Choose a Virtual Machine Service

When to select virtual machines

Know when to use vrtual machines.

  • Quickly test and troubleshoot different configurations.
  • Use speciality hardware such as high-performance computing.
  • Extend your on-premises datacenter without purchasing additional hardware.
  • Run legacy apps on modern hardware.
  • Access third party software that requires local add-ons or plug-ins.
  • Quickly migrate apps to the cloud.
  • Fully control the computing environment.

Plan the Azure virtual machine deployment

Azure virtual machines scenarios include build new or migrate patterns.

  • Start with the network.
  • Name the VM.
  • Decide the VM location.
  • Select the VM storage.
  • Select a VM operating system.
  • Keep the VM up-to-date.
  • Monitor the VM.

Plan VM Deployment

Azure subscription and service limits, quotas, and constraints

See also Azure Subscription Service Limits.

When to select virtual machine scale sets

Scale sete are built from virtual machines. With scale sets, the management and automation layers are provided to run and scale your applications.

Scenario Group of virtual machines Virtual machine scale sets*
You need to add VM instances for changing workload Manual process to create, configure, and ensure compliance. Automatically create from central configuration.
You need to balance and distribute workloads. Manual process to create and configure Azure load balancer or Application Gateway. Can automatically create and integrate with Azure load balancer or Application Gateway.
You need high availability and redundancy. Manually create Availability Set or distribute and track VMs across Availability Zones. Automatic distribution of VM instances across Availability Zone (when zones are selected) and Availability Set.
You need to monitor and then scale virtual machines. Manual monitoring and Azure Automation. Autoscale based on host metrics, in-guest metrics, Application Insights, or schedule.

*Ensure the application supports Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS).

Determine the virtual machine family

The virtual machine size determines pricing

  • General Purpose
  • Storage Optimized
  • Compute Optimized
  • GPU
  • Memory Optimized
  • High Performance Compute