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Difficulty: MediumConfigure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS)

An administrator is configuring autoscaling for an Azure Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS) named `vmss-app`. The workload for the application follows a predictable schedule:

* During business hours (Monday through Friday, 08:00 to 18:00), the VMSS must have a minimum of 5 instances and a maximum of 10 instances, scaling dynamically based on CPU utilization.
* Outside of business hours and during weekends, the VMSS must scale down to a minimum of 2 instances and a maximum of 4 instances to optimize costs.

Which of the following configuration methods should the administrator implement to meet these requirements with the least administrative effort?

  1. A
    Configure a single autoscale profile with a metric-based rule that scales out based on CPU usage and set the scale-in rule's cooldown period to 14 hours.
  2. B
    Create two separate Virtual Machine Scale Sets and use an Azure Load Balancer to route traffic based on a custom time-of-day rule.
  3. Configure two autoscale profiles: one default profile with capacity limits of 2 to 4, and one recurring profile configured for weekdays between 08:00 and 18:00 with capacity limits of 5 to 10.Answer
  4. D
    Deploy an Azure Logic App that uses a recurrence trigger to update the VMSS instance count using the Azure CLI at 08:00 and 18:00 daily.

Answer

Configure two autoscale profiles: one default profile with capacity limits of 2 to 4, and one recurring profile configured for weekdays between 08:00 and 18:00 with capacity limits of 5 to 10.
Azure Monitor Autoscale allows you to define multiple profiles. A default profile applies when no other profiles are active (handling weekends and off-hours). A recurring profile can be configured for specific schedules (weekdays during business hours) and will take precedence when its recurrence conditions are met, allowing different capacity limits and scale rules to apply automatically. This is the native, least administrative effort method.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the workload requirements to identify the scheduling patterns and capacity limits.
Identified two distinct operational windows: weekday business hours (5 to 10 instances) and off-hours/weekends (2 to 4 instances).
Understanding the schedule is necessary to determine if a single static profile or multiple profiles are required.
2
Evaluate the capabilities of Azure Monitor Autoscale settings for Virtual Machine Scale Sets.
Determined that Azure Monitor Autoscale natively supports configuring multiple profiles (default and recurring/scheduled).
This confirms that native capabilities can satisfy the scheduling requirement without external automation.
3
Configure the default profile and the recurring profile within the autoscale settings.
Created a default profile with limits 2-4, and a recurring profile for weekdays 08:00-18:00 with limits 5-10.
The recurring profile automatically overrides the default profile during its active window, meeting the requirements with the least administrative effort.

Key Concept

Azure Monitor Autoscale supports multiple scale profiles (default and recurring/scheduled) to dynamically adapt VMSS capacity limits and rules to predictable workload patterns.
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Topics

Configure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS)

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