Microsoft announce that Azure Spot virtual machines are now generally available.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/2VgCQrQ, and get a reminder of how they work on our blog here: http://bit.ly/2Ou0v5y.
Tag Archives: Azure
Azure dev/test discounts for Windows Virtual Desktop
Microsoft announce that special discounts are now available for Windows Virtual Desktop used within an Azure dev/test Subscription. Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/2K0C6Sg. There’s also language added to page 56 of the April 2020 Product Terms document detailing the use rights of Windows Virtual Desktop in dev/test environments. Find the Product Terms documents here: http://bit.ly/MSproductterms.
Discontinuation of Azure Information Protection Plan 2
Azure Information Protection Plan 2 is being discontinued as a standalone offering. Page 6 of the April 2020 Product Terms document confirms that existing customers will continue to have access to the service for the term of their Subscription, and customers with true-up rights will continue to have the option to true-up for the term of their Enrolment. Find the Product Terms documents here: http://bit.ly/MSproductterms.
Additional availability for FastTrack for Azure
FastTrack for Azure helps customers to accelerate the deployment of their Azure solutions and it’s at no cost from Microsoft for eligible customers.
Eligibility is focussed around having an identified Azure project supported by the FastTrack program that’s expected to reach at least $5,000 of service usage per month within 12 months of deployment.
FastTrack services have recently also become available in Japan (http://bit.ly/2Vk9jza) and countries in the Asia Pacific region (http://bit.ly/32qT6tn).
Find out more about FastTrack for Azure here: http://bit.ly/2kriyNO.
Azure products by region
If you want an easy way to check availability of the Azure products by region then this is useful page: http://bit.ly/39S81zt. Choose the product family and region(s) and then see whether services are generally available, in preview, or slated for future availability with expected timelines.
Windows 7 End of Support resources
Windows 7 reached End of Support on 14 January, 2020. Although Microsoft’s recommendation is to upgrade to Windows 10 or move to Windows Virtual Desktop in Azure, customers may purchase Extended Security Updates to continue to receive security updates for critical and important issues. There’s a useful article if you’re intending to deploy these ESUs here: http://bit.ly/39nxuk1, and the FAQ page for Windows 7 End of Support is updated for February 2020 here: http://bit.ly/38dkWeJ.
Azure Cost Management: January update
Azure Cost Management helps customers to feel in control of their Azure spending and to maximise their cloud investment. There are continual innovations to the functionality available, and this January update details the latest changes including improved reporting, new ways of saving money with Azure, and recent changes to Azure usage data: http://bit.ly/2Ov9pQ9.
Preview of Azure Spot virtual machines
Microsoft announce the preview of Azure spot virtual machines. Azure Spot VMs let you access unused Azure compute capacity at large discounts compared to pay-as-you-go prices. These VMs are evicted when Azure no longer has available compute capacity and must reallocate its resources. At that point, the VM is deallocated and no additional VM-related changes are incurred, but other resources, such as disk or network, continue to run and accrue charges.
Ideal workloads for Azure Spot VMs include:
- development and test
- workloads that can recover from interruptions
- short-lived jobs which can easily be run again if the virtual machine is evicted.
Azure Spot VMs are created in the same way as regular VMs, but a flag is set at the time of creation, designating it as a Spot VM. At this point in the preview the pricing is fixed for a Spot VM, but in the future the pricing will vary based on capacity for a particular VM in a particular region. You’ll be able to choose your eviction terms: when Azure needs the capacity, or when the variable pricing reaches a maximum price that you have set.
As a comparison of pricing, for an Fsv2 VM, the pay-as-you-go price per hour is $0.163, while the Spot price is $0.065 per hour, with 1-year and 3-year Reserved Instances at $0.142 and $0.1227 per hour respectively.
Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/36O659J and there’s a useful FAQ at the bottom of this page: http://bit.ly/2tsxXBO.
Azure Cost Management updates
The set of features that make up Azure Cost Management is constantly evolving and you can find the latest news from the ACM team here: http://bit.ly/38xdT13.
If you’re newer to ACM then there are some new videos: a shorter one here: http://bit.ly/2PjyRZH and a more detailed one here: http://bit.ly/34kPHvs.
Azure Dedicated Host
Microsoft announce the preview of Azure Dedicated Host, a new Azure service that enables customers to run Linux and Windows virtual machines on single-tenant physical servers.
So, how’s this all licensed? Well, first of all you choose the type of Azure Dedicated Host that you want. Currently there are three types, each based on a particular VM series: Dsv3, Esv3 or Fsv2, and you can run any virtual machines from the chosen family on a particular Azure Dedicated Host. Each Azure Dedicated Host has a specific number of vCPUs available and that dictates how many virtual machines you can run.
So, for example, the Dsv3 series Azure Dedicated Host has 64 vCPUs, so you could run 32 x D2s v3 VMs since they have 2 vCPUs each, or mix and match with 2 x D8s v3 (8 vCPUs each) + 2 x D16s v3 (16 vCPUs each) + 8 x D2s v3 (2 vCPUs each). You then pay an hourly charge for the Azure Dedicated Host, regardless of how many virtual machines are running, and that’s $3.38 per hour for the Dsv3 Series.
This hourly charge is for the compute power of the virtual machines, so then you need to pay for the software you want to run in those virtual machines. This can either be done on a metered, hourly basis, or you can bring your own Windows Server and SQL Server licences if you’re eligible for the Azure Hybrid Benefit – either through Software Assurance or if you have a Server Subscription bought through CSP.
How many licences do you bring? Well, you can follow the usual rules for licensing virtual machines in Azure, or you can license all the physical cores on the Azure Dedicated Host with Windows Server Datacenter or SQL Server Enterprise licences to be eligible for running an unlimited number of virtual machines. In terms of useful resources, find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/2M1TKIB, find the Azure Dedicated Host pricing page here: http://bit.ly/2KkxB6m, and an updated FAQ on the Azure Hybrid Benefit here: http://bit.ly/2g1HEwS.