Microsoft to stop taking reservations for 17 Azure VM flavours, kill 13 in 2028
(2026/05/05)
- Reference: 1777956806
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/05/05/azure_reservations_end_old_vms/
- Source link:
Microsoft will stop offering long-term rentals for 17 Azure instance types – most of them powered by CPUs Intel released in the 2010s – again showing that cloud computing isn’t always a seamless and easy choice.
The fun starts on July 1st when Microsoft will stop taking orders for one-year reservations for 13 instance types – Av2, Amv2, Bv1, D, Ds, Dv2, Dsv2, F, Fs, Fsv2, G, Gs, Ls, Lsv2 – meaning it won’t be possible to book a server for a year. Microsoft will retire these instance types in May and November 2028.
For another four instance types – Dv3, Dsv3, Ev3, Esv3 – Microsoft won’t allow any more reservations for one or three years, however they’ll remain operational beyond 2028. Redmond’s [1]Retired VM Sizes Migration Guide lists all the details.
[2]
Microsoft launched these instance types in the mid-to-late 2010s, so the machines it is retiring are no spring chickens. The newest of the retirees are third-gen VMs and Redmond is now offering seventh-gen machines.
[3]
[4]
The software giant has published several pages offering advice on what to do, but none of them explain why it’s decided to retire these instance types.
The Register thinks it’s because they run old Xeon CPUs from Intel’s Haswell, Skylake and Cascade Lake generations – which debuted in 2013, 2015, and 2019.
[5]
More recent processors outperform these oldies and few Xeons have major backward-compatibility roadblocks, so very few cloudy workloads won’t be able to move. Users should therefore quite enjoy the move to newer Azure instances. Microsoft’s guidance of course recommends different Azure instance types as the ideal migration target.
Microsoft will certainly like the move because newer CPUs offer more cores and almost certainly consume less energy than Intel’s oldies, meaning Redmond can pack more VMs into fewer servers while incurring lower operating costs.
[6]Microsoft levels up Azure Local to make it fit for large-scale sovereign clouds
[7]Users complain that UK Azure is having capacity problems
[8]Ex-Microsoft engineer believes Azure problems stem from talent exodus
[9]Microsoft teases how it'll make Sentinel a bit easier to monitor and audit
Perhaps Redmond will even free up some datacenter space it can use to host some AI hardware.
Some Azure customers, however, face a job they could probably see coming but which will still be unpleasant.
Organizations with applications running on Haswell, Skylake and Cascade Lake processors, and servers that can host them, are probably finding spare parts hard to come by and therefore must endure heightened risk. But they can choose to address that risk whenever they want to, unlike users of the 13 Azure instance types that will go away in 2028. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/migration/sizes/d-ds-dv2-dsv2-ls-series-migration-guide
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2afm_vlL8mRhzNef3MtASfgAAAc8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44afm_vlL8mRhzNef3MtASfgAAAc8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33afm_vlL8mRhzNef3MtASfgAAAc8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44afm_vlL8mRhzNef3MtASfgAAAc8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/30/azure_local_upgrade/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/17/users_complain_of_uk_azure/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/04/azure_talent_exodus/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/10/microsoft_sentinel_analytics_rules/
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The fun starts on July 1st when Microsoft will stop taking orders for one-year reservations for 13 instance types – Av2, Amv2, Bv1, D, Ds, Dv2, Dsv2, F, Fs, Fsv2, G, Gs, Ls, Lsv2 – meaning it won’t be possible to book a server for a year. Microsoft will retire these instance types in May and November 2028.
For another four instance types – Dv3, Dsv3, Ev3, Esv3 – Microsoft won’t allow any more reservations for one or three years, however they’ll remain operational beyond 2028. Redmond’s [1]Retired VM Sizes Migration Guide lists all the details.
[2]
Microsoft launched these instance types in the mid-to-late 2010s, so the machines it is retiring are no spring chickens. The newest of the retirees are third-gen VMs and Redmond is now offering seventh-gen machines.
[3]
[4]
The software giant has published several pages offering advice on what to do, but none of them explain why it’s decided to retire these instance types.
The Register thinks it’s because they run old Xeon CPUs from Intel’s Haswell, Skylake and Cascade Lake generations – which debuted in 2013, 2015, and 2019.
[5]
More recent processors outperform these oldies and few Xeons have major backward-compatibility roadblocks, so very few cloudy workloads won’t be able to move. Users should therefore quite enjoy the move to newer Azure instances. Microsoft’s guidance of course recommends different Azure instance types as the ideal migration target.
Microsoft will certainly like the move because newer CPUs offer more cores and almost certainly consume less energy than Intel’s oldies, meaning Redmond can pack more VMs into fewer servers while incurring lower operating costs.
[6]Microsoft levels up Azure Local to make it fit for large-scale sovereign clouds
[7]Users complain that UK Azure is having capacity problems
[8]Ex-Microsoft engineer believes Azure problems stem from talent exodus
[9]Microsoft teases how it'll make Sentinel a bit easier to monitor and audit
Perhaps Redmond will even free up some datacenter space it can use to host some AI hardware.
Some Azure customers, however, face a job they could probably see coming but which will still be unpleasant.
Organizations with applications running on Haswell, Skylake and Cascade Lake processors, and servers that can host them, are probably finding spare parts hard to come by and therefore must endure heightened risk. But they can choose to address that risk whenever they want to, unlike users of the 13 Azure instance types that will go away in 2028. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/migration/sizes/d-ds-dv2-dsv2-ls-series-migration-guide
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2afm_vlL8mRhzNef3MtASfgAAAc8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44afm_vlL8mRhzNef3MtASfgAAAc8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33afm_vlL8mRhzNef3MtASfgAAAc8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44afm_vlL8mRhzNef3MtASfgAAAc8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/30/azure_local_upgrade/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/17/users_complain_of_uk_azure/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/04/azure_talent_exodus/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/10/microsoft_sentinel_analytics_rules/
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Anonymous Coward
Re: Once again, Redmond is doing a Redmond
Intel stopped manufacturing skylake processors in 2019. Why the f*** didn't they keep making them so they could support all the end users of these processors?!?!?
I mean, if you're looking to rage at someone for this fairly straightforward, non-controversial and well announced deprecation of processors which haven't been manufactured for years then let's start with raging at Intel. It's gonna be difficult for anyone to guarantee uptime using these ancient processors if they can't be replaced.
druck
Pay the AI-geld
It would just be co-incidence that the new flavours are all more expensive?
TVU
Re: Pay the AI-geld
I believe the relevant term there is "price gouging".
Once again, Redmond is doing a Redmond
Borkzilla doesn't care that you are actually working .
Those equipment obsolescence excuses are all very nice and, to be true, cannot be attacked. They are an iron-clad reason to go and shit on your day's work.
But that does not mean that Borkzilla shouldn't be trying to extend the usage of those VM flavors for the companies who prefer using old kit instead of, once again, spending the next two years uprooting their existing (working) environment to force-march towards a shiny new future where they can re-invent the wheel (again) and try to continue to actually run a fucking business.
What Borkzilla should have done is simply alert all existing users that there is a new platform they can migrate to while keeping their existing environment and that they should do it because the existing platform is getting old and becoming obsolete.
The difference in that approach is that Redmond did the work to ensure that its existing customers could keep on working and that the choice is up to the customer.
After all, the customer is always right, eh ?
Yeah, not in The Cloud TM he ain't. In The Cloud TM , you take what you're given, you pay top dollar for it and you kiss the feet that take your money.