AZURE - To-design-and-implement from scrach

Question

Hi Support, I have a questions, please assist...... My name Ameer, working as Senior IT Consultant. We are planning to implement ONLY cloud based IAAS - Server Infrastructure Setup with one of our new clients. We want the solution as per the information provided below: (a). Create new Azure VM for AD Domain Services (Primary Domain Controller) server only. (b). Create new Azure VM for File server (c). Create new Azure VM for ERP application server. Important Note: We don't want any physical server or establish syncing system between on-premise server and Azure VM solutions. At moment, Client want the following configurations. All of the server should be placed in same region/LRS. Rough calculation - It should be scalable and provide right solution for next 5 years plan. (a). Domain Controller - 8 GB RAM, less than 100GB HDD for OS (b). File Server - 32GB RAM, less than 100 HDD for OS, 6TB HDD for Data files/folders. (c). ERP Application - 32 GB RAM, less than 100 HDD for OS, 2TB HDD for Data files/folders/SQLdb_DATA/logs. Please help me to Estimate size and cost for an Azure domain controller VM (again not Azure AD) for 96 users. Looking to deploy a couple of full domain controllers in Azure for 96 user's standard activity. What size VM would be appropriate? What's the estimated range of total cost per month including transfer/transactions etc.? Also, do you think 1 DC in Azure with Azure backup would suffice for redundancy in this scenario, or should we still must get at least 2? I have some other queries related to azure solution which will be difficult to put everything here. Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi @Ameer Batcha Haja Mohideen ,

If you want small OS disks you should choose the [smalldisk] options for your Windows Server. These images are available for Windows 2016 and 2019.

I am recommending 2 DCs with the same configuration in an Availability Set.
Config for around 96 users could be look like this:

• VM SKU Standard_B2ms
• Windows Server smalldisk image (32 GB OS Disk)
• An additional 4 GB data disk for SysVol and NTDS.dit (host cache disabled)

For File Server and ERP Server without any details:

• VM SKU based on your requirements from the Ddsv4 or Dasv4 series
• Windows Server smalldisk image (32 GB OS Disk)
• Data Disk configuration based on your requirements. Keep in mind to disable host cache for disk containing transactionlog-files. Use different disk for data and transaction log files

Use Premium SSD as disk type (easy to calculate and good performance for the price)

How the customer will access the Azure environment? You have to add the costs for this as well in your calculation.

Azure Backup -> Costs depends on number of machines, amount of data and how long you want to keep the backups.

----------

(If the reply was helpful please don't forget to upvote and/or accept as answer, thank you)

Regards
Andreas Baumgarten

Answer 2

Welcome to Azure!

Some of your questions do not have exact answers, and I will do my best to explain why.

What you are deploying is not an uncommon scenario in Azure, so the best place to look for advice is to look at people who are deploying something similar and make note of their VM sizes / how they architect for ideas.

To start with VM Sizes:

Azure has many different VM sizes and SKUs for you to choose from, depending upon each VMs needs. If you do not need something specific on the VM (like more memory, CPU, or Disk throughput) you can go with a general purpose size. My personal favorites are the 'D' series VMs.

One nice thing about Azure is that VM sizes can be changed at any time, but it will reboot your VM. So if the VM size that you choose is too large or to small, just stop the VM and resize.

Estimating VM Costs:

Use the Azure Pricing Calculator to estimate the cost of a Virtual Machine or full deployment. The costs might not be exact, but will give you a good estimate on the price.

For a Domain Controller: Depending upon the redundancy needs and required uptime of your application, you might need to deploy 2 Domain Controllers. You can view the SLA for Azure Virtual Machines here. The SLA for a single VM can be quite high if it has the proper Disks and configuration.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or need any more clarification.