Azure Hybrid Benefit for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) virtual machines

Article
03/01/2023
18 minutes to read

What is Azure Hybrid Benefit?

Azure Hybrid Benefit (AHB) for Linux virtual machines enables you to take advantage of discounted reserved instance rates for your Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) VMs. Enabling AHB saves money by applying the licensing costs for RHEL and SLES on top of the discounted rate of reserved instances. This article explains the two Azure Hybrid Benefit licensing models and the process of converting to and between them.

Customers may see savings estimated to up to 76% with Azure Hybrid Benefit for Linux.

Defining Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and Bring-your-own-subscription (BYOS)

In Azure, there are two main licensing pricing options: 'pay-as-you-go' (PAYG) and 'bring-your-own-subscription' (BYOS). 'PAYG' is a pricing option where you pay for the resources you use on an hourly or monthly basis. You only pay for what you use and can scale up or down as needed. On the other hand, 'BYOS' is a licensing option where you can use your existing licenses for certain software, in this case RHEL and SLES, on Azure virtual machines. You can use your existing licenses and don't have to purchase new ones for use in Azure.

Diagram that shows the use of Azure Hybrid Benefit to switch Linux virtual machines from bring-your-own-subscription to pay-as-you-go.

Virtual machines deployed from pay-as-you-go images on Azure without Azure Hybrid Benefit incur both an infrastructure fee and a software fee. You can either convert these VMs to standard BYOS, Azure Hybrid Benefit BYOS, or Azure Hybrid Benefit PAYG.

After you apply Azure Hybrid Benefit to your RHEL or SLES virtual machine, you're no longer charged a software fee. Your virtual machine is charged a BYOS fee instead. You can use Azure Hybrid Benefit to switch back to pay-as-you-go billing at any time.

Which Linux virtual machines qualify for Azure Hybrid Benefit?

Azure Hybrid Benefit BYOS and PAYG capability are available to all RHEL and SLES virtual machines. The VM can be created using a custom image or one taken from the Azure Marketplace

Azure dedicated host instances and SQL hybrid benefits aren't eligible for Azure Hybrid Benefit if you already use Azure Hybrid Benefit with Linux virtual machines.

Getting started with PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit

Red Hat (RHEL) PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit

Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go virtual machines for RHEL is available to Red Hat customers who meet the following criteria:

Have active or unused RHEL subscriptions that are eligible for use in Azure
Have correctly enabled one or more of their subscriptions for use in Azure with the Red Hat Cloud Access program

To start using Azure Hybrid Benefit for Red Hat:

Enable one or more of your eligible RHEL subscriptions for use in Azure using the Red Hat Cloud Access customer interface.The Azure subscriptions that you provide during the Red Hat Cloud Access enablement process then have access to Azure Hybrid Benefit
Apply Azure Hybrid Benefit to any RHEL pay-as-you-go virtual machines that you deploy in Azure Marketplace pay-as-you-go images. You can use the Azure portal or the Azure CLI to enable Azure Hybrid Benefit.
Follow the recommended next steps to configure update sources for your RHEL virtual machines and for RHEL subscription compliance guidelines.

SUSE (SLES) PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit

Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go virtual machines for SUSE is available to customers who have:

Unused SUSE subscriptions that are eligible to use in Azure.
One or more active SUSE subscriptions to use on-premises that should be moved to Azure.
Purchased subscriptions that they activated in the SUSE Customer Center to use in Azure.

Important

Ensure that you select the correct subscription to use in Azure.

To start using Azure Hybrid Benefit for SUSE:

Register the subscription that you purchased from SUSE or a SUSE distributor with the SUSE Customer Center.
Activate the subscription in the SUSE Customer Center.
Register your virtual machines that are receiving Azure Hybrid Benefit with the SUSE Customer Center to get the updates from the SUSE Customer Center.

Enable PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit in the Azure portal

In the Azure portal, you can enable Azure Hybrid Benefit on existing virtual machines or on new virtual machines at the time that you create them.

