How to select which machine needs to be deploy for which environment in azure

Selecting which machine (VM type/size) to deploy for a given environment (Dev, Test, QA, UAT, Prod) in Azure depends on a few key factors like performance, cost, stability requirements, scalability, and compliance.

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1. Environment Goals

Environment	Goal
Dev	Fast iteration, low cost
Test	Match Prod to some extent, but cost-effective
QA/UAT	Near-Prod for user testing, bug fixing
Prod	High availability, performance, SLAs

2. Evaluate Key Factors

a. Performance Needs

• CPU/memory requirements
• Storage IOPS (Standard vs Premium SSD)
• Network throughput

b. Scalability

• Auto-scaling groups?
• Need for VMs that support scale sets?

c. Cost Optimization

• Use B-series (burstable) or Spot instances in non-prod
• Use Reserved Instances or Savings Plans in Prod

d. Compatibility

• OS requirements (Windows/Linux)
• GPU (for AI workloads)
• Legacy support?

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3. Machine Selection Strategy

Environment	Suggested VM Series	Notes
Dev	B-series, D-series (low spec)	Cheap, burstable
Test	D-series, E-series	Moderate, often mirrors Prod in some configs
QA/UAT	D-series, E-series, F-series	Near-Prod configs
Prod	Dv5, Ev5, Fsv2, M, Lsv2	High-performance, mission-critical
AI/ML	NC, ND, NV series	GPU accelerated
Database	M, Esv5, Lsv2	Memory/IO optimized
Web Apps	B, D, F	Scalable front-end
Batch/CI	Spot VMs, D, F, H (for HPC)	Cost-optimized parallel jobs