What are Azure Virtual Machines?
Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) provide on-demand, scalable computing resources. You can use Azure VMs to deploy and run applications, host websites, run batch processing, and more. They offer the flexibility of virtualization for a wide variety of computing workloads.
Azure VMs offer the following benefits:
- Scalability: Easily scale your compute resources up or down based on demand.
- Flexibility: Choose from a wide range of operating systems, including Windows and Linux.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Pay only for what you use, with various pricing options.
- Global Reach: Deploy VMs in data centers around the world.
- Security: Benefit from Azure's robust security infrastructure.
Key Concepts
VM Sizes
Azure offers a vast array of VM sizes optimized for different workloads, from general-purpose computing to memory-intensive and compute-intensive tasks. Each size has specific combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking capabilities.
Common VM families include:
- General Purpose (A, D, B, E, F series): Balanced CPU-to-memory ratio.
- Compute Optimized (F series): High CPU performance.
- Memory Optimized (E, G, M series): Large amounts of memory.
- Storage Optimized (L series): High disk throughput and IOPS.
- GPU Optimized (N series): For graphics-intensive workloads and AI/ML.
VM Images
A VM image is a template that contains the operating system and any pre-installed software. Azure provides a rich gallery of images, including:
- Microsoft Windows Server versions
- Various Linux distributions (Ubuntu, CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server)
- Specialized images for common applications and development stacks
- Custom images that you can create and deploy
Storage
Azure VMs can utilize several types of storage:
- Managed Disks: The recommended storage solution, simplifying disk management. These include Standard HDD, Standard SSD, Premium SSD, and Ultra Disk.
- Unmanaged Disks: Older technology, where you manage the underlying storage accounts.
Each VM comes with an OS disk, and you can attach data disks for additional storage.
Networking
VMs are provisioned within virtual networks (VNets) in Azure. This provides a private, isolated network for your cloud resources. You can configure IP addressing, subnets, network security groups (NSGs), and load balancers to control network traffic and connectivity.
Deployment Options
You can deploy Azure VMs using various tools:
- Azure Portal: A graphical web interface for managing Azure resources.
- Azure CLI: A command-line interface for managing Azure resources.
- Azure PowerShell: A module for PowerShell to manage Azure resources.
- Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Templates / Bicep: For infrastructure as code deployments.
- SDKs: For programmatic deployment using various programming languages.
Example Deployment (Azure CLI)
To create a basic Ubuntu VM using Azure CLI:
az vm create \
--resource-group MyResourceGroup \
--name MyVM \
--image UbuntuLTS \
--admin-username azureuser \
--generate-ssh-keys
Use Cases
Azure VMs are suitable for a wide range of scenarios:
- Running enterprise applications like SAP or Oracle.
- Hosting web applications and APIs.
- Development and testing environments.
- Big data analytics and machine learning.
- Disaster recovery and business continuity.
- Running legacy applications.
Learn More
For detailed information, explore the following resources: