In the domain of cloud computing, knowing how to successfully manipulate resource components such as Virtual Machines (VMs) is essential. In the Microsoft AZ-104 Azure Administrator exam, one of the key skills tested is the ability to manage VM sizes. This refers to the capacity to adjust, optimize, and select the appropriate Azure VM sizes for different workload requirements.
Understanding VM Sizes in Azure
One primary element that differentiates VMs is their size. The size of a VM determines its capacity for resources like memory processing power, storage, and network bandwidth. Azure provides a wide assortment of sizes and configurations to meet diverse needs. This includes the general purpose VMs, compute-optimized VMs, memory-optimized VMs, storage-optimized VMs, GPU VMs, and high-performance VMs.
How to Choose VM Sizes
Choosing a VM size for your applications should be geared towards specific criteria. This includes the Performance needs, Cost, Compatibility, and Regional Availability.
- Performance: VM sizes influence the performance characteristics of your applications. For compute-intensive scenarios, you would select a size with more vCPUs. If you need more memory, then a size with more RAM would be ideal.
- Cost: VM size impacts the overall cost implication. Simplified, larger VMs cost more than smaller ones. But it’s also essential to understand that inefficiencies can also drive up cost, hence the need to ensure that cost considerations are guided by the nature of your workloads.
- Compatibility: Different VM sizes support different operating systems and software configurations, thus the need to ensure the VM size selected supports your workload requirements.
- Regional Availability: Not all VM sizes are available in all regions. In different instances, you’ll need to choose a VM size that serves your geographic demands.
Managing VM Sizes
Fortunately, Azure provides options to manage (shrink or expand) VM sizes without recreating the VM entirely. To do this, you have to stop (deallocate) the VM first. Once the VM is stopped, you can then change its size.
Using Azure Portal, the process includes:
- Navigate to the VM’s blade on the portal.
- Select the size menu.
- From the available list, select the size you desire, and click on the select button.
This is all you need to adjust the VM sizes as necessary.
Note: When adjusting VM sizes, networking settings, local and temporary drive data among other configurations are maintained.
Conclusion
A solid grasp of managing VM sizes in Azure not only equips you for the AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator exam, but also empowers you with the essential skills for effective Azure resource management. In your application scenarios, always ensure you select VM sizes that cater to your performance, cost, compatibility, and regional requirements. By doing so, you’ll be on your way leveraging Azure’s efficient and flexible platform for cloud deployments.
Practice Test
True or False: It is not possible to resize the existing VM in Azure.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure does offer the functionality to resize an existing VM in accordance with the requirements.
True or False: The burstable B-series are the only virtual machines in Azure that can store data
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: In Azure, all types of virtual machines have the capacity to store data, not just the B-series.
Which of these series of VMs in Azure are optimized for memory-intensive workloads?
- a) D-series
- b) E-series
- c) B-series
- d) F-series
Answer: b) E-series
Explanation: E-series VMs are optimized for memory-intensive workloads.
Which of these series of VMs in Azure are optimized for compute-intensive workloads?
- a) D-series
- b) E-series
- c) F-series
- d) B-series
Answer: c) F-series
Explanation: F-series VMs are optimized for compute-intensive workloads.
True or False: All VM types have the same number of maximum data disks.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: The number of maximum data disks varies among VM types.
True or False: Only the higher series of VMs in Azure have the capacity to do CPU Bursting.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure provides CPU bursting capacity to small and medium sizes of B-series VMs. Intermediate sizes have constant performance.
In Azure, which type of VM uses solid state drives (SSDs)?
- a) B-series
- b) Ds-series
- c) F-series
- d) All of the above
Answer: b) Ds-series
Explanation: Ds-series VMs in Azure use premium solid state drives (SSDs).
All D Series virtual machines in Azure come with what feature?
- a) Temporary storage
- b) Persistent storage
- c) CPU bursting
- d) All of the above
Answer: a) Temporary storage
Explanation: All D Series virtual machines come standard with a feature for temporary storage.
The ___ VM Sizes in Azure use hardware that is offloaded to a SmartNIC at high speed while maintaining all the familiar Azure Load Balancer capabilities.
