A question about testing on Network Bandwidth/Throughput between two B1ms & two B2ms VMs

wij jo 1 Reputation point
2021-03-28T20:19:42.02+00:00

hello Support, i'm doing testing on Network Bandwidth/Throughput between two B1ms & two B2ms VMs in various locations arounf the world, using iperf3 tool.
in the testing result i got that the Bandwidth with B1ms VMs is better than B2ms VMs !!!
the B2ms VMs Bandwidth supposed to be much better, since B2ms is higher in performance CPUs&RAMs!!

Will you please help/clarify our confusion in this case?

Thank you in advanced.

Azure Virtual Network
Azure Virtual Network
An Azure networking service that is used to provision private networks and optionally to connect to on-premises datacenters.
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  1. Andreas Baumgarten 95,411 Reputation points MVP
    2021-03-28T23:21:15.113+00:00

    Hi @wij jo ,

    maybe the answer here from GitaraniSharmaMSFT-4262 is helpful:

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/52560/what-is-the-expected-network-bandwidth-for-vm-stan.html

    Quote:

    As per the Azure Compute backend team, the B-series is variable, so they have not published any networking numbers that may not always be accurate. The design of the B series does not provide the user with a consistent level of network performance. In addition, the B series is designed for more CPU intensive workloads as that is what we are really scaling out depending on credits. If network bandwidth is an issue then the B series is likely not the best choice.
    You can find more information in the following thread : https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/azure-docs/issues/8765

    Even if a B2ms VM has a higher performance than a B1ms your measures depending on some variable facts. For instance the available burst credits at the time or your tests.

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    (If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

    Regards
    Andreas Baumgarten

  2. Andreas Baumgarten 95,411 Reputation points MVP
    2021-03-29T08:26:41.547+00:00

    Here are 2 links with the details how the B-Series VMs are working:
    https://singhkays.medium.com/understanding-the-azure-b-series-and-cpu-credits-cd6ad1c46094
    https://www.danielstechblog.io/monitoring-azure-b-series-vm-banked-credits/

    The variable facts I am referring to is the CPU performance. Depending on the burst mode/burst credits of an individual VM the CPU performance is variable.
    https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/azure/virtual-machines/sizes-b-series-burstable

    The CPU performance is influencing everything in the VM ... OS, running applications, drivers, disk performance, network performance, ...
    This might be the reason why you get the results during your tests.

    At least that's my idea. Maybe someone from Microsoft has some more insights.

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    (If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

    Regards
    Andreas Baumgarten

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