How much does it cost to run an Azure Virtual Machine? 

Excellent example of how to use an Azure VM effectively for real-world use. Thanks for the comment and watching!

This is how I use mine, I can create on my PC which is fast enough, but when I need to render animations, I use the vm and then deallocate.

Can the deallocation be scheduled same as the shut down? Thinking of creating one VM to go through some certification training that needs to be on Windows, but from the commodity of my iMac.

I see the appeal if you just need something that you use some hours a month crunching some big numbers (assuming pay as you go is paid per hour). Buying a comparable computer might be much more expensive. I am having some trouble seeing why you would want their budget subscription services unless you travel a lot (Chromebook?). Buying a mini PC would probably be cheaper.

They prefer the ongoing $$. Like Office 365. Lol.

It’s actually not $500. That $8 a week was 12hours 7 days. Over time, it been more like $2-$4 a week for actual usage.

@@LearningandTechnology But then again you can just buy a better system for like 250$ second hand and be way better off and then resell the computer when you no longer need its service. The way i see it the 2 only benefits from vm's are 1: automization, 2: travel / on the go system

@@hellskreamer total cost of ownership extends beyond the price of purchase - bit you can always get a Raspberry Pi 400 for about $100 of you want to. There are many options.

@@LearningandTechnology very true, you always have to factor in the cost of electricity, internet, stability, etc. depending on the usage. Thanks for the video tho, very well made and informative!

Based on your scenario - I might give the Windows 365 a try. It’s a fixed cost, more “permanent” system (a fixed monthly cost) I do have a video where I connect my iPad to a Windows365 system. I hope that some of my videos do help you to find a solution that works best for you.

I bought one spec'd as you listed for $159 on sale...!

The primary audience for this video are students needing resources to do labs. Very often Mac users that need a Windows machine - in my case, students that need to run Windows-only analytic software for 3-6 hours a week. They often ask if they need to purchase a new computer for these studies - this video shows them an alternative. For many of them, they have great skills - but buying a used computer, configuration, maintenance is not a good use of their time.

how much did you have to pay for storage monthly?

Honestly answer - did you even watch the video?

Converted to the currency in my country, if buying 2TB provisioned space which is what I would need, I could actually buy more physical hard disks every month that what's on offer with Azure, and I'm quite sure they'll charge you for bandwidth use too, not that I actually bothered to check. I mean, who uses a 2GB hard disk?? What is this 2004?

For development yes! Your PC is enough for you! But for running servers??! Good luck running a server 24/7 without worrying about it breaking down due to the multitude of reasons and potential significant loss of data.

Fantastic! Thank you for watching and I hope it helps.

For a full-time daily driver I also definitely use my own hardware. Mostly I use Azure for labs, testing, and a “clean” system unencumbered with all my video games! Haha!

Haha! Thanks. I do get a few comments about the Cloud from folks that really don’t like it 😀

Thanks! I’m always happy when someone recognizes it - I’m hoping to get the Shark Sub one day too

Unfortunately I don’t know about differences in geographical pricing - that’s an excellent question though - I’m going to see what I can find out. I can see Windows 365 bring something especially useful for global travellers such as yourself - you’ve given me some excellent follow up ideas - thanks!

Given the Infrastructure you have, I would look at using the Microsoft Cost Analyzer tools to see what you’re costing might be. Running full-time resources is more expensive than just using systems for temporary or testing purposes.

@@LearningandTechnology Thanks for the direction, much appreciated.

No, you don't. When you power off your VM the config is saved

Shutting down VM does not impact installed programs (Just like shutting down a laptop/PC)

I’m not sure you understand the use-case for Cloud systems and how they are used as part of an infrastructure and/or in learning and development. It’s a bit of a challenge to adapt to changes in technology. Cloud systems have a role to play, but you are confusing them as a replacement to systems.

Certainly if you can get a computer for $160 and have skills to configure and manage it - plus need it a lot. Then that’s a viable option as well. It’s good to have choice. I use the Azure systems for test, teach, demo, and reach

can it play crysis?

I have an entire video on that 😀 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iCcODGjM06E.html

License included, but if you have one you can “bring your own” and get a reduced cost. You are the Admin. You can get a dedicated IP

Hey!!! I just noticed your profile picture! I love BC (and the Wizard of Id) - I met Parker back in 1986 and have an original sketch in my office.

@@LearningandTechnology Never met him, but have all the books. It's my favorite cartoon.

@@LearningandTechnology Hmm, im wondering if I can get a larger VM, then run ESXi on it to break out multiple nodes rather than having to buy a bunch of small nodes... I would need multiple IP's for that to work though...

@@ronwatkins5775 putting a VM into a VM (nested VMs) can really impact performance. I tend to build VMware labs on older lab equipment for training and learning.

