I'm in the process of onboarding some customers to Azure, and I typically use Azure Image Builder (AIB) to create their images for AVD. However, I've run into a problem: the Standard_Av2 SKU is no longer available worldwide, which is the version I use for the Linux VM with packer. This means my new customers can't use AIB as expected. Is there any plan from Microsoft to update AIB so that it supports a different SKU for the packer VM? I'd prefer not to have to open tickets every time I want to use AIB.
1 Answer
It looks like the Av2 SKU is pretty outdated and might not be the best option anymore, especially with the newer data centers being packed with power-hungry GPUs. If you're looking for alternatives, you could check out the Dal and Dl VM types for a 2:1 memory to vCPU ratio, or the Ea and E types for an 8:1 ratio. Interestingly, the Daldsv6 size is basically the same price as the Av2 size, and if you're okay without a temporary disk, the Dalsv6 is even cheaper. It seems that the 3-year reserved instances might be gone, which could explain why you can't see Av2 anymore. If you absolutely need to use the Av2 SKU, I'd say time is running out on it!
The issue I have is that I can't change the SKU behavior of AIB myself. I can select the VM SKU for the AVD imaging process (I use D4ads_v5), but AIB automatically spins up a secondary Linux VM with packer that defaults to A1_v2, which I can't alter. This seems to be the default setup under AVD -> Custom Image templates. I'm really hoping Microsoft will revise AIB to allow different SKUs for this part!