I Scraped the Azure Periodic Table to Build a Service Dictionary (And You Can Use It)

ServiceType         Count
virtualmachines     156
storageaccounts     423
networkinterfaces   8234

# PowerShell web scraping
$url = "https://www.azureperiodictable.com/"
$scrapedContent = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url

$AzureServiceDictionary = @{
    'virtualmachines' = @{
        Name = 'Virtual Machine'
        Category = 'Compute'
        Description = 'On-demand, high-scale, secure, virtualized infrastructure'
        Prefix = 'vmw-/vml-'
        Provider = 'Microsoft.Compute'
        CostTier = 'High'
    }

    'storageaccounts' = @{
        Name = 'Storage Account'
        Category = 'Storage'
        Description = 'Secure, scalable, durable cloud storage solution'
        Prefix = 'st-'
        Provider = 'Microsoft.Storage'
        CostTier = 'Medium'
    }

    'virtualnetworks' = @{
        Name = 'Virtual Network'
        Category = 'Networking'
        Description = 'Private network in Azure for resource communication'
        Prefix = 'vnet-'
        Provider = 'Microsoft.Network'
        CostTier = 'Low'
    }

    'keyvaults' = @{
        Name = 'Key Vault'
        Category = 'Security'
        Description = 'Securely store and access secrets'
        Prefix = 'kv-'
        Provider = 'Microsoft.KeyVault'
        CostTier = 'Low'
    }

    # ... 196 more services
}

# Look up any service programmatically
$service = $AzureServiceDictionary['virtualmachines']

Write-Host "Service: $($service.Name)"
Write-Host "Category: $($service.Category)"
Write-Host "Description: $($service.Description)"
Write-Host "Naming: $($service.Prefix)"
Write-Host "Cost: $($service.CostTier)"

Service: Virtual Machine
Category: Compute
Description: On-demand, high-scale, secure, virtualized infrastructure
Naming: vmw-/vml-
Cost: High

ServiceType         Count   Provider
virtualmachines     156     Microsoft.Compute
storageaccounts     423     Microsoft.Storage
networkinterfaces   8234    Microsoft.Network

DisplayName          Category    Description                              Count  Prefix    CostTier
Virtual Machine      Compute     On-demand, high-scale infrastructure     156    vmw-/vml- High
Storage Account      Storage     Secure, scalable cloud storage           423    st-       Medium
Network Interface    Networking  Interconnection between VM and VNet      8234   nic-      Free

# Import service dictionary
. "$PSScriptRoot\Azure-Service-Dictionary.ps1"

# Query all resource types (same as original tool)
$results = Search-AzGraph -Query $query -Subscription $subscriptionScope

# Enrich with dictionary data
$inventory = $results | ForEach-Object {
    $serviceType = $_.ServiceType.ToLower()

    # Look up in dictionary
    $metadata = $AzureServiceDictionary[$serviceType]

    # Use metadata if available
    [PSCustomObject]@{
        DisplayName = if ($metadata) { $metadata.Name } else { $_.ServiceType }
        Category = if ($metadata) { $metadata.Category } else { 'Other' }
        Description = if ($metadata) { $metadata.Description } else { '' }
        NamingPrefix = if ($metadata) { $metadata.Prefix } else { '' }
        CostTier = if ($metadata) { $metadata.CostTier } else { 'Unknown' }
        Count = $_.Count
        # ... more columns
    }
}

📊 INVENTORY SUMMARY
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════

TOTAL SERVICES IN USE: 38 (out of 397 Azure services)
TOTAL RESOURCES: 31,247
ON PERIODIC TABLE: 36
NOT ON PERIODIC TABLE: 2

📁 BY CATEGORY:
   Networking: 12 service types (12,341 resources)
   Compute: 8 service types (8,156 resources)
   Storage: 4 service types (6,234 resources)
   Databases: 3 service types (892 resources)
   Monitoring: 4 service types (287 resources)
   Security: 3 service types (156 resources)

💰 BY COST TIER:
   High: 8 service types (9,782 resources)
   Medium: 14 service types (15,234 resources)
   Low: 12 service types (5,891 resources)
   Free: 4 service types (340 resources)

🔝 TOP 10 SERVICES BY RESOURCE COUNT:
   Network Interface (NIC)       8,234 resources
   Managed Disk                  4,156 resources
   Virtual Machine               3,890 resources
   Public IP Address             2,341 resources
   Storage Account               1,892 resources

# Get expected prefix
$resourceType = 'storageaccounts'
$expectedPrefix = $AzureServiceDictionary[$resourceType].Prefix  # 'st-'

# Query actual resources
$storageAccounts = Search-AzGraph -Query @"
Resources
| where type =~ 'microsoft.storage/storageaccounts'
| project name
"@

# Check compliance
foreach ($account in $storageAccounts) {
    if (-not $account.name.StartsWith('st')) {
        Write-Warning "$($account.name) doesn't follow convention: $expectedPrefix"
    }
}

# Get all high-cost services
$highCostServices = $AzureServiceDictionary.GetEnumerator() | 
    Where-Object { $_.Value.CostTier -eq 'High' }

Write-Host "HIGH-COST SERVICES IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT:"
$highCostServices | ForEach-Object { 
    Write-Host "  - $($_.Value.Name)" 
}

$markdown = "# Our Azure Service Catalog`n`n"

foreach ($category in ($usedServices | Group-Object Category)) {
    $markdown += "## $($category.Name)`n`n"

    foreach ($service in $category.Group) {
        $markdown += "### $($service.DisplayName)`n"
        $markdown += "**Description:** $($service.Description)`n`n"
        $markdown += "**Naming:** ``$($service.NamingPrefix)``*`n`n"
    }
}

⚠️  SERVICES NOT ON PERIODIC TABLE:
   - customresourceproviders (4 resources)
   - avsprivateclouds (1 resource)

git clone https://github.com/your-username/azure-noob-blog.git
cd azure-noob-blog/tools

Connect-AzAccount

# Run against all subscriptions
.\Get-AzureServiceInventory-Enhanced.ps1

# Or specific subscription
.\Get-AzureServiceInventory-Enhanced.ps1 -SubscriptionId "your-sub-id"

# Import the dictionary
. "$PSScriptRoot\Azure-Service-Dictionary.ps1"

# Use it
$service = $AzureServiceDictionary['keyvaults']
Write-Host "Key Vaults: $($service.Prefix)*"