The use of Azure VMs in this example are intended as labs and experimentation environments- not as permanent systems (that would be Windows 365). Therefore, there is no need for permanence in resource allocation for this use-case. For a permanent, dedicated Microsoft Cloud VM - check out Windows 365.

The system includes the Operating System (for example, a Linux VM is even less expensive). Once you shutdown the system the cost is much lower - so running it 5-10 hours a week would be quite reasonable.

That’s a little more challenging - because you would have to get the files from your local device (camera/card) to the Cloud. So your bottleneck becomes the Internet speed. However, once there you would have a nice backup.

@@LearningandTechnology Yeah, that would be the primary purpose of the VM, their much superior upload speeds. What I am not seeing how to accomplish is to get the VM to see my local drives that would sync/upload to OneDrive/DropBox....etc

There are a couple answers: The cost of the license for the OS is built into the cost of the service for many of the selections. For some of the software - you can bring an existing license and pay less There are licenses given away for some groups - such as Azure for Education (bit that’s not for commercial use obviously)

Fantastic series Frank! While I've tried a number of system selections, all require I check the box for: "I confirm I have an eligible Windows 10/11 license with multi-tenant hosting rights". Looks like I need a one-time $199US Windows 10 Pro license with an additional $36US/month license for Windows 10 Enterprise E3

Those should be the only costs - you can add some feature such as backup, etc that cost a bit a so the best course of action is to just monitor it. They do give you a really good cost management interface where you can see actual costs, projected costs, and even set limits.

@@LearningandTechnology thank you for the fast reply!

For a more permanent (always on) system that isn’t for lab work and experiments- you may want to look at something like Windows365. It seems more aligned to your use-case. Windows365 wasn’t available when I made this video, and it more of a hosted Cloud computer. For privacy and such. It’s never a simple question. On the one hand, having everything on a personal system “seems” better - until that system is stolen, lost, crashes, or is compromised. Then, putting data on an external system seems that you are trusting a third party to protect it and maintain your privacy - which you are - trusting them. A compromise is to use the Cloud, but encrypt the most sensitive data. (I have a video on AZCrypt as well). My experience has been that 100% safety and security is likely not achievable - but 99% is. After all, a corrupt employee with access to sensitive data is probably the most likely area of a security breach. Windows365 is more than $9 a month though. An Azure VM won’t be as easy to manage I’m terms of persistent data/access (you have to ensure you shut it down when not in use to save money). So it’s not too easy to give you a perfect answer - but I hope I’ve at least given you some options to explore for your specific needs.

@@LearningandTechnology Thank you for your thoughts. Worst case I'll just spin up another VM on our infrastructure. I can always move it later.

Yes - it’s important to monitor costs and not over-spec the system if you are not using it. It does take a shift in mindset - we are used to buying powerful systems and then running them at low capacity most of the time. The shift is to run what we actually need and then increasing power as needed, reducing when not.

If you have a lot of technical experience, can troubleshoot/manage a used system, and need a full time system - then that’s probably the way to go - get a used system. If you just need the occasional Windows VM - then check out my video where I demo that on Azure (it’s called “Don’t by a new PC - use an Azure VM”

@@georgegabriel3911 it will depend entirely on the configuration you select - processor, storage, etc.

@@LearningandTechnology any recommendations for a file server 1 TB and 16 G of ram without the licensing cost?

For labs and testing. That's the main use-case for individual Cloud VMs. They allow me to have a temporary "clean" system (or a system running differnt software/OS) As a "daily driver" many people will have their own device that they use.

I am not sure about Azure; but in AWS, prices for Dedicated machines are much less than on demand. Also, prices for 3 years dedicated machines are less than 1 year dedicated machine of exact same configuration. (Buying VPS might still be cheaper, but I wouldn't get to autoscale VPS)

Please let us know how much. 4 core, 8gb mem, 200gb capacity.

@@UmarAlFarooq On demand $95/Mo, One year plan $66/Mo, Three year plan $52/Mo.

@@saurabhrangnekar thank you. I could get 5X as much with a vps. You were saying "scale?" Docker multiple VPS and save a bundle.

I haven’t tried that out, but you might be able to test it and see. That Azure to Internet is quite fast.

If you just shutdown then you are still charged for storage - but it is much less expensive. To stop all charges - delete the resources entirely

It’s generally not a great choice as a render farm - but those cloud services do exist. Depending on what you need, there is a cost calculator in Azure

There is a storage cost, but it is not very much. You have a cost calculator that will show what you are using and it also projects the cost so it’s very transparent and easy to see

That depends - desktop management with Windows365 is a way of provisioning client desktops with a fixed configuration to employees. For Azure, there are costs related to Infrastructure, Platform, and Software - So it’s going to be very specific to each client.

