Availability and utilisation of H100 / A100 GPus

Question

Hi,

I am looking for guidance on the availability and most cost efficient way of accessing H100 / A100 instances. Ideally, I'd like to provision them for a number of weeks / month, depending on workload and project.

My understanding is that they can't be contracted for less than a minimum 12 months, is this correct?

Regards, Chris

Answer 1

Hi @Chris Roberts,

Thanks for contacting Microsoft Q&A platform.

Initially, there's no requirement for a contract to use Virtual Machines in Azure. Billing operates on several factors outlined below, and you're billed based on the hours of usage per VM.

• The price also changes based on your VM size.
• The price also changes based on the region where your virtual machine is located.
• As virtual machine instances go through different states, they're billed differently.

you can find more info in below guide.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/cost-optimization-plan-to-manage-costs

You can follow below to reduce your billing cost.

• Stop or delete the resources when you are not utilizing.
• Enable auto shutdown for your VMs when you are not using.

Hope this helps you.