How Azure VM Works¶
Azure Virtual Machines run on physical hardware managed by Microsoft, abstracted through a virtualization layer called a hypervisor.
Management vs Data Plane¶
Azure separates administrative operations from actual workload traffic to ensure security and scalability.
| Plane | Purpose | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Management Plane | Resource orchestration and API interactions | ARM templates, CLI commands, Portal actions |
| Data Plane | Actual workload traffic and application data | SSH/RDP traffic, SQL queries, Web requests |
Virtualization Architecture¶
graph TD
PH[Physical Host] --> Hyp[Hypervisor]
Hyp --> VM1[Guest VM 1]
Hyp --> VM2[Guest VM 2]
Hyp --> VM3[Guest VM 3]Fault and Update Domains¶
When you place VMs in an Availability Set, Azure assigns each VM to a fault domain and update domain. Single VMs are not automatically distributed for high availability.
| Concept | Description | Failure Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Fault Domain | Shared power source and network switch | Physical hardware failure |
| Update Domain | Logical group for planned maintenance | Software updates/Reboots |