Enable PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit on an existing virtual machine in the Azure portal

To enable Azure Hybrid Benefit on an existing virtual machine:

Go to the Azure portal.
Open the virtual machine page on which you want to apply the conversion.
Go to Configuration > Licensing. To enable the Azure Hybrid Benefit conversion, select Yes, and then select the confirmation checkbox.

Screenshot of the Azure portal that shows the Licensing section of the configuration page for Azure Hybrid Benefit.

Enable PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit when creating a new virtual machine in the Azure portal

To enable Azure Hybrid Benefit when you create a virtual machine, use the following procedure. (The SUSE workflow is the same as the RHEL example shown here.)

Go to the Azure portal.
Go to Create a virtual machine.
In the Licensing section, select the checkbox that asks if you want to use an existing RHEL subscription and the checkbox to confirm that your subscription is eligible.
Create a virtual machine by following the next set of instructions.
On the Configuration pane, confirm that the option is enabled.

Enable and disable PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit using the Azure CLI

You can use the az vm update command to update existing virtual machines. For RHEL virtual machines, run the command with a --license-type parameter of RHEL_BYOS. For SLES virtual machines, run the command with a --license-type parameter of SLES_BYOS.

Enable PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit using the Azure CLI

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit on a RHEL virtual machine
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type RHEL_BYOS

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit on a SLES virtual machine
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type SLES_BYOS

Disable PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit using the Azure CLI

To disable Azure Hybrid Benefit, use a --license-type value of None:

# This will disable Azure Hybrid Benefit on a virtual machine
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type None

Enable PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit on a large number of virtual machines using the Azure CLI

To enable Azure Hybrid Benefit on a large number of virtual machines, you can use the --ids parameter in the Azure CLI:

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit on a RHEL virtual machine. In this example, ids.txt is an
# existing text file that contains a delimited list of resource IDs corresponding
# to the virtual machines using Azure Hybrid Benefit
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type RHEL_BYOS --ids $(cat ids.txt)

The following examples show two methods of getting a list of resource IDs: one at the resource group level, and one at the subscription level.

# To get a list of all the resource IDs in a resource group:
$(az vm list -g MyResourceGroup --query "[].id" -o tsv)

# To get a list of all the resource IDs of virtual machines in a subscription:
az vm list -o json | jq '.[] | {Virtual MachineName: .name, ResourceID: .id}'

Apply PAYG when creating a new VM

In addition to applying Azure Hybrid Benefit to existing pay-as-you-go virtual machines, you can invoke it at the time of virtual machine creation. Benefits of doing so are threefold:

You can provision both pay-as-you-go and BYOS virtual machines by using the same image and process.
It enables future licensing mode changes. These changes aren't available with a BYOS-only image or if you bring your own virtual machine.
The virtual machine is connected to Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) by default, to help keep it up to date and secure. You can change the updated mechanism after deployment at any time.

Check the PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit status of a virtual machine

You can view the Azure Hybrid Benefit status of a virtual machine by using the Azure CLI or by using Azure Instance Metadata Service.

Check PAYG Azure Hybrid Benefit status using the Azure CLI

You can use the az vm get-instance-view command to check the status. Look for a licenseType field in the response. If the licenseType field exists and the value is RHEL_BYOS or SLES_BYOS, your virtual machine has Azure Hybrid Benefit enabled.

az vm get-instance-view -g MyResourceGroup -n MyVm

Check PAYG status using Azure Instance Metadata Service

From within the virtual machine itself, you can query the attested metadata in Azure Instance Metadata Service to determine the virtual machine's licenseType value. A licenseType value of RHEL_BYOS or SLES_BYOS indicates that your virtual machine has Azure Hybrid Benefit enabled. Learn more about attested metadata.

PAYG for reserved instance VMs

Azure reservations (Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances) help you save money by committing to one-year or three-year plans for multiple products. Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go virtual machines is available for reserved instances.

If you've purchased compute costs at a discounted rate by using reserved instances, you can apply Azure Hybrid Benefit on the licensing costs for RHEL and SUSE on top of it. The steps to apply Azure Hybrid Benefit for a reserved instance remain exactly same as they are for a regular virtual machine.

