Limit number of Dev Boxes per user

March 21, 2025 ยท View on GitHub

SYNOPSIS

Limit the number of Dev Boxes a single user can create for a project.

DESCRIPTION

Microsoft Dev Box is a service that allows users to create and manage a developer workstation in the cloud (Dev Boxes). Dev Boxes are virtual machines with specifications and configuration designed for developers. Each Dev Box is billed based on usage to a capped amount per month.

Dev Box Projects are used to manage Dev Boxes. By default, a single user can create multiple Dev Boxes for a single Dev Box Project. This can lead to unexpected costs.

Organizations should consider how many Dev Boxes are required for a single user and set reasonable limits.

RECOMMENDATION

Consider limiting the number of Dev Boxes a single user can create for any projects. Additional consider, configuring budgets and alerts to monitor cost exceptions.

EXAMPLES

Configure with Azure template

To deploy Dev Box Projects that pass this rule:

  • Set the properties.maxDevBoxesPerUser property to limit the number of Dev Box a single user can create. E.g. 2

For example:

{
  "type": "Microsoft.DevCenter/projects",
  "apiVersion": "2023-04-01",
  "name": "[parameters('name')]",
  "location": "[parameters('location')]",
  "properties": {
    "devCenterId": "[resourceId('Microsoft.DevCenter/devcenters', parameters('name'))]",
    "maxDevBoxesPerUser": 2
  },
  "dependsOn": [
    "[resourceId('Microsoft.DevCenter/devcenters', parameters('name'))]"
  ]
}

Configure with Bicep

To deploy Dev Box Projects that pass this rule:

  • Set the properties.maxDevBoxesPerUser property to limit the number of Dev Box a single user can create. E.g. 2

For example:

resource project 'Microsoft.DevCenter/projects@2023-04-01' = {
  name: name
  location: location
  properties: {
    devCenterId: center.id
    maxDevBoxesPerUser: 2
  }
}

NOTES

The properties.maxDevBoxesPerUser property does not limit the number of Dev Boxes a user can create across multiple projects.