Reserved Instance pricing: Azure VM w/ SQL Server

Question

Hi,

If I went ahead and signed up for 1y Reserved Instance of a DS14v2 SQL Server Standard VM in Azure, is that 12 months (calendar months) from sign-up at constant uptime (within SLA guideline, of course), or does it equate to a number of run-hours on the specification (~12*730hours = 8,760 hours) to be used at a particular VM-size?

If I wanted to run a DS14v2 now, but decide to run a DS16v2 in 6 months, can I use the RI-resource payment against that?

Trying to understand the billing structure to better inform our capacity planning!

Thanks,
Johan

Answer 1

1. is that 12 months (calendar months) from sign-up at constant uptime (within SLA guideline, of course), or does it equate to a number of run-hours on the specification

That equates to 12 month. This can be confirmed from manage-reserved-vm-instance, quoting below

Azure reservation savings only result from sustained resource use. When you make a reservation purchase, you pay for what is essentially 100% possible resource use over a one- or three-year term. Try to maximize your reservation to get as much use and savings possible. The following sections explain how to monitor a reservation and optimize its use.

For the next question

2. If I wanted to run a DS14v2 now, but decide to run a DS16v2 in 6 months, can I use the RI-resource payment against that?

The reservation can be cancelled after 6 months of usage and you would get the remaining amount back. I believe this should work for you. This is also mentioned in reserved-vm-instances and I am quoting from this.

Cancel an Azure RI at any time and return the remaining months of a reserved instance back to Microsoft - up to the yearly limit - for an early termination fee.