I have Azure VM performance issues, what do I do?

Tim Tetrick

 

Hello Microsoft Partners!

I recently came across this guidance from the Azure Support team on how to address Azure VM performance issues.  This is one of the most common issues that Support deals with so wanted to share the guidance with you.

Step 1: Start with the fundamentals

• Make sure you are aware of different VM sizes
• Configure a VM for optimal storage performance design, scalability and Performance targets.
• Optimize your Linux VM on Azure
• Familiarize yourself with throttling and how the different throttling limits apply to Azure VMs

Step 2: Learn about Azure PerfInsights and Azure diagnostics

• For Guest VM Perf analysis use Perfinsights to analyze and troubleshoot resource bottlenecks.
• Learn about general diagnostic extensions and enable diagnostics for your VM to collect telemetry
• Use PowerShell to enable Azure Diagnostics in a VM running Windows

Step 3: Learn about troubleshooting

• Use metrics and tools to troubleshoot Windows or Linux VM Performance issues.
• Explore end-to-end troubleshooting options using Azure Storage Metrics and Logging, AzCopy, and Message Analyzer
• Try Advanced Troubleshooting for Azure Storage

Per the Azure Support team, the number one root cause of VM performance issues is related to wrong storage configuration. Another common issue is that the amount of storage is a limiting factor for the workload. Read this article for generic troubleshooting info for VMs running on Linux or Windows.

Of course, if you’re still having issues you can always reach out to Azure Support for help.