Azure Virtual Machines Overview

Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) are on-demand and scalable computing resources that you can create as needed to host your business applications. Azure VMs offer the flexibility of virtualization for a wide variety of computing solutions. The compute solution that you choose depends on your application needs.

Key Takeaway: Azure VMs provide flexible, scalable, and on-demand computing power in the cloud, suitable for a wide range of applications.

What are Azure Virtual Machines?

Azure VMs allow you to create and use virtual machines in the Microsoft Azure cloud. This provides you with the benefits of IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), where you manage the operating system, applications, and data, while Azure manages the underlying physical infrastructure. You can run a variety of operating systems, including Windows and Linux, on Azure VMs.

Key Features and Benefits

Scalability: Easily scale your VMs up or down based on demand.
Flexibility: Choose from a wide range of VM sizes and configurations, including specialized options for compute-intensive, memory-intensive, or storage-intensive workloads.
High Availability: Leverage Azure's infrastructure to ensure your applications remain available with features like Availability Sets and Availability Zones.
Security: Benefit from Azure's robust security features, including network security groups, firewalls, and identity management.
Cost-Effectiveness: Pay only for the resources you consume, with options for reserved instances to reduce costs for long-term commitments.
Global Reach: Deploy your VMs in Azure datacenters around the world.

Common Use Cases

Azure Virtual Machines are suitable for a broad spectrum of scenarios, including:

Running Applications: Host custom applications, web servers, and enterprise software.
Development and Test Environments: Quickly set up and tear down environments for development and testing.
High-Performance Computing (HPC): Utilize powerful VM series for complex simulations and computations.
Big Data Analytics: Deploy big data solutions that require significant processing power.
Disaster Recovery: Use VMs as part of your disaster recovery strategy.
Migrating Workloads: Lift and shift existing on-premises workloads to the cloud.

VM Sizes and Series

Azure offers a diverse selection of VM sizes and series, each optimized for different types of workloads. These include:

General Purpose: Balanced CPU-to-memory ratio for applications like small to medium web servers and batch processes. (e.g., D-series, B-series)
Compute Optimized: High CPU-to-memory ratio for compute-intensive applications, batch processing, and web servers. (e.g., F-series)
Memory Optimized: High memory-to-CPU ratio for relational database servers, large caches, and in-memory analytics. (e.g., E-series, M-series)
Storage Optimized: High disk throughput and IOPS for big data, SQL, and NoSQL databases. (e.g., L-series)
GPU Optimized: For graphics-intensive applications, video editing, and machine learning. (e.g., N-series)
High Performance Compute (HPC): For highly demanding computational workloads. (e.g., H-series)

You can find detailed specifications for each VM size in the Azure VM sizes documentation.

Getting Started with Azure VMs

Creating and managing Azure VMs is straightforward. You can use:

Azure Portal: A web-based interface for managing Azure resources.
Azure CLI: A command-line tool for managing Azure resources across various platforms.
Azure PowerShell: A scripting language for managing Azure resources.
ARM Templates/Bicep: Infrastructure as Code solutions for automating deployments.

To learn how to create your first Azure VM, proceed to the Creating a VM section.

This documentation provides a foundational understanding of Azure Virtual Machines. Explore further sections to delve into specific tasks and advanced configurations.