Screenshot of the interface for purchasing reservations for virtual machines.

Note

If you've already purchased reservations for RHEL or SUSE pay-as-you-go software on Azure Marketplace, please wait for the reservation tenure to finish before using Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go virtual machines.

Getting started with BYOS Azure Hybrid Benefit

Red Hat (RHEL) BYOS Azure Hybrid Benefit

To start using Azure Hybrid Benefit for Red Hat:

Install the AHBForRHEL extension on the virtual machine on which you want to apply the Azure Hybrid Benefit BYOS benefit. You can do this installation via the Azure CLI or PowerShell.

Depending on the software updates that you want, change the license type to a relevant value. Here are the available license type values and the software updates associated with them:

License type	Software updates	Allowed virtual machines
RHEL_BASE	Installs Red Hat regular/base repositories on your virtual machine.	RHEL BYOS virtual machines, RHEL custom image virtual machines
RHEL_EUS	Installs Red Hat Extended Update Support (EUS) repositories on your virtual machine.	RHEL BYOS virtual machines, RHEL custom image virtual machines
RHEL_SAPAPPS	Installs RHEL for SAP Business Apps repositories on your virtual machine.	RHEL BYOS virtual machines, RHEL custom image virtual machines
RHEL_SAPHA	Installs RHEL for SAP with High Availability (HA) repositories on your virtual machine.	RHEL BYOS virtual machines, RHEL custom image virtual machines
RHEL_BASESAPAPPS	Installs RHEL regular/base SAP Business Apps repositories on your virtual machine.	RHEL BYOS virtual machines, RHEL custom image virtual machines
RHEL_BASESAPHA	Installs regular/base RHEL for SAP with HA repositories on your virtual machine.	RHEL BYOS virtual machines, RHEL custom image virtual machines

Wait one hour for the extension to read the license type value and install the repositories.

Note

If the extension isn't running by itself, you can run it on demand.
You should now be connected to Azure Red Hat Update. The relevant repositories are installed on your machine.
If you want to switch back to the bring-your-own-subscription model, just change the license type to None and run the extension. This action removes all Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) repositories from your virtual machine and stops the billing.

Note

In the unlikely event that the extension can't install repositories or there are any other issues, switch the license type back to empty and reach out to Microsoft support. This ensures that you don't get billed for software updates.

SUSE (SLES) BYOS Azure Hybrid Benefit

To start using Azure Hybrid Benefit for SLES virtual machines:

Install the AHBForSLES extension on the SLES virtual machine.

Change the license type to the value that reflects the software updates you want. Here are the available license type values and the software updates associated with them:

License type	Software updates	Allowed virtual machines
SLES	Installs SLES Standard repositories on your virtual machine.	SLES BYOS virtual machines, SLES custom image virtual machines
SLES_SAP	Installs SLES SAP repositories on your virtual machine.	SLES SAP BYOS virtual machines, SLES custom image virtual machines
SLES_HPC	Installs SLES High Performance Computing repositories on your virtual machine.	SLES HPC BYOS virtual machines, SLES custom image virtual machines

Wait five minutes for the extension to read the license type value and install the repositories.

Note

If the extension isn't running by itself, you can run it on demand.
You should now be connected to the SUSE public cloud update infrastructure on Azure. The relevant repositories are installed on your machine.
If you want to switch back to the bring-your-own-subscription model, just change the license type to None and run the extension. This action removes all repositories from your virtual machine and stop the billing.

After you successfully install the AHBForRHEL extension, you can use the az vm update command to update the existing license type on your running virtual machines. For SLES virtual machines, run the command and set the --license-type parameter to one of the following license types: RHEL_BASE, RHEL_EUS, RHEL_SAPHA, RHEL_SAPAPPS, RHEL_BASESAPAPPS, or RHEL_BASESAPHA.

