Virtual Machines
Launch Windows Server and Linux virtual machines in minutes
- Scale from 1 to thousands of virtual machine instances
- Benefit from built-in virtual networking and load balancing
- Leverage hybrid consistency with on-premises systems
- Support Microsoft SQL Server and SharePoint Server
- Run Oracle, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB
- Save money with per-minute billing
Customers running Virtual Machines on Azure today
Deploy what you want, nearly instantly
Azure Virtual Machines lets you deploy a wide range of computing solutions in an agile way. Deploy a virtual machine nearly instantly, and pay by the minute. With support for Microsoft Windows, Linux, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM, SAP, and Azure BizTalk Services, you can deploy any workload and any language on nearly any operating system.
Deploy with a click using Resource Manager templates
Include virtual machines, virtual networks, and storage accounts in Azure Resource Manager templates. Resource Manager is at the heart of the Azure portal, and you use the power of Resource Manager directly with these core resources. Resource Manager templates enable single -click deployment of complex applications into a resource group that contains all of the elements of an application. You then manage those elements as a single unit through advanced role -based authentication and control (RBAC) and per-resource tagging.
Run Microsoft enterprise applications with world-class support
It’s easy to deploy Microsoft enterprise applications on virtual machines. From Microsoft SharePoint to Dynamics to System Center, you get great stability, performance, and guidance when running on Azure. Our world-class support team has your back, and our flexible technical support plans cover everything from Microsoft applications to cloud infrastructure.
Build security-enhanced, compliant solutions
Build and deploy your applications with the assurance that your data is protected and safe in our highly secure datacenters. Use our encryption solutions like Azure Disk Encryption to protect your application data. Secure your network using Azure Virtual Networks and Security Groups. Take advantage of our certification for key compliance programs to create solutions meeting regulatory and compliance requirements.
Experience open source, with options
You can deploy a full range of open-source and community-driven software solutions on Azure. Choose from a full range of Linux distributions like Red Hat, Ubuntu and SUSE and community-driven solutions like Chef, Puppet, and Docker, along with other products like Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server. Azure is open with lots of options.
Easily provision SQL Server on virtual machines
Using images built by the SQL Server team, it’s easy to provision a SQL Server virtual machine in minutes. Create virtual machines using free MSDN licenses to quickly build dev-test environments, or deploy complex production applications spanning multiple Azure regions by using SQL Server AlwaysOn.
Make seamless hybrid connections
With Virtual Network, you control and configure all aspects of your network, defining subnets and preferred DNS IP addresses. Securely connect with your virtual machines in Azure by using a secure VPN over the Internet, or bypass the Internet to establish direct connections with ExpressRoute, offered by partners such as AT&T, Level 3, BT, TelecityGroup, Verizon, and Equinix.
Load balancing across multiple virtual machine instances is included and easy to configure. You create the load balancer, add security ACLs to control access, and define specific probes to help monitor application health, all within the easy-to-use Azure portal.
Achieve fast I/O performance with low latencies
GS-series virtual machines combine the power of G-series virtual machines with the disk performance of Azure Premium Storage. Attach up to 64 TB of storage per virtual machine, achieving up to 80,000 I/O operations per second on virtual machines with extremely low latencies.
Get true HPC capabilities in the cloud, on demand
The performance and scalability of a world-class supercomputing center is now available to everyone, on demand in the cloud. Run your HPC applications using high-performance A8 and A9 compute instances on Azure, and take advantage of a backend network that has a Message Passing Interface (MPI) latency under 3 microseconds and non-blocking 32 gigabits-per-second (Gbps) throughput. This backend network includes remote direct memory access (RDMA) technology that enables parallel applications to scale to thousands of cores. Azure provides you with high memory and HPC-class CPUs to help you get results fast. To reduce costs, scale up and down based upon what you need, and pay only for what you use.
Learn more about high performance A8 and A9 compute instances
Harness the power of Dv2-series virtual machines
Improving over D-series virtual machines, the Dv2-series gives you a more powerful CPU that is, on average, 35 percent faster, with the same memory and disk configurations. The Dv2 series is based on the latest generation 2.4 GHz Intel Xeon E5-2673 v3 (Haswell) processor and with the Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 can go up to 3.2 GHz. The Dv2 series and D series offer a powerful combination for enterprise-grade applications that demand faster CPUs, better local disk performance, or higher memory.
Protect your virtual machines with Backup
Application errors can corrupt your data, and human errors can introduce bugs into your applications. Azure Backup helps protect virtual machines running Windows and Linux. Use PowerShell to back up and restore virtual machines, monitor jobs, send job failure alerts, and generate reports—and retain copies of your applications and data to meet regulatory requirements.
Learn more about getting Backup through Microsoft Operations Management Suite—the all-in-one IT management solution for Windows Server or Linux—across on-premises and cloud environments.
Learn how to create a Windows Server Virtual Machine and manage it with Remote Desktop.
