Azure virtual machine sizes naming conventions
Applies to: ✔️ Linux VMs ✔️ Windows VMs ✔️ Flexible scale sets ✔️ Uniform scale sets
This page outlines the naming conventions used for Azure VMs. VMs use these naming conventions to denote varying features and specifications.
Naming convention explanation
[Family] + [Sub-family]* + [# of vCPUs] + [Constrained vCPUs]* + [Additive Features] + [Accelerator Type]* + [Version]
| Value | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Family | Indicates the VM Family Series |
| *Subfamily | Used for specialized VM differentiations only |
| # of vCPUs | Denotes the number of vCPUs of the VM |
| *Constrained vCPUs | Used for certain VM sizes only. Denotes the number of vCPUs for the constrained vCPU capable size |
| Additive Features | Lower case letters denote additive features, such as: a = AMD-based processor b = Block Storage performance d = diskful (that is, a local temp disk is present); this feature is for newer Azure VMs, see Ddv4 and Ddsv4-series i = isolated size l = low memory; a lower amount of memory than the memory intensive size m = memory intensive; the most amount of memory in a particular size p = ARM Cpu t = tiny memory; the smallest amount of memory in a particular size s = Premium Storage capable, including possible use of Ultra SSD (Note: some newer sizes without the attribute of s can still support Premium Storage, such as M128, M64, etc.) C = Confidential NP = node packing |
| *Accelerator Type | Denotes the type of hardware accelerator in the specialized/GPU SKUs. Only the new specialized/GPU SKUs launched from Q3 2020 have the hardware accelerator in the name. |
| Version | Denotes the version of the VM Family Series |
Example breakdown
[Family] + [Subfamily]* + [# of vCPUs] + [Additive Features] + [Accelerator Type]* + [Version]
Example 1: M416ms_v2
| Value | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Family | M |
| # of vCPUs | 416 |
| Additive Features | m = memory intensive s = Premium Storage capable |
| Version | v2 |
Example 2: NV16as_v4
| Value | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Family | N |
| Subfamily | V |
| # of vCPUs | 16 |
| Additive Features | a = AMD-based processor s = Premium Storage capable |
| Version | v4 |
Example 3: NC4as_T4_v3
| Value | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Family | N |
| Subfamily | C |
| # of vCPUs | 4 |
| Additive Features | a = AMD-based processor s = Premium Storage capable |
| Accelerator Type | T4 |
| Version | v3 |
Example 4: M8-2ms_v2 (Constrained vCPU)
| Value | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Family | M |
| # of vCPUs | 8 |
| # of constrained (actual) vCPUs | 2 |
| Additive Features | m = memory intensive s = Premium Storage capable |
| Version | v2 |
Next steps
Learn more about available VM Sizes in Azure.