Azure: Cannot Configure a VM Size beyond A0-A4

Question

I am attempting to increase the size of a Virtual Machine on my Azure subscription from an A2 (2 cores, 3.5GB) machine to a D3 (4 cores, 14GB) machine. The only options available for this particular VM on the configure tab > Virtual machine size are: - A0 - A1 - A2 - A3 - A4

I do not see an A5 or a D3 virtual machine size available - although these are available for other virtual machines within my subscription. We have had this and a couple of other VMs with the same issue running for about a year and a half - the newer VMs in our subscription (as well as machines in the create gallery) can all be scaled into the memory and CPU intensive versions (A5 or D3, D4).

Is there any pathway that will allow me to upgrade this older VM to a newer specification of Virtual Machine?

Answer 1

According to the Azure MSDN article "Virtual Machine and Cloud Service Sizes for Azure" at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn197896.aspx You can't increase the size of a "Basic Tier" VM to larger than A4. So, it looks like you will need to use the "Standard Tier" instead.

If the option to switch to the "Standard Tier" is not available for this VM, the explanation may be that VMs created before "April 16, 2013" may not be able to be upgraded to larger than A4 because of the older datacenter in which they reside. The article includes an explanation of this issue and link to a troubleshooting guide for workarounds for the "Error: “Failed to configure virtual machine” with A5, A6 or A7 VM size" at: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/azure/en-US/9693f56c-fcd3-4d42-850e-5e3b56c7d6be/error-failed-to-configure-virtual-machine-with-a5-a6-or-a7-vm-size?forum=WAVirtualMachinesforWindows