Recommendations to Minimize Compute Costs
Question
You have an on-premises Hyper-V cluster. The cluster contains Hyper-V hosts that run Windows Server 2016 Datacenter. The hosts are licensed under a
Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that has Software Assurance.
The Hyper-V cluster contains 30 virtual machines that run Windows Server 2012 R2. Each virtual machine runs a different workload. The workloads have predictable consumption patterns.
You plan to replace the virtual machines with Azure virtual machines that run Windows Server 2016. The virtual machines will be sized according to the consumption pattern of each workload.
You need to recommend a solution to minimize the compute costs of the Azure virtual machines.
Which two recommendations should you include in the solution? Each correct answer presents part of the solution.
NOTE: Each correct selection is worth one point.
Answers
Explanations
Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer
A. B. C. D. E.CD
C: For customers with Software Assurance, Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server allows you to use your on-premises Windows Server licenses and run
Windows virtual machines on Azure at a reduced cost. You can use Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server to deploy new virtual machines with Windows OS.
D: With Azure Reserved VM Instances (RIs) you reserve virtual machines in advance and save up to 80 percent.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/reserved-vm-instances/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/hybrid-use-benefit-licensingTo minimize the compute costs of the Azure virtual machines, there are two recommendations you should include in the solution:
Activate Azure Hybrid Benefit for the Azure virtual machines: This allows you to apply your on-premises Windows Server licenses with active Software Assurance to pay a lower rate for Windows Server virtual machines in Azure. By doing so, you can save up to 40% on virtual machines running Windows Server in Azure. This option allows you to transfer your existing licenses to Azure, which can help you save money on compute costs.
Purchase Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances for the Azure virtual machines: This is another way to save money on compute costs by pre-paying for virtual machine usage. With Azure Reserved VM Instances, you can reserve virtual machines in advance and receive a discount of up to 72% off the pay-as-you-go rate. The discount you receive will depend on the length of the reservation term (one or three years) and the virtual machine size. This option allows you to lock in lower compute costs for the Azure virtual machines.
Therefore, the correct answers are C and D.
Option A (Configure a spending limit in the Azure account center) is not relevant to minimizing compute costs but rather to limit the overall spending in an Azure account.
Option B (Create a virtual machine scale set that uses autoscaling) can help optimize performance and manage costs by automatically adjusting the number of virtual machines in a scale set based on demand, but it does not directly minimize compute costs.
Option E (Create a lab in Azure DevTest Labs and place the Azure virtual machines in the lab) is not relevant to minimizing compute costs but rather to creating a testing environment.