- a) Da Series
- b) Ea Series
- c) Fa Series
- d) Ba series
Answer: a) Da Series
Explanation: Da v3 and Das v3 VM sizes feature Azure’s deployment of SmartNICs, delivering both software-defined networking and accelerated computing.
Which one of these can be done when a VM is resized?
- a) Retain the OS disk
- b) Retain the data disks
- c) Retain the public IP address
- d) All of the above
Answer: d) All of the above
Explanation: When a VM is resized, you can retain the OS disk, the data disks as well as the public IP address.
True or False: Azure offers a preview feature to resize a VM to a size that is not available in the current hardware cluster.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure offers a feature to resize a VM to a size that is not available in the current hardware cluster, but it is in preview stage.
What feature of the Azure portal allows you to stop a VM and move it to a new size?
Answer: Resize
Explanation: The Resize feature allows you to stop a VM and change its size.
True or False: The price of VM in Azure always decreases when you downsize the VM.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: The price depends not only on the size of the VM but also on other factors such as region, OS type, tier, etc.
Which series of VMs in Azure is best suited for applications that require low latency, high-speed storage?
- a) B-series
- b) Fs-series
- c) Es-series
- d) L-series
Answer: d) L-series
Explanation: The L-series is storage optimized VM and is best suited for applications that require low latency, high-speed storage.
What type of virtual machine provides a high disk throughput and IO, and is suitable for Big Data, SQL, and NoSQL databases?
- a) A-series
- b) M-series
- c) L-series
- d) D-series
Answer: c) L-series
Explanation: L-series virtual machines are storage optimized sizes that are great for low latency, high disk throughput, and most disk IOPS.
Interview Questions
What does VM size in Azure refer to?
VM size in Azure determines the number of CPU cores, the memory capacity, and the disk size that is allocated to a new VM.
What is the purpose of resizing a VM in Azure?
Resizing a VM in Azure allows you to obtain more CPU cores, more memory, or a larger disk size and to help your application handle more load.
Can you change the size of an existing VM in Azure?
Yes, you can change the size of an existing VM in Azure using Azure Management console or Azure CLI commands. However, the VM may need to be restarted.
How can you determine the size of a VM available in your region in Azure?
You can use the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell to determine the size of a VM available in your region.
Which tool is used to resize a VM in Azure?
You can resize a VM in Azure using the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell.
What is the effect of resizing a VM on the cost in Azure?
The cost of a VM in Azure depends on the size of the VM. If you increase the size of the VM, the cost of the VM will increase.
Is it possible to resize a VM while it is running in Azure?
Yes, it can be resized while it is running but the VM would need to be restarted, which would cause a downtime for your application.
What happens to the data stored in a VM when you resize it in Azure?
When you resize a VM, the data stored in the VM’s disks is not affected.
Are there any limitations to increase or decrease the size of a VM in Azure?
Yes, the ability to increase or decrease the size depends on the availability of the desired size in the Azure hardware cluster where the VM is currently deployed.
What are the parameters that one should consider while selecting the size of a VM in Azure?
When selecting the size of a VM in Azure, one should consider factors such as the number of cores, memory, storage capacity, and the IOPS (Input Output operations per Second) limit.
What is A-series, D-series, and G-series in terms of Azure VM sizes?
These are different categories of VM sizes in Azure. A-series VMs are economical and suitable for development workloads, D-series VMs are designed for applications that require higher compute power and temporary disk performance, and G-series VMs are designed for applications that require large amounts of memory and high disk throughput.
How are the VM sizes in Azure categorized?
VM sizes in Azure are categorized into general purpose, compute optimized, memory optimized, storage optimized, GPU, and high performance compute.
How can Azure Advisor help in selecting the VM size?
Azure Advisor can make recommendations for appropriately sizing VMs based on the usage patterns.
How can you decrease the cost without compromising the performance of a VM in Azure?
You can decrease the cost without compromising the VM performance by selecting the correct VM size based on your application’s requirements and by shutting down the VM during off-peak hours.
Is it possible to resize a VM from a smaller to a larger size in the Azure without any downtime?
No, resizing a VM in Azure from a smaller to a larger size might require a VM reboot, which can lead to minimal downtime. However, a planned failover and update strategy can help in avoiding or minimizing the downtime.
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