Optimizing Azure Solution Performance

• Solutions that have been moved from on-premises might need adjustments to run better on Azure.
• Azure solution performance can often be improved with certain design changes to application code.
• Performance tuning on Azure requires design considerations that are typically not factors for on-premises deployments.

Azure and other cloud platforms offer the potential to increase solution performance beyond what is possible for many on-premises environments. However, Azure requires specific design considerations that differ from traditional ones. Solutions that have been lifted-and-shifted to Azure (that is, migrated mostly unchanged from on-premises hardware to Azure VMs) may not perform well. There are certain solution code changes that can improve performance on Azure, but changes might also be necessary in the way developers tune performance.

Common Causes of Performance Problems on Azure

Several common coding practices can hinder solution performance on Azure, and Microsoft has highlighted these practices as causes of performance problems that Azure customers have experienced. These practices might not have a significant performance effect for solutions deployed on-premises. Differences in an Azure environment, such as the service types and scale points selected for deployment, could lead to performance degradation caused by coding practices that might particularly be present in solutions that have been lifted-and-shifted. The practices, which in some cases can be remedied by modifying small amounts of code but in other cases could require lengthy code redesign, include the following: