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Get started with compute architecture design

Compute resources form the foundation of cloud workloads. Azure provides a wide range of compute options to meet diverse requirements, from virtual machines (VMs) that give you full control of the operating system to fully managed serverless functions that scale automatically. Azure compute services support workload migration, cloud-native application development, and high-performance computing (HPC) simulations. They also provide flexibility and scaling capabilities to improve workload performance.

Understanding your workload requirements is essential for choosing the right compute option. Consider the level of control that you need, how your application scales, your latency needs, and your cost optimization goals. The compute portfolio on Azure spans infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and serverless models, so you can choose the approach that suits your architecture.

Architecture

Diagram that shows the compute solution journey on Azure.

Download a Visio file of this architecture.

The previous diagram demonstrates a common basic or baseline compute implementation. For real-world solutions that you can build in Azure, see Compute architectures.

Explore compute architectures and guides

The articles in this section include fully developed architectures that you can deploy in Azure and expand to production-grade solutions and guides. These articles can help you decide how to use compute technologies in Azure. Solution ideas demonstrate implementation patterns and possibilities to consider when you plan your compute proof-of-concept (POC) development.

Select a compute service

The following articles help you evaluate and select the best compute technologies for your workload requirements:

Compute solution ideas

Compute architectures

The following production-ready architectures demonstrate comprehensive compute solutions that you can deploy and customize:

Quantum computing solutions

Mainframe

Compute guides

SAP

Consult these articles when designing your SAP workload on Azure.

SAP solution ideas

You can automate SAP workloads by using SUSE tools on Azure.

SAP architectures

SAP guides

Learn about compute on Azure

Microsoft Learn provides free online training resources for Azure compute technologies. The platform offers videos, tutorials, and interactive labs for specific products and services, along with learning paths organized by job role.

The following resources provide foundational knowledge for compute implementations on Azure:

Learning paths by role

Organizational readiness

Organizations that start their cloud adoption can use the Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure to access proven guidance that accelerates cloud adoption.

To help ensure the quality of your compute solution on Azure, follow the Azure Well-Architected Framework. The Well-Architected Framework provides prescriptive guidance for organizations that seek architectural excellence and describes how to design, provision, and monitor cost-optimized Azure solutions.

For compute-specific guidance, see the following Well-Architected Framework service guides:

Best practices

Follow best practices to help ensure that your compute solution on Azure is reliable, secure, and cost-effective.

Cost optimization

To manage compute costs on Azure, you must understand your usage patterns and choose the right pricing models.

  • Azure Reservations: Make 1-year or 3-year commitments and save up to 72% on VMs, App Service, AKS, and other compute services compared to pay-as-you-go prices.
  • Spot Virtual Machines: Access unused Azure capacity at significant discounts for interruptible workloads.
  • Azure savings plan for compute: Take advantage of flexible pricing for compute across VMs, App Service, Azure Container Instances, and Functions Premium.
  • Azure Hybrid Benefit: Use existing Windows Server, SQL Server, and Linux subscription licenses on Azure.
  • Reduce service costs by using Azure Advisor: Use Advisor recommendations to identify underutilized VMs, App Service plans, and other resources.

Stay current with compute

Azure compute services evolve to address modern data challenges. Stay informed about the latest updates and features.

To stay current with key compute services, see the following articles:

Other resources

Compute covers a range of solutions. The following resources can help you discover more about Azure.

Hybrid and multicloud

Many organizations need a hybrid approach to compute because their workloads run on-premises and in the cloud. Organizations typically extend on-premises compute solutions to the cloud. To connect environments, organizations must choose a hybrid network architecture.

Review the following key hybrid compute scenarios:

  • Azure Arc: Extend Azure management and services to any infrastructure.
  • Azure Local: Run Azure services on-premises by using a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution.
  • Hybrid network architecture: Connect on-premises networks to Azure.

The following articles describe key hybrid compute scenarios:

HPC

HPC uses large clusters of computers to solve complex computational problems. For more information, see the following articles:

  • HPC on Azure: Learn about HPC capabilities and architectures.
  • Azure Batch: Run large-scale parallel and HPC applications efficiently.
  • Azure CycleCloud: Create, manage, and optimize HPC clusters.

Containers and Kubernetes

Container-based architectures are increasingly popular for building scalable, portable applications. For more information, see the following articles:

AWS or Google Cloud professionals

To help you ramp up quickly, the following articles compare Azure compute options to other cloud services:

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