Important notice: Three-year reserved instances for D, Ds, Dv2, Dsv2, and Ls series VMs can no longer be purchased or renewed

Philip 60 Reputation points
2025-04-02T08:57:04.4566667+00:00

current_reserv.JPGI received an email with the subject: "Important Notice: Three-Year Reserved Instances for D, Ds, Dv2, Dsv2, and Ls Series VMs Can No Longer Be Purchased or Renewed."

I currently have two reservations that fall under this category, which will expire in late June 2025. I would appreciate some guidance on how to proceed. I have a few concerns:

  1. Will my currently running machines be affected?
  2. I noticed in the support links that migration is required. Do I need to migrate to a different server?
  3. What necessary steps should I follow?
  4. when this is done, will a downtime is required?
  5. what exactly is migrated?
Azure Virtual Machines
Azure Virtual Machines
An Azure service that is used to provision Windows and Linux virtual machines.
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  1. Mounika Reddy Anumandla 6,940 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-04-02T09:29:06.85+00:00

    Hi Philip,

    Your current Azure VMs (D, Ds, Dv2, Dsv2, and Ls-series) will continue operating after Reserved Instance (RI) expiration in June 2025, but you’ll lose RI discounts and transition to pay-as-you-go billing.

    Will running machines be affected? No, VM retirement occurs in 2028, so your workloads remain operational after RI expiration. However:

    • Costs will increase due to pay-as-you-go rates starting July 2025.
    • Mandatory migration to newer VM series (e.g., Dasv5, Dsv5, Lsv3) is required before 2028.

    Do you need to migrate? Yes, but timing depends on your priorities:

    • Migrate now to secure RI discounts on newer VM series
    • Migrate later (before 2028) to avoid downtime during retirement.
    • By migrating to newer VM series, you gain access to improved price-performance ratios, broader regional availability, and the latest hardware capabilities.
    • Microsoft recommends migrating to newer generations, such as: Dsv3 / Dsv4 / Dsv5 series Dasv4 / Dasv5 series Esv3 / Esv4 / Esv5 series (for memory-intensive workloads).

    What necessary steps should I follow?
    Please follow the steps mentioned in the document: Necessary Steps.

    Will downtime be required?

    It depends on how you migrate:

    • Resizing an existing VM (if available) - Minimal downtime (~minutes).
    • Recreating VMs on a new SKU - Requires stopping and redeploying, which can result in longer downtime.

    What exactly is migrated?

    • VM Configuration (CPU, memory, storage) will change based on the new instance type.
    • OS Disk and Data Disks - If resizing, they remain intact. If recreating, you may need to attach them manually.
    • Network Configurations -Ensure the new VM retains the same public IP, NSGs, and virtual network settings.

    Hope this helps!

    If the information is helpful, please click upvote or tag me in the comments to let us know!


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