Tag Archives: Azure Reserved Instances

5-year Reservation available for the Azure HBv2 virtual machine

Microsoft announce that a 5-year Reservation is now available for the Azure HBv2 virtual machine. The existing 1 and 3-year Reservations give an estimated 25% and 50% saving on the compute costs of the VM, and the new 5-year Reservation increases savings to approximately 67%.

The announcement (https://bit.ly/32EWfI9) states that terms and conditions are mostly the same as for all other types of Reserved Instances, and page 54 of the July 2020 Product Terms confirms that the early termination fee for a 5-year Reservation is 35%, rather than the usual 12%.

Instance Size Flexibility

Microsoft announce the General Availability of Instance Size Flexibility for Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances. What does that mean in English?! Well, something quite interesting… Previously, when you purchased a Reserved Instance you had to choose the size of the VM (Standard_D8s_v3, for example) and the data centre (US West, for example). If you wanted to change those properties, then you needed to use the Exchange function to get a credit for the existing RI to use against a brand new RI with the required attributes. Now, however, it all works a bit differently.

You are no longer prepaying for base compute of a particular virtual machine type (Standard_D8s_v3), you’re prepaying for a certain amount of compute for a particular family – in this case, the DSv3 Series – in a specific data centre. Now, a Reserved Instance can be applied to any VM in that family, covering all or part of the base compute costs. If this sounds a bit mind-boggling then head to this page (http://bit.ly/2vCWl1T) for a couple of examples of how it all works.

When you purchase a new RI with a Shared Subscription scope this option is your only optimisation choice, but if you choose a Single Subscription scope, then you can choose to opt for Capacity Priority instead, as shown in the picture below. This option can be changed later in the Configuration settings of the Reservation, if required.

Find the Microsoft announcement here: http://bit.ly/2ny6uZi.

Azure Reserved Instances and Server Subscriptions

Microsoft announce that Reserved Instances are immediately available through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program and that Server Subscriptions will be available in the near future. These two offerings will be perfect partners since they will allow customers to enjoy the very best prices for virtual machines running in Azure.

Reserved Instances are a way for customers to pay for the compute part of a virtual machine and Server Subscriptions for Windows Server and SQL Server will enable customers to acquire a subscription for the software to run in their virtual machines. Both offerings are paid for upfront for a 1 or 3-year term, and used together may enable customers to save up to 80% compared to the price of an equivalent virtual machine paid for on a consumption basis.

There are plenty of resources available if you want to find out more and this page (http://bit.ly/2jYx23P) includes links to an FAQ, an overview presentation, a webinar and a sales sheet. It’s definitely worth a look!