Azure Virtual Machines – Consider Upgrading G Series Machines to Ev5

The Ev5 series offers enhanced computational capabilities and more cost-effective pricing compared to older G series virtual machines. This policy recommends evaluating and migrating to newer machine types that provide better price-to-performance ratios.

Why This Policy Matters

Performance and Cost Efficiency

Upgrading to Ev5 series machines delivers multiple critical benefits:

• Enhanced Processor Technology: Newer Intel processors with improved architecture
• Better Performance-per-Dollar Ratio: More computational power at lower cost
• Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Improved Energy Efficiency

Concrete Cost Savings Example

Consider a direct comparison between older and newer machine types:

Machine Type	vCPUs	RAM	Storage	Monthly Cost
G4 Instance	16	224 GB	3072 GB	$3,212
E32 v5 Instance	32	256 GB	800 GB	$1,472

Key Insight: 54% cost reduction with a more performant machine configuration

Implementation Strategy

Infrastructure-as-Code Example (Terraform)

# Before (Old Configuration)
resource "azurerm_virtual_machine" "example" {
  vm_size = "Standard_G4"
  # Other configuration parameters
}

# After (Upgraded Configuration)
resource "azurerm_virtual_machine" "example" {
  vm_size = "Standard_E32_v5"
  # Other configuration parameters
}

Manual Migration Steps

1. Assessment
   • Inventory current G series machine deployments
   • Document current workload requirements
   • Analyze performance metrics
2. Planning
   • Select appropriate Ev5 series replacement
   • Create migration runbook
   • Schedule maintenance window
3. Migration
   • Backup existing systems
   • Provision new Ev5 instances
   • Migrate data and configurations
   • Validate performance

Best Practices

• Gradual Migration: Avoid simultaneous large-scale upgrades
• Performance Testing: Validate workload compatibility
• Cost Monitoring: Track actual savings post-migration
• Regular Review: Continuously assess machine type efficiency

Tools for Implementation

• Infracost: Automatically detect and recommend VM series upgrades
• Azure Cost Management
• Azure Advisor

Real-World Scenarios

Web Application Hosting

A mid-sized digital agency migrated 20 G4 instances to Ev5, reducing monthly infrastructure costs by $32,400 while improving overall application responsiveness.

Data Processing Workloads

A big data analytics team replaced legacy G series machines with Ev5, achieving:

• 40% compute performance increase
• 55% cost reduction
• Improved machine learning model training times

Potential Considerations

Potential Limitations

• Compatibility: Some legacy applications might require specific configurations
• Migration Complexity: Requires careful planning and testing
• Initial Migration Overhead: Short-term implementation costs

When to Avoid Immediate Upgrade

• Extremely customized legacy systems
• Applications with very specific hardware dependencies
• Imminent major system redesign

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)