Updated: July 15, 2020 (October 3, 2016)

  Analyst Report

Understanding Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets

My Atlas / Analyst Reports

711 wordsTime to read: 4 min
Wes Miller by
Wes Miller

Wes Miller analyzes and writes about Microsoft’s security, identity management, and systems management technologies. Before joining Directions on Microsoft, Wes... more

A set of identical Azure virtual machines (VMs) running Linux or Windows Server can be deployed as a single unit using Azure VM scale sets. They can easily scale on demand based on criteria such as CPU load. Scale sets, which became generally available in the first half of 2016, could prove ideal for delivering certain workloads (for example, Web sites or Web-based applications) in a scalable manner. Scale sets incur no additional charges above the VM instances deployed within them. However, not all applications will be suited for use with scale sets, and some may need to be modified before being deployed in scale sets.

Scalable Pools of VMs as a Service

Scale sets offer a deployment and management framework around Azure VMs to deliver scalable applications running Linux or Windows Server on a set of identical VMs. When a scale set is deployed, a set of VMs is initially deployed. Additional VMs are later provisioned or destroyed automatically based on criteria specified by the administrator.

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