I'm curious about the costs associated with Azure Local servers. From what I've gathered, it seems that we must use Microsoft-approved Azure hardware for this. For reference, our typical premium server costs around $25,000 to $30,000. We recently purchased two Dell R940 servers, each with 1TB of RAM, four processors, and four SSDs for around $50,000 to $60,000—not involving any Azure Local setup. However, when I reached out to vendors for Azure Local, I received quotes of about $110,000 for two Dell AX-750 nodes. This translates to approximately $55,000 per node, but they have fewer processors and less RAM compared to our previous purchase, although they do come with four NVME drives. The vendors explained that the high costs are due to Microsoft and Dell endorsements, along with some sort of lifecycle certification, but it's tough if we're looking at more than $200,000 for a four-node cluster. Is this pricing typical for Azure Local hardware? Keep in mind this is before factoring in network requirements and Azure subscriptions.
3 Answers
You might want to compare prices with DataOn and HPE. We've got clusters from both Dell and DataOn, and honestly, DataOn's support has been better for us. Also, remember that the savings kick in if you already have Windows Server Datacenter licenses with software assurance—that’s how you get the Hybrid benefits. If you're using Hyper-V, this might be a good trade-off for local cores.
These solutions are certified, which means that if anything goes wrong, the vendors can support you better. Their end-to-end certifications stretch from the BIOS versions to the entire networking stack for Azure Local. So, while their prices might seem high, they align with industry standards like VMware and other server options.
You can actually run Azure Local on any recent servers, but the ones you received quotes for are most likely certified. I've ordered Dell R640xd servers in the past because they were S2D certified. You could definitely build or specify other compatible hardware, but it may not be on the approved list.
Related Questions
Lenovo Thinkpad Stuck In Update Loop Install FilterDriverU2_Reload