Azure Dedicated Host SKU Retirement Migration Guide

  • Article

As hardware ages, it must be retired and workloads must be migrated to newer, faster, and more efficient Azure Dedicated Host SKUs. The legacy Dedicated Host SKUs should be migrated to newer Dedicated Host SKUs. The main differences between the retiring Dedicated Host SKUs and the newly recommended Dedicated Host SKUs are:

  • Newer, more efficient processors
  • Increased RAM
  • Increased available vCPUs
  • Greater regional capacity compared to the retiring Dedicated Host SKUs

Review the FAQs before you get started on migration. The next section will go over which Dedicated Host SKUs to migrate to help aid in migration planning and execution.

Host SKUs being retired

Some Azure Dedicated Host SKUs will be retired soon. Refer to the Azure Dedicated Host SKU Retirement documentation to learn more.

Dsv3-Type1 and Dsv3-Type2

The Dsv3-Type1 and Dsv3-Type2 run Dsv3-series VMs, which offer a combination of vCPU, memory, and temporary storage best suited for most general-purpose workloads. We recommend migrating your existing VMs to one of the following Dedicated Host SKUs:

  • Dsv3-Type3
  • Dsv3-Type4

Note that both the Dsv3-Type3 and Dsv3-Type4 won't be impacted by the 31 March 2023 retirement date. We recommend moving to either the Dsv3-Type3 or Dsv3-Type4 based on regional availability, pricing, and your organization’s needs.

Esv3-Type1 and Esv3-Type2

The Esv3-Type1 and Esv3-Type2 run Esv3-series VMs, which offer a combination of vCPU, memory, and temporary storage best suited for most memory-intensive workloads. We recommend migrating your existing VMs to one of the following Dedicated Host SKUs:

  • Esv3-Type3
  • Esv3-Type4

Note that both the Esv3-Type3 and Esv3-Type4 won't be impacted by the 31 March 2023 retirement date. We recommend moving to either the Esv3-Type3 or Esv3-Type4 based on regional availability, pricing, and your organization’s needs.

Migrating to supported hosts

To migrate your workloads and avoid Dedicated Host SKU retirement, follow the directions for your migration method of choice.

Automatic migration (Resize)

Moving a host and all associated VMs to newer generation hardware can be done through the host resize feature. Resize simplifies the migration process and avoids having to manually create new hosts and move all VMs individually.

Resize limitations:

  • Host can only be resized to an ADH within the same VM family. A Dsv3-Type3 host can be resized to Dsv3-Type4 but not to an Esv3-Type4.
  • You can only resize to newer generation of hardware. A Dsv3-Type3 host can be resized to Dsv3-Type4 but not Dsv3-Type2.
  • Resizing changes the 'Host Asset ID'. The 'Host ID' remains the same.
  • The host and all associated VMs become unavailable during the resize operation.

Warning

The resize operation causes the loss of any non-persistent data such as temp disk data. Save all your work to persistent data storage before triggering resize.

Note

If the source host is already running on the latest hardware, 'Size' page would display an empty list. If you're looking for enhanced performance, consider switching to a different VM family.

  1. Search for and select the host.
  2. In the left menu under Settings, select Size.
  3. Once on the size page from the list of SKUs, select the desired SKU to resize to.
  4. Selecting a target size from the list would enable Resize button on the bottom on the page.
  5. Click Resize, host's 'Provisioning State' changes from 'Provisioning Succeeded' to 'Updating'
  6. Once the resizing is complete, the host's 'Provisioning State' reverts to 'Provisioning Succeeded'

Manual migration

This includes steps for manually placed VMs, automatically placed VMs, and virtual machine scale sets on your Dedicated Hosts:

  1. Choose a target Dedicated Host SKU to migrate to.
  2. Ensure you have quota for the VM family associated with the target Dedicated Host SKU in your given region.
  3. Provision a new Dedicated Host of the target Dedicated Host SKU in the same Host Group.
  4. Stop and deallocate the VM(s) on your old Dedicated Host.
  5. Reassign the VM(s) to the target Dedicated Host.
  6. Start the VM(s).
  7. Delete the old host.

More detailed instructions can be found in the following sections.

Note

Certain sections are different for automatically placed VMs or virtual machine scale set. These differences will explicitly be called out in the respective steps.

Ensure quota for the target VM family

Be sure that you have enough vCPU quota for the VM family of the Dedicated Host SKU that you'll be using. Select the Dsv3-series or Esv3-series as the VM family, depending on the target Dedicated Host SKU.

Create a new Dedicated Host

Within the same Host Group as the existing Dedicated Host, create a Dedicated Host of the target Dedicated Host SKU.

Stop the VM(s) or virtual machine scale set

Refer to the PowerShell documentation to stop a VM through PowerShell or stop a virtual machine scale set through PowerShell.

Reassign the VM(s) to the target Dedicated Host

Note

Skip this step for automatically placed VMs and virtual machine scale set.

Once the target Dedicated Host has been created and the VM has been stopped, reassign the VM to the target Dedicated Host.

Start the VM(s) or virtual machine scale set

Note

Automatically placed VM(s) and virtual machine scale set require that you delete the old host before starting the autoplaced VM(s) or virtual machine scale set.

Refer to the PowerShell documentation to start a VM through PowerShell or start a virtual machine scale set through PowerShell.

Delete the old Dedicated Host

Once all VMs have been migrated from your old Dedicated Host to the target Dedicated Host, delete the old Dedicated Host.

Help and support

If you have questions, ask community experts in Azure Q&A.