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batch-pool-vm-sizes.md

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Choose VM sizes and images for pools
How to choose from the available VM sizes and OS versions for compute nodes in Azure Batch pools
conceptual
09/02/2021
seodec18

Choose a VM size and image for compute nodes in an Azure Batch pool

When you select a node size for an Azure Batch pool, you can choose from almost all the VM sizes available in Azure. Azure offers a range of sizes for Linux and Windows VMs for different workloads.

Supported VM series and sizes

Pools in Virtual Machine configuration

Batch pools in the Virtual Machine configuration support almost all VM sizes. The supported VM sizes in a region can be obtained via Batch Management APIs, as well as the command line tools (PowerShell cmdlets and Azure CLI). For example, the Azure Batch CLI command to list supported VM sizes in a region is:

az batch location list-skus --location
                            [--filter]
                            [--maxresults]
                            [--subscription]

For each VM series, the following table also lists whether the VM series and VM sizes are supported by Batch.

VM series Supported sizes
Basic A All sizes except Basic_A0 (A0)
A All sizes except Standard_A0, Standard_A8, Standard_A9, Standard_A10, Standard_A11
Av2 All sizes
B Not supported
DCsv2 All sizes
Dv2, DSv2 All sizes
Dv3, Dsv3 All sizes
Dav4, Dasv4 All sizes
Ddv4, Ddsv4 All sizes
Dv4, Dsv4 Not supported
Ev3, Esv3 All sizes, except for E64is_v3
Eav4, Easv4 All sizes
Edv4, Edsv4 All sizes
Ev4, Esv4 Not supported
F, Fs All sizes
Fsv2 All sizes
FX1 All sizes
G, Gs All sizes
H All sizes
HB All sizes
HBv2 All sizes
HBv3 All sizes
HC All sizes
Ls All sizes
Lsv2 All sizes
M All sizes
Mv21 All sizes
NC All sizes
NCv2 All sizes
NCv3 All sizes
NCasT4_v3 All sizes
ND All sizes
NDv4 All sizes
NDv2 None - not yet available
NP All sizes
NV All sizes
NVv3 All sizes
NVv4 All sizes
SAP HANA Not supported

1 These VM series can only be used with generation 2 VM Images.

Using Generation 2 VM Images

Some VM series, such as Mv2, can only be used with generation 2 VM images. Generation 2 VM images are specified like any VM image, using the 'sku' property of the 'imageReference' configuration; the 'sku' strings have a suffix such as "-g2" or "-gen2". To get a list of VM images supported by Batch, including generation 2 images, use the 'list supported images' API, PowerShell, or Azure CLI.

Pools in Cloud Services Configuration

Warning

Cloud Services Configuration pools are deprecated. Please use Virtual Machine Configuration pools instead.

Batch pools in Cloud Services Configuration support all VM sizes for Cloud Services except for the following:

VM series Unsupported sizes
A-series Extra small
Av2-series Standard_A1_v2, Standard_A2_v2, Standard_A2m_v2

Size considerations

  • Application requirements - Consider the characteristics and requirements of the application you'll run on the nodes. Aspects like whether the application is multithreaded and how much memory it consumes can help determine the most suitable and cost-effective node size. For multi-instance MPI workloads or CUDA applications, consider specialized HPC or GPU-enabled VM sizes, respectively. For more information, see Use RDMA-capable or GPU-enabled instances in Batch pools.

  • Tasks per node - It's typical to select a node size assuming one task runs on a node at a time. However, it might be advantageous to have multiple tasks (and therefore multiple application instances) run in parallel on compute nodes during job execution. In this case, it is common to choose a multicore node size to accommodate the increased demand of parallel task execution.

  • Load levels for different tasks - All of the nodes in a pool are the same size. If you intend to run applications with differing system requirements and/or load levels, we recommend that you use separate pools.

  • Region availability - A VM series or size might not be available in the regions where you create your Batch accounts. To check that a size is available, see Products available by region.

  • Quotas - The cores quotas in your Batch account can limit the number of nodes of a given size you can add to a Batch pool. When needed, you can request a quota increase.

  • Pool configuration - In general, you have more VM size options when you create a pool in Virtual Machine configuration, compared with Cloud Services Configuration.

Supported VM images

Use one of the following APIs to return a list of Windows and Linux VM images currently supported by Batch, including the node agent SKU IDs for each image:

It is strongly recommended to avoid images with impending Batch support end of life (EOL) dates. These dates can be discovered via the ListSupportedImages API, PowerShell, or Azure CLI. Please see the Batch best practices guide for more information regarding Batch pool VM image selection.

Next steps