Enable BYOS Azure Hybrid Benefit for RHEL using the Azure CLI

Install the Azure Hybrid Benefit extension on a running virtual machine. You can use the Azure portal or use the following command via the Azure CLI:
```
az vm extension set -n AHBForRHEL --publisher Microsoft.Azure.AzureHybridBenefit --vm-name myVMName --resource-group myResourceGroup
```

After the extension is installed successfully, change the license type based on what you need:

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit to fetch software updates for RHEL base/regular repositories
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type RHEL_BASE

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit to fetch software updates for RHEL EUS repositories
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type RHEL_EUS

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit to fetch software updates for RHEL SAP APPS repositories
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type RHEL_SAPAPPS

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit to fetch software updates for RHEL SAP HA repositories
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type RHEL_SAPHA

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit to fetch software updates for RHEL BASE SAP APPS repositories
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type RHEL_BASESAPAPPS

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit to fetch software updates for RHEL BASE SAP HA repositories
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type RHEL_BASESAPHA

Wait five minutes for the extension to read the license type value and install the repositories.
You should now be connected to Red Hat Update Infrastructure. The relevant repositories are installed on your machine. You can validate the installation by running the following command on your virtual machine:
```
yum repolist
```
If the extension isn't running by itself, you can try the following command on the virtual machine:
```
systemctl start azure-hybrid-benefit.service
```
You can use the following command in your RHEL virtual machine to get the current status of the service:
```
ahb-service -status
```

Enable and disable BYOS Azure Hybrid Benefit for SLES

After you successfully install the AHBForSLES extension, you can use the az vm update command to update the existing license type on your running virtual machines. For SLES virtual machines, run the command and set the --license-type parameter to one of the following license types: SLES_STANDARD, SLES_SAP, or SLES_HPC.

Enable BYOS Azure Hybrid Benefit for SLES using the Azure CLI

Install the Azure Hybrid Benefit extension on a running virtual machine. You can use the Azure portal or use the following command via the Azure CLI:
```
az vm extension set -n AHBForSLES --publisher SUSE.AzureHybridBenefit --vm-name myVMName --resource-group myResourceGroup
```

After the extension is installed successfully, change the license type based on what you need:

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit to fetch software updates for SLES Standard repositories
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type SLES

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit to fetch software updates for SLES SAP repositories
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type SLES_SAP

# This will enable Azure Hybrid Benefit to fetch software updates for SLES HPC repositories
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type SLES_HPC

Wait five minutes for the extension to read the license type value and install the repositories.
You should now be connected to the SUSE public cloud update infrastructure on Azure. The relevant repositories are installed on your machine. You can verify this change by running the following command to list SUSE repositories on your machine:
```
zypper repos
```

Disable BYOS Azure Hybrid Benefit using the Azure CLI

Ensure that the Azure Hybrid Benefit extension is installed on your virtual machine.

To disable Azure Hybrid Benefit, use the following command:

# This will disable Azure Hybrid Benefit on a virtual machine
az vm update -g myResourceGroup -n myVmName --license-type None

Check the BYOS Azure Hybrid Benefit status of a virtual machine

Ensure that the Azure Hybrid Benefit extension is installed.
In the Azure CLI or Azure Instance Metadata Service, run the following command:
```
az vm get-instance-view -g MyResourceGroup -n MyVm
```
Look for a licenseType field in the response. If the licenseType field exists and the value is one of the following, your virtual machine has Azure Hybrid Benefit enabled:

RHEL_BASE, RHEL_EUS, RHEL_BASESAPAPPS, RHEL_SAPHA, RHEL_BASESAPAPPS, RHEL_BASESAPHA, SLES, SLES_SAP, SLES_HPC

Compliance

Red Hat compliance

Customers who use Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go RHEL virtual machines agree to the standard legal terms and privacy statement associated with the Azure Marketplace RHEL offers.

Customers who use Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go RHEL virtual machines have three options for providing software updates and patches to those virtual machines:

Red Hat Update Infrastructure (default option)
Red Hat Satellite Server
Red Hat Subscription Manager

Customers can use RHUI as the main update source for Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go RHEL virtual machines without attaching subscriptions. Customers who choose the RHUI option are responsible for ensuring RHEL subscription compliance.

