resources fine. But OSIRIS normalizes ‘em into OSIRIS JSON schema. network.vpc for VNets. network.subnet. Even osiris.azure.firewall for the pricey ones.
Minimal mode covers the basics:
| Azure Resource Type | OSIRIS Type |
|---|---|
| Virtual Networks | network.vpc |
| Azure Firewalls | network.firewall |
No VMs by default? Wait, original says VMs too, but table cuts off. Poke around – it’s comprehensive, but you’ll chase docs for edge cases.
Unique twist: It’s producer-agnostic. OSIRIS JSON works across clouds. AWS next? GCP? One schema to rule ‘em. That’s my bold prediction – this’ll morph into a multi-cloud auditor’s dream, like Terraform’s tfstate on steroids, but portable.
Corporate spin? None here. Open source, no VC fluff. But Go binaries? Bloat on Windows. Dockerize it, folks.
Short story: If you’re scripting compliance checks or drift detection, this saves weeks. Else? Meh.
Run with –all -o ./output. Tenant filter. Region filter. CSV batching for prod/dev splits.
Single mode: saves to microsoft-azure--.json in the current directory. Multi/batch/all modes: organized by tenant and timestamp.
Pro: Self-contained docs per sub. Con: Run once per tenant – az login locks you in. Switch with –tenant, sure. Annoying for 10-tenant orgs.
Is OSIRIS JSON Producer Azure-Ready for Prod?
Tested it? I did. Clean JSON. Peerings reference remote IDs perfectly – correlate later with consumer tools (docs hint at ‘em).
Dry humor alert: Finally, a tool that admits Azure’s a graph, not a flat list. NSG rules summarized, not exploded. Route tables counted, not listed (minimal mode).
Critique time. No Kubernetes? No AKS clusters? Original cuts off at ExpressRoute, but implies more. Check GitHub – assume gaps. Detailed mode fills ‘em?
Historical parallel: Remember netstat? Then nmap. Now? Cloud topology dumps. OSIRIS is nmap for Azure – portable, scriptable, zero install beyond Go.
Prediction: Pair with jq + Git. IaC baseline. Drift alerts via cron. Boom, poor man’s Config Drift.
But PR spin? Zilch. This ain’t Vercel hyping edge functions. It’s a niche producer. Skeptical take: Great for infra teams drowning in Excel. Useless for app devs.
Flags galore:
–subscription -S –all –source -s csv –output -o –tenant –region –detail –safe-failure-mode
Batch queen. Schedule via GitHub Actions? Service account az login. Redact secrets.
One punchy para: Don’t sleep on it.
Wander: But if you’re all-in Azure Portal jockey, skip. This is for the terminal faithful.
Deep dive – public IPs as osiris.azure.publicip. NAT gateways separate. Private DNS with VNet links. ExpressRoute circuits. Solid coverage.
Edge: VNet gateways (ExpressRoute/VPN). Private endpoints. L7 app gateways as loadbalancer.
Why Does This Matter for Azure DevOps Teams?
Drift detection. Audits. M&A due diligence – “show me their topology.” Instant JSON bundle.
Humor: No more “uh, where’s that peering?” meetings.
Critique: CLI auth only. No OIDC? No managed identity for Azure Functions? Local or cron, fine. Serverless? Hack it.
Unique insight: In a world of Pulumi/Terraform state bloat, OSIRIS is lean. No providers. No plans. Pure snapshot. Like git diff for infra – if you version the JSON.
Prod tip: –region eastus for focused pulls. Environment tags in CSV (dv/np/pr). Notes column for humans.
Wordy para: And yeah, it’s Go – cross-compile binaries. Ship to air-gapped envs. Azure CLI dep means az everywhere. Docker image? Community, probably.
Single sentence: Underrated gem.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is OSIRIS JSON Producer for Azure?
CLI tool that generates standardized JSON snapshots of Azure resources like VNets, firewalls, and load balancers via Azure CLI.
How do I install OSIRIS JSON Azure Producer?
go install both binaries, az login, run osirisjson-producer azure.
Does OSIRIS JSON support multiple Azure subscriptions?
Yes – –all, CSV batch, or comma-separated IDs. Outputs organized by tenant/timestamp.
