How to programmatically determine whether a VM size is previous-gen

Lyly Vuu 0

This documentation describes VM series are that previous-gen: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes/previous-gen-sizes-list

For every VM in our tenant, we are looking to programmatically determine the VM "status" (e.g. capacity limited, next-gen available, or retired). There doesn't appear to be an API that will return this information. Please advise on the best method to obtain this information. Thank you in advance.

Jackson Martins 10,556 Reputation points MVP

2024-10-01T14:04:48.24+00:00

Hello @Lyly Vuu

You can use the Azure Advisor "Service Retirement" workbook for filtering affected resources by subscription, resource group, or location.

Go to Azure Advisor, select workbooks and Service Retirement:

After that, at the workbook's top, you will see a dropdown menu labeled Subscription.
Click on it and select the desired subscription to view only the resources under that subscription.
Just like:

Get in touch if you need more help with this issue.

--please don't forget to "[Accept the answer]" if the reply is helpful--
Srinud 2,610 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-01T20:14:26.7533333+00:00

Hi Lyly Vuu,

Just checking in to see if you have got a chance to see the answer posted by @Jackson Martins in resolving the issue.

If the information is helpful, please consider by clicking the "Accept answer and Upvote" on the post.

Thank you.
Lyly Vuu 0 Reputation points

2024-10-04T09:06:50.2933333+00:00

Hi @Jackson Martins

I've taken a look at the "Service Retirement" Workbook you mentioned and unfortunately it only indicates which VM Series are going to be retired. As we're trying to be proactive, the idea is to monitor our tenant for VMs that are "next-gen available", "capacity-limited" and "retired" - these statuses are listed in order of severity from lowest to highest. By monitoring this in our tenant, we can remediate VMs before they get close to being retired.

Secondly, we're looking to do this in an automated fashion. That is, using some sort of scripted method, we want to query our tenant for all VMs and also their status ("next-gen available", "capacity-limited", "retired") - it doesn't appear that Microsoft offers any APIs that will return this information, therefore the thought was to ask the community before contacting Microsoft directly.
Srinud 2,610 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-07T17:58:30.78+00:00

Hi Lyly Vuu,

Thanks for getting back to us. We are looking into it and will get back to you soon.

1 answer

Srinud 2,610 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-08T08:07:25.7133333+00:00
Hi Lyly Vuu,

As of now, there is no direct API that provides the specific statuses of "next-gen available," "capacity-limited," or "retired" for VMs.
However, you can take the following approach to monitor VM sizes programmatically.
You can use Azure Resource Graph (ARG) to programmatically query all VMs in your tenant and gather their size information. Then, you can cross-reference the sizes with known lists of previous-gen or retiring VM series provided by Microsoft.

Resources | where type == "microsoft.compute/virtualmachines" | project name, location, properties.hardwareProfile.vmSize

You can use this to check the VM sizes and compare them against the official Previous Generation Sizes list.
You can also script a process to check available VM sizes in specific regions using the Azure CLI:

az vm list-sizes --location <region>

Azure Advisor provides recommendations, including on VM retirement and best practices. You can query Azure Advisor using the Azure Advisor REST API to get recommendations regarding VM sizes that are no longer best suited for use.
If you are still facing any issue, please let us know in the comments. We are glad to help you.

If this information is helpful, we would appreciate it if you could click the "Accept answer and Upvote" on this post.

Thank you.
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1 person found this answer helpful.
Srinud 2,610 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-08T21:41:57.88+00:00

Hi Lyly Vuu,

Just checking in to see if you have got a chance to see the answer posted in resolving the issue.

If the information is helpful, please consider by clicking the "Accept answer and Upvote" on the post.

Thank you.

Srinud 2,610 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-09T17:45:32.1533333+00:00

Hi Lyly Vuu,

Just checking in to see if you have got a chance to see the answer posted in resolving the issue.

If the information is helpful, please consider by clicking the "Accept answer and Upvote" on the post.

Thank you.

Lyly Vuu 0 Reputation points

2024-10-10T09:16:52.9766667+00:00

Hi @Srinud

Thank you for the response. "Then, you can cross-reference the sizes with known lists of previous-gen or retiring VM series provided by Microsoft." - this is what we are doing today and unfortunately this involves manual intervention, so we cannot automatically (through scripted methods) do this cross-reference.

Thanks for providing the possible solutions. I think this confirms that there isn't a method to determine the status without some manual steps.

Srinud 2,610 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-10T20:10:38.07+00:00

Hi Lyly Vuu,

Thank you for providing the update on this progress.
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