Azure Boost
Enhance performance, security, and reliability for your virtual machines (VMs)
Experience an innovative system that offloads server virtualization processes to optimized hardware and software.
Overview
Explore next-generation Azure infrastructure
- Achieve greater performance with a system that offloads virtualization processes to optimized hardware and software.
- Protect your workloads from cyberthreats with isolated architecture certified by leading industry standards.
- Ensure minimal business disruption with faster Azure infrastructure updates that load directly onto Azure Boost hardware.
- Extend the scope and lifetime of your VMs with support for previous-generation VM types.
Features
Explore the latest in Azure compute innovation
Cards
Improve performance and security with Boost cards, specialized hardware for handling server virtualization processes.
Security chips
Get extra layers of security with Boost security chips to ensure data authenticity through third-party attestation.
Trusted platform module
Take advantage of security features for cryptographic operations, key storage, and other security-related functions.
SSDs
Specialized NVMe-enabled SSDs for Azure Boost enable increased local storage performance.
Security
Embedded security and compliance
34,000
Full-time equivalent engineers dedicated to security initiatives at Microsoft.
15,000
Partners with specialized security expertise.
>100
Compliance certifications, including over 50 specific to global regions and countries.
Pricing
Optimize your spending
- Pricing is based on the virtual machines you select.
- Easily identify the best VM for your workloads with the virtual machines selector and calculate their costs with the pricing calculator.
- For more details, visit the Windows and Linux VM pricing pages.
Related products
Azure products work better together
Expand the possibilities of Azure services that are integrated with Azure Boost
Resources
Get started with Azure Boost
FAQ
- Azure Boost is a new system that offloads server virtualization processes traditionally performed by the hypervisor and host OS, such as networking, storage, and host management, onto purpose-built hardware and software. By separating hypervisor and host OS functions from the host infrastructure, Azure Boost enables greater network and storage performance at scale, improves security by adding another layer of logical isolation, and reduces the maintenance impact for future Azure software and hardware upgrades.
- Azure Boost has already been providing benefits to millions of existing Azure VMs in production today, such as enabling the exceptional remote storage performance of the Ebsv5 VM series and networking throughput and latency improvements for the entire Ev5 and Dv5 VM series. Upcoming VM series will continue to take advantage of continuous improvements in performance, security, and reliability of the Azure Boost system going forward.
Full list of Azure Boost enabled SKUs:
VM Sizes
- .Intel Dv5
- Intel Ev5
- Intel Ebv5
- Intel Lsv3
- Ampere Altra ARM Dplsv5 and Dpldsv5-series
- Nvads v5 GPU VMs
- HBv4-series optimized for HPC workloads
- Mv3 Medium Memory Virtual Machines
- A full list of Azure Boost enabled VM sizes can be found in the documentation.
- Access the latest Azure Boost capabilities by using the latest VMs or signing up for the latest preview which can provide access to even greater capabilities not generally available yet.
- Some Azure partners, developers, and customers may require additional efforts to integrate the Microsoft Azure Network Adapter (MANA) into their Azure VM solutions, which is necessary to take full advantage of the Azure Boost networking benefits. MANA also supports Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) to provide network focused Azure partners and customers with enhanced access to the hardware. Read the blog to learn more.
- Azure Boost VMs are both FIPS 140 and NIST 800-193 certified.
Next steps
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