3 reasons you might still have Azure Classic VMs in your estate

Back in 2020, Microsoft announced that their classic Virtual Machine Service Manager would be switched off in September 2023.?We’re now only a few months away from the deadline when these VMs will stop working. Whilst most customers have migrated to the newer ARM service, there are still many yet to make the switch. Have you still got some of this infrastructure running in the cloud??Here are three reasons why you might be in that situation.

Legacy Applications

You might have some legacy applications that are not compatible with the new ARM deployment model. If these applications are critical to the business, they may still be running on Azure Classic VMs. Migrating these applications to the new deployment model might require significant effort and may not have been a priority up to now.

Custom Images

Some organisations might have custom images of their virtual machines that were created using the Azure Classic deployment model. These images might have custom configurations, software installations, or other customisations that are specific to the organisation's requirements. If these images are critical to the business, you might still use Azure Classic VMs to run these images.

Budget Constraints

Some organisations might have budget constraints that prevent them from investing in new infrastructure or upgrading their existing infrastructure. In some cases, Azure Classic VMs are cheaper to run than their ARM counterparts, especially if they were created a while ago. If you are still getting the desired level of performance and availability from these VMs, it may be that you’ve made the decision to stay on that service up to now.

What next?

In conclusion, you might have Azure Classic VMs in your estate for a variety of reasons, including running legacy applications, using custom images, or budget constraints. Time is now running out to do the migration work.?If you are in this situation and/or would like advice about how to tackle issues arising from it, our Azure practice is ready to help. Contact [email protected] for more information.