Why would anyone use Azure Spot when the machine can terminate in 30 Seconds anytime and all work you put get lost?

Question

I can be in the middle of an installation or debugging a program and suddenly it shuts down?

How often can it happen? How do I know when I can restart the machine?

What if I use it to host a website? Does it even keep my data or It clears all the data?

Answer 1

Hello Ronen

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

Azure Spot Virtual Machines are cost-effective option as they allow you to take advantage of unused capacity at a significant cost savings.

While it's true that Spot instances can be terminated with a 30-second notice, there are several reasons why individuals and organizations still choose to use them. Azure Spot Virtual Machines are a great option for workloads that can handle interruptions like batch processing jobs, dev/test environments, large compute workloads, and more. These workloads can be designed to handle interruptions and can be restarted easily.

Therefore, it's important to consider the workload requirements and design the workload to handle interruptions.

Certain types of workloads are naturally suited for Spot instances. Examples include non-production environments, dev/test environments, stateless web servers, containerized applications, data analysis, and scientific simulations. These workloads can be easily restarted or reprocessed without significant data loss or negative impacts.

I can be in the middle of an installation or debugging a program and suddenly it shuts down?

Yes, it's possible that you could be in the middle of an installation or debugging a program and the Azure Spot Virtual Machine could be evicted.

How often can it happen? How do I know when I can restart the machine?

The frequency of interruptions and the ability to restart the machine can vary depending on several factors like Demand and supply, Bid price & Instance type and region.

What if I use it to host a website?

If you're using Spot instances to host a website, it's important to design your application with resilience and fault tolerance in mind. You should store persistent data, such as databases or user-generated content, on separate storage services that are not tied to the Spot instance itself. This way, even if the Spot instance terminates, your data remains intact.

Does it even keep my data or It clears all the data?

Azure Spot instances do not retain any data after termination. When an instance is interrupted, all data stored on the local disk is lost. Therefore, it's crucial to ensure that your website's data is persistently stored elsewhere, such as Azure Storage, Azure Database services, or external backup solutions. By decoupling your data storage from the Spot instance, you can ensure the availability and durability of your website's data.

Hope this helps.