Azure Spot Instances

Key Benefits
Cost savings: Azure Spot pricing can provide up to 90% cost savings compared to regular On-Demand Instances.
Flexibility: Azure Spot Instances can be used for any workload and can be deployed with the same tools and processes you use for regular Azure Instances.
No interruptions: If capacity becomes available and the Spot Instance price becomes high, the instance will continue to run until it’s terminated by the user or the workload ends.
Availability: Azure Spot Instances are available via the Azure portal and can be launched in minutes.

Azure Spot Instances work by taking advantage of unused Azure capacity. These instances are offered to customers at a discounted rate with the caveat that they can be interrupted if Azure needs the capacity back. As long as capacity is available and the Spot price is below the interrupt threshold, the Spot Instance will continue to run. If the Spot price goes above the interrupt threshold, the instance will be paused or stopped, giving you the option to either keep the instance running at the new price, or to terminate the instance.

Azure Spot Instances are ideal for workloads that are flexible or can tolerate interruptions. Some common use cases include:
• Big data and analytics processing.
• High-performance computing (HPC) workloads.
• Batch processing and image rendering.
• Dev and test environments.
• Containerised applications in Kubernetes.

Pros of Azure Spot Instances
Cost Savings: Azure Spot Instances provide a significant discount of up to 90% compared to regular On-Demand Instances.
Flexibility: Azure Spot Instances are ideal for workloads that are flexible, can be interrupted and restarted, require little dependence on the infrastructure, or that do not need to be continually available.
Access to Azure’s Infrastructure: Azure Spot Instances provide access to Azure’s advanced infrastructure, which includes a wide range of compute instances, storage, and networking services.
Easy Integration: Azure Spot Instances are integrated with Azure’s compute services, making them easy to integrate with other Azure services and tools.
High Availability: Azure ensures that it is always providing the customers with Spot capacity, which is not in use currently. Hence, the customer always gets the capacity they require at any given point of time.

Cons of Azure Spot Instances
Capacity Interruptions: Azure can interrupt Spot Instances at any time if the capacity is required for other Azure workloads. Interruptions can cause issues with your workloads or applications, especially if they are not designed to handle such interruptions.
Limited Availability: As Spot Instances depend on unused Azure capacity, their availability can sometimes be limited, making it difficult to use them for larger workloads.
Additional Management: Spot Instances require additional management, as users must have contingency plans in place that can respond quickly to any capacity interruptions.
No SLAs: Azure Spot Instances do not have any Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and hence not appropriate for mission critical workloads and applications that require high uptime.
Unpredictable Costs: Since Azure Spot Instances are priced based on demand, the price can vary significantly and can be unpredictable, which may create significant cost management challenges.

Overall, Azure Spot Instances can be useful for customers looking for a cost-effective way of running flexible, short-lived workloads. However, they are not recommended for applications that require long-term availability or have higher 
workloads as they run on an interruptible basis, and their pricing is highly unpredictable.

Getting started with Azure Spot Instances is easy. Simply go to the Azure portal, select Spot Instances, and choose the instance type, region, and duration you want. You can use the same tools and processes as you would with regular Azure instances, so there’s no need to learn new tools or process.

Azure Spot Instances offer a flexible and cost-effective way to run workloads in the cloud. Take advantage of unused Azure capacity to reduce costs without sacrificing performance. Azure Spot Instances are ideal for workloads that can tolerate interruptions and provide cost savings of up to 90%. Start using Azure Spot Instances today and see the difference for yourself.