Overview of Tagging

The Tagging service provides two ways for you to add tags to resources.

Each approach offers a different type of tag for you to work with:

• Defined tags - tag administrators manage resource metadata.
• Free-form tags - unmanaged metadata applied to resources by users.

One approach involves a tag administrator creating and managing all the tags that users apply to resources. Use IAM policy to select tag administrators, who can create tags. Grant all others in the tenancy only the ability to apply tags. The benefit to this approach is that you can create and manage the keys and values used to tag resources. You can then avoid typos that weaken automation based on tags and provide better reporting based on tags.

The other approach is to allow users to add tags to resources. Each tag is edited or applied at the resource by you or a user creating or modifying a resource. You can use both types of tags throughout your tenancy.

Most of the Tagging features require defined tags. "Tag" is used generically to refer to defined tags. To create metadata that you can trust to manage resources and collect data, use defined tags. With defined tags, the following scenarios become possible: 

• Create default tags that are applied to all resources in compartments. See Managing Tag Defaults.
• Specify that users must apply tags to resources to successfully create resources in compartments.
• If you make a typo using defined tags, correct it by editing or even deleting the tag. When you delete a defined tag, Oracle removes the key and any value for that tag from all resources. See Deleting Tag Key Definitions and Namespaces.
• Associate a list of predefined values for a defined tag. See Using Predefined Values.
• Use system variables to generate values for defined tags or tag defaults automatically. See Using Tag Variables.
• Track costs based on tags. Use of defined tags is recommended for this use case.

Describes the basic tagging concepts.

Here's a list of the basic tagging concepts:

TAG NAMESPACE

You can think of a tag namespace as a container for your tag keys. It consists of a name and zero or more tag key definitions. Tag namespaces are not case sensitive and must be unique across the tenancy. The namespace is also a natural grouping to which administrators can apply policy. One policy on the tag namespace applies to all the tag definitions contained within that namespace.

Note

• You cannot use OCID to name the tag namespace as OCIDs do not follow the required format for naming tag namespaces.
• You cannot change the name of your tag namespace. However, you can retire it.

TAG KEY

The name you use to refer to the tag. Tag keys are case insensitive. For example, mytagkey duplicates MyTagKey. You must create tag keys for defined tags in a namespace. Each tag key must be unique within a namespace.

TAG VALUE TYPE

The tag value type specifies the data type allowed for the value. Currently two data types are supported: string and a list of strings.

KEY DEFINITION

A key definition defines the schema of a tag and includes a namespace, tag key, and tag value type.

Note

You cannot change the name of your tag key definition. However, you can retire it

TAG VALUE

The tag value is the value that the user applying the tag adds to the tag key. Tag values support two data types: strings and lists of strings. You can define a list of values for the user to select from when you define the tag key, or you can allow the user to enter any value when the tag is applied to the resource. If you select a string tag value when you create the key, the user can leave the value blank when they apply the key.

In the example:

Operations.CostCenter="42"

Operations is the namespace, CostCenter is the tag key, and 42 is the tag value.

TAG (OR DEFINED TAG)

A tag is the instance of a key definition that is applied to a resource. It consists of a namespace, a key, and a value. "Tag" is used generically to refer to defined tags.

FREE-FORM TAG

A basic metadata association that consists of a key and a value only. Free-form tags have limited functionality. See Understanding Free-form Tags.

COST TRACKING

Cost tracking is a feature available with defined tags. To understand when you need to designate a tag as a cost-tracking Tag, see Using Cost-Tracking Tags.

TAG DEFAULT

Tag defaults let you specify tags that are applied automatically to all resources in a specific compartment at the time of creation, regardless of the permissions of the user who creates the resource. See Managing Tag Defaults.

RETIRE

You can retire a tag key definition or a tag namespace. Retired tag namespaces and key definitions can no longer be applied to resources. However, retired tags are not removed from the resources to which they have already been applied. You can still specify retired tags when searching, filtering, reporting, and so on.

REACTIVATE

You can reactivate a tag namespace or tag key definition that has been retired to reinstate its usage in your tenancy.

TAG VARIABLE

You can use a variable to set the value of a tag. When you add or update a tag on a resource, the variable resolves to the data it represents. See Using Tag Variables.

PREDEFINED VALUES

You can use a variable to set the value of a tag. When you add or update a tag on a resource, the variable resolves to the data it represents. See Using Predefined Values.

TAG EXAMPLE

{
  "compartmentId": "ocid.compartment.oc1..exampleuniquecompartmentID",
  "namespace": "ansh8lvru1zp",
  "objectEventsEnabled": true,
  "name": "my-test-1",
  "freeformTags": {"Department": "Finance"},
  "definedTags":
  {
    "MyTags":
    {
      "CostCenter": "42",
      "Project": "Stealth",
      "CreatedBy": "BillSmith",
      "CreatedDate": "9/21/2017T14:00"
    },
    "Audit":
    {
      "DataSensitivity": "PII",
      "CageSecurity": "High",
      "Simplicity": "complex"
    }
  }
}

For administrators: Use the following topics to find example of IAM policy for Tagging: 

• Required Permissions for Working with Defined Tags
• Required Permissions for Working with Tag Defaults
• Required Permissions for Working with Free-form Tags

Tagging is currently available in all regions.

Learn about per-resource limits on tags, and what characters are supported in tag strings.

• Tags per tenancy: unlimited
• Tags per resource: 10 free-form tags and 64 defined tags
• Tags enabled for cost-tracking: 10 per tenancy (includes both active and retired tags)
• Total tag data size: 5 K (JSON). The total tag data size includes all tag data for a single resource (all applied tags and tag values). Sizing is per UTF-8.
• Number of pre-defined values for a tag key: 100 per list

Provides the list of resources supported by tagging.

The following table lists resources that support tagging. This table will be updated as tagging support is added for more resources.