As long as it has a browser - almost anything works. I’ve used iPads, Raspberry Pi systems, Chromebooks, and quite old systems. You aren’t using much in terms of local storage or compute. It’s mostly about passing keyboard, video, and mouse movements through the Internet. So if you are able to browse the Internet - you can remote control an Azure resource. Note: if you want to run the VM through RDP - then that client also has to be available for your chosen device - which it is widely available

@@LearningandTechnology Azure vps, is what I want to access. Does that mean I can use my smartphone?

There is a cost calculator on the Azure site that can help you with Infrastructure cost planning.

Think more about the Test phase or demo phase of development. Most devs will have dedicated systems - and often need those. The analysis here is general use - or casual use. There are some other cool Dev aspects with Cloud system though - it’s worth taking a look.

@@LearningandTechnology Perfect. Yes most of the development activity is testing centric and it makes a lot of sense to have it on Azure cloud than buying a big fat server.

120 cores is quite a powerful system indeed. You’d certainly need to do an ROI for your own specifics, but research is an area where the elasticity of Cloud services can be well-managed. You don’t run the systems 24x7x365 and there is the ability to scale up and down on a demand basis.

Azure is something I’ve used quite a bit - but AWS , Google, and IBM are other clouds I have accounts with as well. I’ve heard about various inexpensive ones - there’s one I’m looking at that may involve me making a video 😀 I think you will be very interested in Windows 365 from the description of what you are looking to accomplish

@@LearningandTechnology Thanks !

That’s way too much - there are a couple of things to consider. 1) you want to make sure you don’t over spec the system. You don’t require a powerful VM for most things 2) you won’t be running the system 24x7 - you save a lot by managing it well. For example, if you only ran it 40 hours a week it would drastically reduce the cost 3) check with your school. If they have Azure for Education then you will get licenses and Azure credits in many cases.

@Learning and Technology with Frank yes I have the azure for education. I mean the windows license is 135, as in the license to use windows. I can use something like Ubuntu, but that's more for coding and I'm looking for a desktop in a way. The vm itself is like 8 cents an hour

@@Bhadsha if you have Azure for Education then you have a license. Under “software” select the OS version you want and then “get key”. There are also a lot of always free resources for you. Including VMs.

@Learning and Technology with Frank Yes, I am aware and have used several of them. I selected Windows 10 pro but I don't see it's license. If you try to create a vm with windows 10, you'll see a checkbox at the bottom that asks you to confirm "I confirm I have an eligible Windows 10/11 license with multi-tenant hosting rights.". That's the bit I'm confused on as I don't have the license. Also thanks for your help it really means a lot.

@@Bhadsha no worries - your license should allow you to select that box. The idea is that the educational licenses are for education - so if you are using Azure to learn and teach then that is a valid section. Your cost concerns me - it should be nowhere near $135 - check to make sure you aren’t creating a machine that’s too powerful and make sure to turn it off when not in use. Plus - use some of the free resources too!

I haven’t looked into that. I seem to recall hearing about some online video editing software, but I haven’t tried anything out for that.

Generally, you won’t be running the system 24x7 Not sure if you caught that in the video. It’s compute demand - not compute 24x7

@@LearningandTechnology Yeah, but if you run any type of business software that needs to send or receive data 24/7, then the cost would be rather high using the "pay for usage" model. I have an Amazon Windows remote desktop for about $40/month that would be a better deal.

@@Schlumbucketreturns generally, if you have a business that needs 24x7 compute then you wouldn’t run it on a VM. That’s a bit more complex and gets into DevOps and the complexities around doing full TOC on a Cloud Solution. Usually, we’ll see a mix of hybrid solutions with Cloud being quite dominant these days. For VMs - the best use-case I tend to see is for testing. Limited compute, labs, clean VM, etc

This is an Azure video. VMWare is a different company and has a range of services as well. With VMWare - I’ve mostly used ESX to create local Data Centre solutions - then, you can do hybrid Cloud. It’s a little beyond what I tend to cover here 😀

Exactly! You need to actually run the system to see the costs.

Actually - I think Bias and the inability to think critically rules the world. People bring bias into their thoughts and do not evolve. This is especially true in subcultures that have reenforcement loops - which is why social media is problematic - it creates cultures of reenforcement. Some examples: people that protested The move from mainframe to client/server - And, more recently, those that rebel against cloud computing without providing rational analysis.

Do you need this as a full-time system, or just occasional use?

@Learning and Technology with Frank Full time system I have software It needs 16gb ram , 500gb storage , and sql database , windows 10 or 11 Pro, The purpose is I want to access it from different place and by different user ..installing in physical pc not possible