Customers who choose either Red Hat Satellite Server or Red Hat Subscription Manager should remove the RHUI configuration and then attach a cloud-access-enabled RHEL subscription to Azure Hybrid Benefit for PAYG RHEL virtual machines.

For more information about Red Hat subscription compliance, software updates, and sources for Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go RHEL virtual machines, see the Red Hat article about using RHEL subscriptions with Azure Hybrid Benefit.

Customers who use Azure Hybrid Benefit BYOS to PAYG capability for RHEL agree to the standard legal terms and privacy statement associated with the Azure Marketplace RHEL offerings.

SUSE compliance

To use Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go SLES virtual machines, and to get information about moving from SLES pay-as-you-go to BYOS or moving from SLES BYOS to pay-as-you-go, see SUSE Linux Enterprise and Azure Hybrid Benefit.

Customers who use Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go SLES virtual machines need to move the cloud update infrastructure to one of three options that provide software updates and patches to those virtual machines:

SUSE Customer Center
SUSE Manager
SUSE Repository Mirroring Tool

If you use Azure Hybrid Benefit BYOS to PAYG capability for SLES and want more information about moving from SLES pay-as-you-go to BYOS, or moving from SLES BYOS to pay-as-you-go, see Azure Hybrid Benefit Support on the SUSE website.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Can I use a license type of RHEL_BYOS with a SLES image, or vice versa?
- A: No, you can't. Trying to enter a license type that incorrectly matches the distribution running on your virtual machine will not update any billing metadata. But if you accidentally enter the wrong license type, updating your virtual machine again to the correct license type will still enable Azure Hybrid Benefit.
Q: I've registered with Red Hat Cloud Access but still can't enable Azure Hybrid Benefit on my RHEL virtual machines. What should I do?
- A: It might take some time for your Red Hat Cloud Access subscription registration to propagate from Red Hat to Azure. If you still see the error after one business day, contact Microsoft support.
Q: I've deployed a virtual machine by using a RHEL BYOS "golden image." Can I convert the billing on this image from BYOS to pay-as-you-go?
- A: Yes, you can use Azure Hybrid Benefit for BYOS virtual machines to do this. Learn more about this capability.
Q: I've uploaded my own RHEL or SLES image from on-premises (via Azure Migrate, Azure Site Recovery, or otherwise) to Azure. Can I convert the billing on these images from BYOS to pay-as-you-go?
- A: Yes, you can use Azure Hybrid Benefit for BYOS virtual machines to do this. Learn more about this capability.
Q: I've uploaded my own RHEL or SLES image from on-premises (via Azure Migrate, Azure Site Recovery, or otherwise) to Azure. Do I need to do anything to benefit from Azure Hybrid Benefit?
- A: No, you don't. RHEL or SLES images that you upload are already considered BYOS, and you're charged only for Azure infrastructure costs. You're responsible for RHEL subscription costs, just as you are for your on-premises environments.
Q: Can I use Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go virtual machines for Azure Marketplace RHEL and SLES SAP images?
- A: Yes. You can use the license type of RHEL_BYOS for RHEL virtual machines and SLES_BYOS for conversions of virtual machines deployed from Azure Marketplace RHEL and SLES SAP images.
Q: Can I use Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go virtual machines on Virtual Machine Scale Sets for RHEL and SLES?
- A: Yes. Azure Hybrid Benefit on Virtual Machine Scale Sets for RHEL and SLES is available to all users. Learn more about this benefit and how to use it.
Q: Can I use Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go virtual machines on reserved instances for RHEL and SLES?
- A: Yes. Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go virtual machines on reserved instances for RHEL and SLES is available to all users.
Q: Can I use Azure Hybrid Benefit for pay-as-you-go virtual machines on a virtual machine deployed for SQL Server on RHEL images?
- A: No, you can't. There's no plan for supporting these virtual machines.
Q: Can I use Azure Hybrid Benefit on my RHEL for Virtual Datacenters subscription?
- A: No. RHEL for Virtual Datacenters isn't supported on Azure at all, including Azure Hybrid Benefit.