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Azure Virtual Machines Types

Azure

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Sivaraman Alagappan
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224 views4 pages

Azure Virtual Machines Types

Azure

Uploaded by

Sivaraman Alagappan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) come in different sizes, each with varying amounts of CPU, memory,

and storage resources. The types of Azure VM sizes are grouped into different families based on
their characteristics and intended usage. Here are a few examples:

1. General Purpose: These VM sizes are well-suited for a wide range of workloads,
including web servers, small to medium databases, and development and test
environments and low to medium traffic web servers. They provide a balance of
compute, memory, and local storage. Examples include the B-series, Dv2-series,
and F-series.
2. Compute Optimized: These VMs are designed for workloads that require high
CPU-to-memory ratios, such as batch processing, media encoding, and gaming.
These VM sizes are optimized for compute-intensive workloads, such as batch
processing and compute-heavy application servers. Examples include the Fsv2-
series and the Av2-series.
3. Memory Optimized: These VM sizes are optimized for workloads that require high
memory-to-vCPU ratios, such as medium to large databases, in-memory caching,
and real-time big data analytics. Examples include the M-series, R-series, and Lsv2-
series.
4. Storage Optimized: These VM sizes are optimized for workloads that require high
disk I/O, high-performance, low-latency storage, such as big data, SQL, and
NoSQL databases, big data, and data warehousing. Examples include the Ls-series
and the Hs-series.
5. GPU: These VM sizes are optimized for workloads that require GPU resources, such
as machine learning, deep learning, video encoding, and gaming. Examples
include the N-series and the NCv3-series.
6. ARM: Azure is also offering ARM based VM, these are like General Purpose but
built on ARM architecture which optimizes costs and offer built-in security
features. These VM sizes are optimized for workloads that require ARM
architecture, such as web servers, small databases and development and test
environments. Examples include the B-series and D-series.
7. High performance Compute: These VMs are designed for workloads that require
high performance, such as scientific simulations, financial modelling, and genomic
analysis.
It's worth noting that Azure also offers the ability to create custom VM sizes, which allows
customers to select the exact amount of CPU and memory resources they need for their specific
workloads.

Breaking Down Microsoft Azure VMS Series: A, B, D, E, and N


Virtual Machines (VMs) in Azure come in predefined sizes that are called families or series.  An
individual VM is often referred to as an instance.  Different VM families are designed for common use-
cases and are comprised of certain amounts of CPU cores and GB of RAM.   It’s not possible to
arbitrarily mix and match CPU cores and GB of RAM as can be done with Hyper-V and
VMware.  Therefore, it is important to understand the specific VM Series you wish to deploy when
thinking through the specific IT environment you are deploying in Microsoft Azure. 

Microsoft Azure VMs: A Series 


Entry-level economical VMs for dev/test * 
These are generally used in small deployments where cost consciousness outweighs performance. 
You should only use these in rare instance implementations with non-customer facing VMs.  

Microsoft Azure VMs: B Series 


Economical burstable VMs * 
B-series are economical virtual machines that provide a low-cost option for workloads that typically
run at a low-to-moderate baseline CPU utilization, but sometimes need to burst to significantly higher
CPU utilization when the demand rises.  
We like B series for AD servers, servers that are 24×7 and non-customer facing servers.  
When idle, the B series will bank credits and use those credits later when CPU utilization needs to burst
past the baseline.  When rebooted, B series will lose their credits which can take hours to rebuild
without too much impact.  When booted without any banked credits, the B series will only have access
to allow for a small fraction of total CPU utilization until a bank of credits can be built up.  

Microsoft Azure VMs: D Series 


General purpose compute * 
D-series VMs feature fast CPUs and optimal CPU-to-memory configuration, making them suitable for
most production workloads. DSv3-series instances carry more powerful CPUs and the same memory
and disk configurations as the D-series.  However, these CPU cores are hyper-threaded, meaning that a
single physical CPU core is behind each two CPU cores in a Dsv3 VM.  
Ds2-64 v3 instances (ie. Ds4v3 – 4 core x 16GB RAM) are the latest hyper-threaded generation
of general-purpose instances and are based on the 2.4 GHz Intel Xeon® E5-2673 v3 (Haswell) processor
or the latest 2.3 GHz Intel XEON ® E5-2673 v4 (Broadwell). They can achieve higher speeds with Intel
Turbo Boost Technology 2.0. The Ds-series supports Standard and Premium SSD storage.  
We like D series for performance as they pair well with premium SSD – a must for solutions or
presentation layers that are customer-facing.  There is not a lot of difference in price with v3 instances
(as opposed to v2), which makes them ideal.  
Example use-cases include many enterprise-grade applications, relational databases, in-memory
caching, and analytics. The latest generations are ideal for applications that demand faster CPUs,
better local disk performance or higher memories.  

Microsoft Azure VMs: E Series 


Optimized for in-memory hyper-threaded applications*
The E-series family of Azure virtual machines are optimized for heavy in-memory applications such as
SAP HANA. These VMs are set up with high memory-to-core ratios, which makes them well-suited for
relational database servers, with medium to large caches, and in-memory analytics. The E-series VMs
range from 2 to 64 vCPUs and 16-432 GiB RAM, respectively. The Es-series supports Azure Premium
SSDs. 
We like the E series for session hosts and collections where the line of business applications consumer
a higher than normal memory footprint per user.  Software that is optimized for multi-user session
hosts can often consume large footprints of memory. 
Example use cases include SAP HANA, SAP S/4 HANA, SQL Hekaton and other large in-memory
business critical workloads. 
Microsoft Azure VMs: N Series 
GPU enabled virtual machines * 
The N-series is a family of Azure Virtual Machines with GPU capabilities. GPUs are ideal for compute
and graphics-intensive workloads, helping customers to fuel innovation through scenarios like high-
end remote visualization, deep learning, and predictive analytics.  
The N-series has three different offerings aimed at specific workloads:  
 The NC-series is focused on high-performance computing and machine learning workloads. The
latest version—NCv3—features NVIDIA’s Tesla V100 GPU.  
 The ND-series is focused on training and inference scenarios for deep learning. It uses the
NVIDIA Tesla P40 GPUs. The latest version – NDv2 – features the NVIDIA Tesla V100 GPUs.  
 The NV-series enables powerful remote visualization workloads and other graphics-intensive
applications backed by the NVIDIA Tesla M60 GPU.  
We like NV series for graphic needs related to engineering and 3D modeling.  The footprint is quite
large which makes them good shared machines.  Assigning 2-4 users per N series as an RDS Session
Host is an ideal for cost distribution and performance requirements.  NV series will be the primary N
series instance.  Approach other N series with a very specific need or application requirement as they
are not a good fit for GPU enabled virtual desktops. 
Example use-cases include simulation, deep learning, graphics rendering, video editing, gaming, and
remote visualization.  

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