Optimizing Spot VM availability with Azure Spot placement scores

Today, we’re excited to announce the public preview of Azure Spot placement score, a new feature designed to help you evaluate the likelihood of successful Spot VM deployments. Spot availability can vary depending on factors like SKU size, region, availability zones, or time of day. With Spot Placement Score, you can now assess deployment success probabilities by receiving a rating of High, Medium, or Low for a Spot VM size prior to deployment. This feature offers enhanced clarity and control, empowering you to make more informed decisions about your Spot VM deployments.

Key Benefits of Spot placement score

• Accurate Success Predictions: Gain a clear understanding of the likelihood of your Spot deployments succeeding based on defined parameters.
• Optimal Resource Selection: Identify the best combination of regions and VM sizes to maximize Spot VM availability and reliability using placement scores.
• Increased Deployment Success: Use data-driven insights to improve deployment outcomes, reducing risks of capacity constraints or failures.

How to Use Spot placement score

Spot placement score is accessible through the Azure Portal, Azure CLI, PowerShell, and REST API. To get started:

1. Specify the desired VM count.
2. Select the VM size.
3. Choose the Location and/or Availability Zones.
4. Receive a score indicating the likelihood of success: High, Medium, or Low.

This innovative feature enables you to make strategic, data-informed decisions, ensuring a more seamless Spot VM deployment experience.

Using Spot placement score in the Azure Portal

You can access the Spot placement score feature directly in the Spot tab during the Virtual Machine Scale Sets creation process in the Azure Portal. Follow these steps to enable and use the feature:

1. Log in to the Azure Portal: Access your Azure account at portal.azure.com.
2. Search for Virtual Machine Scale Sets: Use the search bar to find and select Virtual Machine Scale Sets.
3. Create a New Scale Set: Click Create on the Virtual Machine Scale Sets page to begin the setup process.
4. Enable Spot VMs: Navigate to the Spot tab and turn on the Spot option under the Save money with Spot section.
5. Provide placement score details: In the Your Spot placement score section, fill out the following fields:
   • Size: Specify the VM size.
   • Region: Select the desired region.
   • Availability Zones: Choose the applicable zones.
   • Initial Instance Count: Enter the number of VMs you intend to deploy.
6. Save and Apply Configuration: Click Save + Apply to calculate and receive your placement score.

By following these steps, you’ll gain valuable insights into the likelihood of successful deployment for your Spot VMs, helping you optimize your setup for cost and reliability.

Availability and pricing

You can use Spot placement score today in all Azure public regions with the exception of those based in China.

You can access Spot placement score using the Azure CLI, REST API, PowerShell and Azure Portal.  There is no additional charge for using Spot placement score.

To learn more about using Spot placement score, visit the Spot placement score documentation page.