Azure Compute Support

Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) are on-demand, scalable computing resources that you can use like a physical server. You get the flexibility of virtualization for a wide variety of computing workloads.

Choosing the right VM size depends on your workload's CPU, memory, storage, and networking requirements. Azure offers a wide range of VM series (e.g., General Purpose, Compute Optimized, Memory Optimized, Storage Optimized, GPU) to meet diverse needs. Review the Azure VM documentation for detailed specifications and guidance.

Yes, you can resize an existing Azure VM. You'll typically need to deallocate (stop) the VM, change its size in the Azure portal, and then start it again. Data on the OS disk will be preserved.

Managed disks are the default and recommended storage option for Azure VMs. Azure manages the storage account for you, providing higher availability, scalability, and durability. Unmanaged disks require you to manage the storage accounts yourself.

Performance can be improved by selecting appropriate VM sizes, using premium SSDs for storage, optimizing your application code, and configuring network settings effectively. Azure provides performance monitoring tools to help identify bottlenecks.

Azure Container Instances (ACI) is a service that allows you to run containers in Azure without managing virtual machines or orchestrators. It's ideal for simple containers that need to run quickly, or for developing and testing applications.

ACI is great for single containers, simple applications, or tasks like build jobs. AKS is a fully managed Kubernetes service for orchestrating complex containerized applications at scale.

Azure Arc extends Azure management and services to any infrastructure, on-premises, at the edge, or in multi-cloud environments. It allows you to manage servers, Kubernetes clusters, and data services from a single pane of glass in Azure.

Azure Functions is a serverless compute service that lets you run code without provisioning or managing infrastructure. You pay only for the time your code runs, making it cost-effective for event-driven workloads.

Azure Batch is a cloud service that enables you to run large-scale, parallel, and high-performance computing applications efficiently. It manages a pool of compute resources, schedules jobs, and monitors progress.