Goal:

A solution that enables the customer to use similar tags in different providers and getting them identified as the same tag, independently on the namespace, and also take into account small differences in tagging format between providers.

User Stories:

• As a admin
  I want the ability to set up maping between different providers. For instance, matching tags that belong to the same format with a regexp, or matching tags in capital/small letters, independently of the namespace

Problem:

Different providers (AWS and OCP), have different definition for tags. We differentiate them by using a full namespace that isolates one vendor from other. In addition, many of those providers have restrictions on the format and characters that are used for tags (i.e. being able to use punctuation marks, differentiating between capital and small letters or not). In order to identify things that belongs together between providers, we need a way to identify tags that are equal even if the namespace is different and cope with the fact of matching tags with different restrictions.

In other cases, different groups can tag assets with their own strategy before being merged into an account or they can basically use different tags for the same purposes. In those cases, it is possible that assets are being identified in different sources like "R&D", "Research", "research and development", thus being identified as being different even if they basically belong to the same concept.

Why is this important?:

Tagging is a basic capability necessary to provide additional information to the customer. Identifying the project, service or group that is using the resources in different ways is key to group costs together and provide meaningful information to the customer

Examples

Example 1.The user tags the resources in OpenShift for its project "Project X", and he does the same with resources like an RDS that he sets up in AWS, using a tag that is equivalent. When we report on the project, we can identify all resources.

Example 2. The user tags one account research assets as "R&D", and another as "research". Cost Management identifies both as the same tag