By Hello everybody! I’m glad you’re here again!
At this point, you might be aware about your Microsoft Azure access, privileges and you have access to the console within properly roles assigned for you.
So let’s check Quota and why is this an important step towards establish your Horizon Cloud on Azure environment.
Understanding Quota
Quota is referenced as a portion, a fraction, one determined amount or parcel from the whole. This is important when we’re working with Cloud solutions where its relatively similar with monthly bills you may have from your end, e.g.: water, electricity, and others.
Microsoft have basically two quotas types:
Standard Quota
This is a standard quota to be used as a Pay-as-you-go VMs and reserved VM instances;
You can set quota enforced at two tiers for each subscription in each region, for exemple:
- Total regional vCPU limit, for all VM series – Known as First Tier;
- per-VM series vCPU limit – Known as Second Tier;
The following Microsoft link provide additional information about by VM and by Region increase limits, where you can set accordingly your needs.
Spot Quota
Microsoft have Spot Quota as an alternative for you to set into your Azure Resource Manager. Be aware that:
- Spot VMs must not exceed the approved spot quota limitation;
- for Spot vCPU quota type, Resource Manager vCPU are enforced across all available virtual machines series as a single limit.
For more information about spot quota limit, check this URL.
How to choose the virtual machines in Azure
Microsoft Azure has several options as virtual machines to be used, grouped by types which can help you to select what is the best option for your environment / use case.
Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines Types
| Type | Sizes | Description |
| General Purpose | B, Dsv3, Dv3, Dasv4, Dav4, DSv2, Dv2, Av2, DC, DCv2, Dv4, Dsv4, Ddv4, Ddsv4 | Balanced CPU-to-Memory ratio |
| Compute Optimized | F, Fs, Fsv2, FX | High CPU-to-memory ratio |
| Memory Optimized | Esv3, Ev3, Easv4, Eav4, Ev4, Esv4, Edv4, Edsv4, Mv2, M, DSv2, Dv2 | High Memory-to-CPU ratio |
| Storage Opmitized | Lsv2 | High disk throughput and IO |
| GPU | NC, NCv2, NCv3, NCasT4_v3, ND, NDv2, NV, NVv3, NVv4 | Single or Multiple GPU |
| High Performance Compute | HB, HBv2, HBv3, HC, H | HPC virtual machines |
This table was adapted from this URL, where you can check mode details including availability per Azure regions, general limits on Azure, names, etc.
What about VMware’s supported Virtual Machines?
From VMware side, our Product team did a great job organizing all virtual machines supported and unsupported so please, check this VMware KB for more information.
Azure VM Series and instances currently not supported
| Series | Instance Names |
| A | Basic_A0 / Basic_A1 / Basic_A2 / Basic_A3 / Basic_A4 |
| A0_A7 | Standard_A0 / Standard_A1 / Standard_A2 / Standard_A3 / Standard_A4 / Standard_A5 / Standard_A6 / Standard_A7 |
| A8_A11 | Standard_A8 / Standard_A9 / Standard_A10 / Standard_A11 |
| BS | Standard_B1|s / Standard_B1s |
On the same VMware link, you can see GPU Azure VM series listed NV / NC / ND Series (GPU) (Supported and Unsupported). Please check this our if this is the use case you’re looking for:
Supported and Unsupported GPU capable Azure VM series
| Series | Instance Names | Description |
| NV | Standard_NV6 / Standard_NV12 / Standard_N24 | Supported |
| NVv2 | Standard_NV6s_v2 / Standard_NV12s_v2 / Standard_NV24s_v2 | Supported |
| NVv3 | Standard_NV12s_v3 / Standard_NV24s_v3 / Standard_NV48s_v3 | Supported |
| NVv4 | Standard_NV4as_v4 / Standard_NV8as_v4 / Standard_NV16as_v4 / Standard_NV32as_v4 | Unsupported |
| NC | Standard_NC6 / Standard_NC12 / Standard_NC24 / Standard_NC24r | Unsupported |
| NCv2 | Standard_NC6s_v2 / Standard_NC12s_v2 / Standard_NC24s_v2 / Standard_NC24rs_v2 | Unsupported |
| NCv3 | Standard_NC6s_v3 / Standard_NC12s_v3 / Standard_NC24s_v3 / Standard_NC24rs_v3 | Unsupported |
| NCasT4_v3 | Standard_NC4as_T4_v3 / Standard_NC8as_T4_v3 / Standard_NC16as_T4_v3 / Standard_NC64as_T4_v3 | Unsupported |
| ND | Standard_ND6s / Standard_ND12s / Standard_ND24s / Standard_ND24rs | Unsupported |
| NCv2 | Standard_ND40rs_v2 | Unsupported |
Time to Valide and Configure your Quota prior Horizon Cloud on Azure
As VMware Horizon Cloud on Azure is a DaaS (Desktop-as-a-Service) solution to be used upon native Azure workloads, some management virtual machines are needed to be created during first deployment. It’s important to check the following table which shows the amount of virtual machines and whose series will be created during deployment.
This is important for you to check whether your quota have the following series available or not.
Minimum Microsoft Azure capacity available for Horizon Cloud
| VM | SO | Serie | Quantity |
| Jumpbox | Linux | Standard F2 | 1 per PoD |
| Management Node | Linux | Standard D4 v3 or Standard D3 v2 | 1 per Node (during steady-state) 2 per Node (during a software upgrade) |
| Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL Service | PostgreSQL | Generation 5, Memory Optimized | 1 per PoD |
| Unified Access Gateway | Linux | Standard A4 v2 or Standard F8s v2 | 2 per Node (during steady-state) 4 per Node (while a software upgrade is being performed) |
| Master Images (GPU) | Windows 10 | Standard NV6 | * |
| Master Images (non-GPU) | Windows 10 | Standard D4 v3 or Standard D3 v2 | * |
| Master Images (non-GPU) Windows Multi-Session | Windows 10 | Standard D4 v3 or Standard D3 v2 | * |
| Master Images (non-GPU) Windows Server | Windows Server | Standard D2 v3 or Standard D2 v2 | * |
Now that you have all information related to Quota, supported virtual machines and Horizon Cloud infrastructure, it’s time to login in to your Azure Portal and configured it properly.
Login to Azure Portal: https://portal.azure.com/
I’ve created the following video for you to help on steps you need to set it properly from Azure side:
So, What’s Next?
It’s time to check Resource Providers needed prior our configuration.
Enjoy the ride!
The EUC Blog 