VM Types, Pricing Models and Examples
Contents
1. Introduction Azure VM
2. Types of Azure Virtual Machines
3. Azure VM Pricing Details
4. Pricing Models for Azure Virtual Machines
5. Azure Virtual Machine Pricing Examples
6. Azure VM Billing and Usage Works
7. Choosing the Most Appropriate Azure VM Pricing Model
Introduction:
Azure Virtual Machines (VM) is one of several types of scalable, on-
demand computing resources provided by Azure.
Developers can use the Azure web or CLI interface to create virtual
machine instances and easily configure capacity scaling.
Azure VM also enables users to create apps that automate scaling in
response to changing needs and peak periods. It makes it simple to
deploy virtual servers and manage storage, reducing the need for
hardware investment and streamlining development processes. This
guide will examine the costs of Azure VM pricing and provide a high-level
overview of the various options available.
Virtual machines in Azure are commonly used for:
Azure VMs create a computing resource with the configuration required
to run an application during development and testing.
Scaling applications in the cloud: because application demand varies, you
can save money by running an application in a VM and adding more
VMs, or shutting down instances that are no longer needed, based on
actual demand.
Extended data center: you can connect virtual machines in an Azure
virtual network to your organization’s network.
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Types of Azure Virtual Machines
In Azure, Microsoft offers a variety of virtual machine sizes.
These are organized into “series,” with each supporting a specific use case.
Azure categorises virtual machines into five groups, as shown in the table
below.
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Series wise detailed Informatin
Azure VM Pricing Details:
Typically, you choose a virtual machine (VM) when you require more control
over the computing environment than the other options provide. This article
discusses what you should think about before creating a VM, how to build one,
and how to manage it. An Azure VM provides the flexibility of virtualization
without the need to purchase and maintain the physical hardware that powers
it. However, maintaining the VM by performing tasks such as configuring,
patching, and installing the software that runs on it would be beneficial.
The following instance properties determine Azure VM pricing:
Region: The machine’s physical location. Azure has 60 regions available in 140
countries worldwide.
Operating system (OS): There are two operating systems (OS) available:
Windows and Linux.
Tier: Tier specifies the level of service provided by the instance.
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Instance Type: The type specifies the instance’s size or the number of
resources allocated to it.
Azure VM Pricing Models
You can pay for Azure VMs using several pricing models, detailed below.
Azure Free Tier:
Like other cloud services, Azure grants a free credit trial. Azure offers a
free tier of $200 in Azure credits for the initial 30 days and a capped
quantity of additional free services for 12 months.
You can develop services in any region that supports Azure. Also, you can
develop multiple instances, making sure the total is within the specified
limits.
You can receive 750 hours for B1s burstable virtual machines, every
month for 12 months.
Pay As You Go:
With Azure VMs, Microsoft charges you for each second a VM resource is
active, so you pay only for actual use.
This option is regarded as the most flexible choice, and is suitable for
instances that cannot be interrupted or short-lived workloads.
You don’t need to make a long-term commitment or pay upfront. You
can decrease or increase your compute capacity according to your
application’s needs and only pay the hourly rate for the instances you
use. Yet, prices are typically higher than the other pricing models.
Reserved VM Instances:
If you want to save money and know a VM will be needed for more than a year,
you can reserve a virtual machine instance and save up to 72%. Reserving a VM
puts a specific region in place for a term of 1 or 3 years.
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You can return and exchange reserved instances. You can also cancel a reserved
instance with an early cancellation fee, up to the yearly cap.
On the other hand, you can also use a reserved instance for other VMs such as
pay-as-you-go VMs in the same resource region and group.
With the reserved VM instances model you can do the following:
Cancel or exchange reservations as you grow
Forecast and budget with upfront payment for a one or three year period
Receive prioritized compute capacity in Azure regions
Gain automated control of Azure RIs via instance size flexibility
Pay for reserved VMs monthly, instead of upfront, at no additional cost
Typical use cases for RIs are as follows:
Your application has steady-state usage
Your application could require a reserved capacity
You can lock-in using Azure VM for a period of one or three years to keep
computing costs low
Spot Virtual Machines
Azure VM spot pricing is a solid option if you want to save money, and don’t
necessarily need 100% uptime, or you have the automation to deal with VM
availability issues.
Azure data centers always have some unused capacity. To make sure data
centers are being efficiently used, Azure instituted spot pricing (spot VMs),
which grants discounts of up to 90% on pay-as-you-go VM pricing. There are no
upfront payments or long-term commitments.
However, spot VMs are ephemeral. Azure can evict or shut down spot VMs at
any time if the data center requires more computer capacity, or if the current
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price is more than the initial agreed-upon price. This makes it hard to run
production workloads on spots.
Spot Virtual Machines are suitable for the following sorts of workloads:
Continuous delivery and continuous integration workloads are examples
of dev/test environments.
Jobs requiring batch processing, visual rendering applications, or high-
performance computing scenarios
Analytics, big data, large-scale stateless applications, and container-
based applications are all examples of this.
Azure Virtual Machine Pricing Examples
Azure VM pricing is very complex, and it can help to get a concrete example of
pricing. Let’s see pricing options for several types of Linux VMs in the West US
region.
D2s v3 VM
Hardware: 2 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM, 16 GB local storage
Pay as you go price: $0.09600 per hour
Spot price: $0.0497 per hour
3-year reserved instance price: $0.0369 per hour
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D8s v3 VM
Hardware: 8 vCPUs, 64 GB RAM, 128 GB local storage
Pay as you go price: $0.384 per hour
Spot price: $0.1986
3-year reserved instance price: $0.1474 per hour
D32s v3 VM
Hardware: 32 vCPUs, 128 GB RAM, 256 GB local storage
Pay as you go price: $1.536 per hour
Spot price: $0.7942
3-year reserved instance price: $0.5896 per hour
D64s v3 VM
Hardware: 64 vCPUs, 256 GB RAM, 512 GB local storage
Pay as you go price: $3.072 per hour
Spot price: $1.5883
3-year reserved instance price: $1.1792 per hour
How to Choose the Most Appropriate Azure VM Pricing Model
1. Determine the level of performance required. Storage or computation?
Memory?
2. Choose the best region. It’s always best to choose the region closest to
the VM’s intended end-users, but keep in mind that different regions will
cost more than others.
3. Record any existing Windows licenses you have for your on-premises
systems (if picking a Windows VM). You could be eligible for Azure hybrid
benefit pricing.
4. Choose a payment method. A summary of your options is provided
below.
5. Azure Hybrid Benefit
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Pay as you go – Most expensive, but most flexible
1 year reserved – Average around ~40% savings, but locked in for 1 year
3-year reserved – Average around ~60% savings, but locked in for 3 years
Spot Instances – Average around ~80% savings, but least reliable as VMs
can be evicted at any time
6.Standard Pricing
Pay as you go – Most expensive, but most flexible
1 year reserved – Average around ~20% savings, but locked in for 1 year
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