If you’re hosting database workloads within Azure, you may need:
- High RAM/memory
- High storage
- High I/O bandwidth
- Low CPU core count
Typically, folks find that vCPU count & available RAM grows linearly with each VM size/SKU available, meaning that if you need High RAM/memory, it can appear that you need to also buy high CPU core counts as well.
This may be cost prohibitive for software products that are licensed per CPU core.
CONSTRAINED vCPU CAPABLE VMS
Not to worry! There are certain VM sizes/SKUs available which enable you to select a high vCPU core count & high RAM/memory but constrain/reduce the VM’s available vCPU count.
This enables you to reduce per-CPU software licensing costs by allowing you to select the SKU you need, but reduce the number of vCPU cores available. The specific SKUs with reduced vCPUs are tagged within the SKU name:
The vCPU count can be constrained to one half or one quarter of the original VM size. These new VM sizes have a suffix that specifies the number of active vCPUs to make them easier for you to identify.
Here’s a snapshot of 2 of the ~25 or so reduced vCPU VM SKUs available in Azure today:
For more information, visit the following sites:
- DOCS: Constrained vCPU capable VM sizes
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/constrained-vcpu - BLOG: Announcing new Azure VM sizes for more cost-effective database workloads
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-new-azure-vm-sizes-for-more-cost-effective-database-workloads/
kurtsh
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