Azure Dev environment expectations or limits for servers

Question

I have looked everywhere for this answer but it seems that it is not truly defined. In the Azure Dev environment. What is the expectation from Microsoft for a customer's VMs? Is the customer expected to only have said servers on for 6 months to a year for testing? What is the time frame or limits that a customer needs to abide by in the environment. Can they leave an exact mirror of their current production up and running for 3-5 years for free?

An example of this would be a customer that has 6 servers that mirror their current production, one of them being an SQL DB. Could this customer have a "Dev" environment that costs them virtually nothing and leave it up and running for 3+ years without cost?

Answer 1

Hello Cory Davis

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Platform, thanks for posting your query here.

Azure DevTest Labs is a service that helps developers and testers quickly create environments in Azure while minimizing waste and controlling costs. The service provides a self-service sandbox environment that allows you to create and manage reusable environments for development and testing.

Regarding your question, there is no specific time frame or limit that a customer needs to abide by in the Azure DevTest Labs environment. However, it is important to note that the DevTest Labs environment is intended for development and testing purposes only, and not for production workloads.

In terms of cost, there are several ways to control costs in the DevTest Labs environment. For example, you can use Azure tags to organize resources for tracking and billing purposes, and you can also use Azure policies to enforce compliance and cost management rules. Additionally, if you use DevTest Labs for development and test workloads, you can consider using the Enterprise Dev/Test Subscription Benefit that's part of your Enterprise Agreement, or if you're a Pay as you Go customer, consider the Pay-as-you-go DevTest offer.

It is also important to note that the cost of running VMs in Azure DevTest Labs is based on consumption only. This means that you only pay for the resources that you use, and you can shut down VMs when they are not in use to reduce costs.

In summary, while there is no specific time frame or limit that a customer needs to abide by in the Azure DevTest Labs environment, it is important to use the environment for development and testing purposes only, and to control costs by using Azure tags, policies, and shutting down VMs when they are not in use.

Hope this helps.
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