Selecting a Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine Type and Size
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Deployments on public clouds continue to be supported but the content for third-party public cloud deployments is no longer updated.
For the latest Tableau Server deployment content, see the Enterprise Deployment Guide(Link opens in a new window) and the Deploy(Link opens in a new window) section of Tableau Server help.
For those customers who have access, we recommend Tableau Cloud. For more details, see:
- Tableau Cloud Manual Migration Guide
- Tableau Cloud Trial for Admin(Link opens in a new window)
- Tableau Cloud: Get Started for Admin(Link opens in a new window)
Introduction
Microsoft Azure offers many types of VM images in various sizes. Choosing the right VM image for your workload is an important factor for a successful Tableau Server deployment. You can choose from a wide range of Microsoft Azure VM images. For a complete list of all available VM image types and sizes, see Virtual Machine series(Link opens in a new window) at the Microsoft Azure website.
It is important to select an image that can run Tableau Server. The VM image must meet the Tableau Server hardware guidelines (a minimum of 8 cores and 128 GB of RAM). We recommend that you choose an instance that supports Azure premium storage(Link opens in a new window).
At minimum, a 64-bit Tableau Server requires a 4-core CPU (the equivalent of 8 Azure vCPUs) and 64 GB RAM. However, a total of 8 CPU cores (16 Azure vCPUs) and 128 GB RAM are strongly recommended for a single production Microsoft Azure VM.
Typical VM types and sizes for development, test, and production environments
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D Series – D13, D14, D16
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DS Series – DS13, DS14
Note: We recommend that you use the DS series VMs with Premium Storage, which is best for database and other high performance applications. Typically, the D16s_v3 or DS13_V2 instances are a good choice. For testing and proof-of-concept purposes, you may find a virtual machine with only four cores acceptable (such as the DS13_V2).
Use two or three disks in RAID 0 configuration in order to get enough input/output operations per second (IOPS) on a single volume to provide high disk throughput. Two disks striped as a single volume provides good enough performance for an additional node not hosting repo. If you are running Tableau Server on a single computer, use three drives striped as a single volume (RAID 0) to provide enhanced disk performance, since more disk operations will happen on that computer.
Recommended specifications for a single production instance
| Component/Resource | Microsoft Azure | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CPU |
16 vCPU cores |
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Operating System |
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Memory |
128+ GB RAM (4GB RAM per vCPU) |
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Storage |
Two volumes: 30-50 GiB volume for the operating system 100 GiB or larger volume for Tableau Server |
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Storage type |
Premium Storage P20 (512GB)++ For more information, see High-performance Premium Storage and managed disks for VMs(Link opens in a new window) at the Microsoft Azure website. |
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Disk latency |
Less than or equal to 20ms as measured by the Avg. Transfer disk/sec Performance Counter in Windows. |
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