Recently at Ignite 2019, Microsoft announced GA of Generation 2 VMs in Azure. Customers have been asking this for a very long time. Microsoft introduced Gen 2 VMs in Windows Server 2012 R2 but wasn’t available in Azure. But now we can deploy Gen 2 VMs in Azure thanks to the Microsoft.
Generation 2 VMs support key features that aren’t supported in generation 1 VMs. These features include increased memory, Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX), and virtualized persistent memory (vPMEM). Generation 2 VMs running on-premises have some features that aren’t supported in Azure yet.
Hyper-V Gen 2 vs Azure Gen2 VMs
Azure doesn’t currently support some of the features that on-premises Hyper-V supports for generation 2 VMs.
| Generation 2 feature | On-premises Hyper-V | Azure |
|---|---|---|
| Secure boot | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Shielded VM | ✔️ | ❌ |
| vTPM | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Virtualization-based security (VBS) | ✔️ | ❌ |
| VHDX format | ✔️ | ❌ |
Generation 2 VMs use the new UEFI-based boot architecture rather than the BIOS-based architecture used by generation 1 VMs. Compared to generation 1 VMs, generation 2 VMs might have improved boot and installation times.
Features and capabilities
Generation 1 vs Generation 2 features
| Feature | Generation 1 | Generation 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Boot | PCAT | UEFI |
| Disk controllers | IDE | SCSI |
| VM sizes | All VM sizes | Only VMs that support premium storage |
Generation 1 vs Generation 2 capabilities
| Capability | Generation 1 | Generation 2 |
|---|---|---|
| OS disk > 2 TB | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Custom disk/image/swap OS | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Virtual machine scale set support | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Azure Site Recovery | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Backup/restore | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Shared image gallery | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Azure disk encryption | ✔️ | ❌ |
Getting Started
Generation 2 VM Sizes
All of Azure VMs supports Generation 1, but Generation 2 VM support is limited to listed SKUs only:
- B-series
- DC-series
- Dsv2-series and Dsv3-series
- Esv3-series
- Fsv2-series
- GS-series
- HB-series
- HC-series
- Ls-series and Lsv2-series
- Mv2-series
- NCv2-series and NCv3-series
- ND-series
- NVv3-series
Generation 2 Images in Azure
Generation 2 VMs currently supports below OS/Images only:
- Windows Server 2019, 2016, 2012 R2, 2012
- Windows 10
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4
- Ubuntu Server 16.04, 18.04, 19.04, 19.10
- RHEL 8.0
Create a Virtual Machine
To create Generation 2 VMs, you can use Azure CLI, PowerShell, ARM Templates and, Azure Portal. Here is how can you deploy Generation 2 VM in Azure using Azure Portal. In the Advanced tab in VM creation experience, select Gen2 in VM Generation section.
If you are looking to upload a Hyper-V Gen 2 VM in Azure, then convert it to VHD format first. Azure still doesn’t support VHDX format.
I hope this post helps you to understand the capability and features of Generation 2 VMs in Azure. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.