Azure Advisor reviews your resources and suggests ways to improve them. This guide walks through the portal basics from Microsoft Learn, including what the page leaves undocumented.
Step 1: Open Advisor
- Sign in to the Azure portal.
- Select the Advisor icon at the top, search for Advisor, or choose it in the left pane.
- The Overview page opens by default.
New resources can take up to 24 hours to receive recommendations.
Step 2: Read the Overview
Category tiles show your current score, the total recommendations with a count per impact level, and the number of impacted resources. Select a tile to see its recommendation list. Related Microsoft pages name Reliability, Cost, Performance, Security (via Defender for Cloud) and Operational excellence. The Get started links lead to Advisor workbooks, recommendations and the Azure Well-Architected Framework.
Step 3: Filter the list
| Filter | Options |
|---|---|
| Subscription | All, or specific subscriptions |
| Recommendation Status | Active (default), Postponed, Complete, Dismissed |
| Resource Group | All (default) or specific groups |
| Type | All (default) or specific resource types |
| Add filter | Advanced filtering |
Filter changes apply when you select a value outside the button.
Step 4: Open a recommendation
- Open a category list and select Description or Impacted resources.
- Select a Recommended actions link to jump to the Azure page where you can fix it, or Learn more for context.
Microsoft says you can postpone or dismiss a recommendation, but the page gives no click-by-click steps and doesn’t name the privileges dismissing requires. Its Permissions article covers roles.
Step 5: Export a report
Select Download as CSV or Download as PDF on the action bar of any list or details page. Exports respect your active filters, and a single category or recommendation exports only that scope.
Step 6: Tune what Advisor checks
Select Configuration in the left pane.
- Resources tab: select or clear subscriptions for recommendations, then Apply.
- VM/VMSS right sizing tab: select subscriptions, choose Edit, set an average CPU utilization threshold, then Apply. This filters which machines appear and doesn’t change how recommendations are generated. Allow up to 24 hours for changes.
Changing subscriptions or Advisor compute rules requires being a subscription owner; otherwise the option is disabled.
What this page doesn’t cover
Microsoft’s page says nothing about Advisor alerts or Advisor pricing, so check the linked articles before relying on either.
Quick checklist
- Right subscriptions selected in Configuration
- High-impact items reviewed first
- Reports exported for stakeholders
- Test resources excluded from right-sizing noise
