Azure virtual machines (VMs) are the infrastructure as a service (IaaS) compute option. A VM is a virtualized computer that runs Windows or Linux on Microsoft's hardware. You pick an image (the operating system, sometimes with software preinstalled), a size (the number of virtual CPUs and amount of memory), disks and networking. You have full control of the OS, so VMs suit lift-and-shift migrations, custom software, and test and development. You also handle patching and configuration. A running VM is billed for compute even when idle; stopping and deallocating it releases the hardware and stops compute charges, though its disks are still billed. The Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam (AZ-900) expects you to know VMs and three related services: scale sets, availability sets and Azure Virtual Desktop.
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