What problem does it solve? Choosing the right Azure VM size or deciding between a single VM and a Virtual Machine Scale Set requires navigating dozens of VM families, pricing tiers, and orchestration modes. This Skill analyzes workload requirements and produces costed recommendations without needing an Azure subscription. ## Core Features & Use Cases - VM Family Selection: Maps workload types (web, database, ML, batch, HPC, confidential computing) to appropriate VM families like D-series, E-series, or NC-series. - VM vs VMSS Decision: Determines whether a single VM or a scale set fits based on autoscaling, availability, and instance count needs, including Flexible vs Uniform orchestration guidance. - Live Pricing Estimates: Queries the unauthenticated Azure Retail Prices API for pay-as-you-go, reservation, and Spot pricing by region and currency. - Use Case: A user asks for a cost-effective setup for a stateless web API with variable traffic. The Skill recommends a VMSS with Flexible orchestration, D-series instances, metric-based autoscale, and provides hourly cost estimates at minimum and maximum instance counts. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to recommend an Azure VM size for your workload, for example: recommend a cost-effective Azure VM for a web server with 4 vCPUs and 16 GB RAM in eastus.
