Beyond Lift and Shift
Azure Virtual Machines have long been the foundation for cloud adoption. They offer on demand, scalable infrastructure that mostly behaves like a physical server while removing the need to manage the actual hardware. That simplicity made them ideal for migrating legacy systems, especially during the early phases of cloud transformation.
Since those days, Azure compute has evolved significantly. What started as a quick and reliable way to move workloads into the cloud has grown into a robust platform that powers a wide range of modern use cases. Even Serverless cloud technology runs on VM’s as does your favorite conversational AI chatbot.
A Platform That Keeps Advancing
Today’s Azure compute is defined by efficiency, performance, and flexibility. Native support for ARM64 opens the door to cost effective processing at scale. Ampere Altra based machines offer solid performance with a lower power footprint. That translates into both financial and environmental benefits.
GPU enabled machines accelerate demanding workloads such as artificial intelligence training, simulation, and rendering. The ND and NC series provide access to NVIDIA hardware in a managed environment. More recently, confidential computing has taken a big step forward. Confidential VMs now support hardware level isolation to protect data during processing. This includes GPU based workloads, with models like the ND H100 supporting multiple GPUs within a single confidential environment.
Performance gains continue with technologies like Azure Boost, delivering high throughput and low latency for disk heavy workloads. Capabilities such as 205 thousand IOPS and four gigabytes per second throughput per VM redefine what is possible within virtual infrastructure.
Burstable VM series introduce flexibility for variable workloads. These machines accumulate credits when idle and automatically increase performance when needed. This makes them ideal for environments with unpredictable usage patterns.
Azure also introduced new platform services for multi party analytics and secure data sharing. These announcements, combined with the growing number of confidential compute options, highlight how Azure is building out a platform for secure, high performance workloads.
VMs are still the Heart of the Cloud
Azure compute is not only used for running individual virtual machines. It is the foundation for services like Azure Kubernetes Service, which uses Virtual Machine Scale Sets to dynamically manage container workloads. Azure Compute Fleet expands this capability to regional scaling. More on that in our earlier write-up.
Use cases are diverse. Spot VMs offer significant savings for workloads that can handle interruptions. Scale sets simplify deployment and load balancing for large applications. GPU machines support data science and machine learning at enterprise scale. Compatibility with on premises environments remains excellent.
Hybrid Use Benefit allows you to reuse existing Windows and SQL licenses in Azure, making savings up to 80% possible
From a cost perspective, reserved instances are available for longer running workloads, providing substantial discounts in exchange for commitment. Hybrid Use Benefit extends licensing value and is especially relevant in environments with both on premises and cloud systems.
You can choose from hundreds of pre-configured virtual machines in the Azure Marketplace, covering databases, development tools, security appliances, and many other categories. All major operating systems are supported, including multiple Linux distributions and Windows Server.
VM Automation and optimization
Azure compute fits directly into a DevOps pipeline. You can deploy and configure virtual machines using infrastructure as code and then maintain them using tools like Desired State Configuration v3. For more details, we covered this in our DevOps article and the DSC v3 technical deep dive.
From a cost perspective, reserved instances are available for longer running workloads, providing substantial discounts in exchange for commitment. Hybrid Use Benefit extends licensing value and is especially relevant in environments with both on premises and cloud systems.
And when remote access is required, Azure Bastion is the recommended method. It allows secure, browser based access to virtual machines without exposing them to the internet.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to the cloud. That’s why we meet you where you are. Contact us today to start your journey with DevOps Masterminds.