For Microsoft Azure Sites - Changing Cato vSocket VMs to the Standard D8ls v5 VM Size

We are informing you that at least one of the Microsoft Azure sites in your account uses a vSocket virtual machine (VM) with the Standard_D2s_v4 VM size. It is urgent that you plan to resize all the Standard_D2s_v4 VMs to the Standard_D8ls_v5 VM size inside your Azure tenant to prevent a future outage for those sites.

There are different procedures to change the VM size based on the site configuration (HA or single vSocket), and the Socket version (above v19 or not). Make sure to follow the correct procedure for each vSocket VM.

Why Do We Need to Make these Changes Urgently?

Microsoft Azure no longer allows the Standard_D2s_v4 VM size with more than 2 NICs. Cato’s Azure vSocket requires 3 NICs and Microsoft implemented a validation that prevents these D2s VMs from starting after they are powered off. The Standard_D8ls_v5 VM size fully supports the Azure vSocket.

What Changes Do I Need to Make to Single vSocket Sites?

For each site in your account with a single Azure vSocket in your account, change the VM from Standard_D2s_v4 to the Standard_D8ls_v5 size. For more information, see the Cato Knowledge Base article: Changing Azure vSockets to a Different VM Size. These are the procedures based on the Socket version:

  1. For vSockets running v19.x or higher, resize the VMs from Standard_D2s_v4 to Standard_D8ls_v5.

  2. For vSockets that are running versions lower than v19:

    1. (Recommended) Unregister the current vSocket and deploy a new one from the Azure Marketplace. The vSocket deploys to the Standard_D8ls_v5 VM size to v19.x.

    2. If it necessary to keep the same version, contact the Cato Support team to manually recreate the site with the Standard_D8ls_v5 VM size.

Note: The Standard_D8ls_v5 instance uses 8 vCPU cores and the Standard_D2s_v4 only uses 2 vCPU cores. Ensure that the Microsoft Azure quota for the site region has enough resources for additional vCPU cores. For more information see the Microsoft documentation: Check Azure resource usage against limits.

If you encounter issues during the process to change a VM to a different size, please contact the Cato Support team.

What Changes Do I Need to Make to HA vSocket Sites?

For each HA Azure vSocket site in your account, change the VM instance type from Standard_D2s_v4 to Standard_D8ls_v5. For more information, see the Cato Knowledge Base article: Changing Azure vSockets to a Different VM Size. These are the procedures based on the Socket version:

  1. For HA vSockets running v19.x or higher, see the article Changing Azure vSockets to a Different VM Size for the most up-to-date procedures.

  2. For vSockets that are running versions lower than v19:

    1. (Recommended) Unregister the current vSockets and deploy new ones from the Azure Marketplace. The vSocket deploys to the Standard_D8ls_v5 VM size with v19.x.

    2. If it necessary to keep the same version, contact the Cato Support team to manually recreate the site with the Standard_D8ls_v5 VM size.

Note: The Standard_D8ls_v5 instance uses 8 vCPU cores and the Standard_D2s_v4 only uses 2 vCPU cores. Ensure that the Microsoft Azure quota for the site region has enough resources for additional vCPU cores. For more information see the Microsoft documentation: Check Azure resource usage against limits.

If you encounter issues during the process to change a VM to a different size, please contact the Cato Support team.

What Happens if I Don’t Make these Changes?

For Azure vSockets that are installed on the Standard_D2s_v4 VM, if the VM instance powers off, the Microsoft validation will prevent the vSocket from starting because the number of NICs exceeds the maximum allowed interfaces. This means that the site would lose all connectivity until the VM is resized to the Standard_D8ls_v5 VM size.

Who Do I Talk to If I Have Questions?

Please reach out to the Cato Support team.

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10 comments

  • Comment author
    Yaakov Simon

    Updated content based on new information and procedures

  • Comment author
    Ronny Chan

    Please confirm compatibility for a  Standard D3 v2 (4 vcpus, 14 GiB memory) sized Azure VM and if I would need to resize to the Standard_D8ls_v5 VM.

    Thank you

  • Comment author
    Jaimie Kelly

    I second the above question - Can we get a compatibility confirmation for Standard D3 v2 (4 vcpus, 14 GiB memory) ?

  • Comment author
    Yaakov Simon

    Ronny Chan  and Jaimie Kelly  Thanks for your comment.

    Currently Cato officially supports the  Standard_D8ls_v5 VM size. We are researching and testing other options, and will update this article when we have more information.

  • Comment author
    Jacopo Goli

    Hello Team,

    do you have any feedback for other Azure VM size officially supported? 

    Thanks

    Jacopo

  • Comment author
    Linard Moll

    Latest update: Standard_D2s_v5 / 2vCores VM officially supported as 2-NIC solution
    Link: https://support.catonetworks.com/hc/en-us/articles/20558411383325-Migrating-Azure-vSockets-to-a-2-NIC-Solution 

  • Comment author
    JM

    Now that the 2 NIC-support has arrived, it's a bit ironic that the extremely popular and cost-effective VM sizes Standard_B2ms and Standard_B2s are now supported for use with 3 NICs… (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes-b-series-burstable)

     

  • Comment author
    Yaron Libman

    Hi JM - thanks for the input. 

    We haven't tested those instance types and therefore they're not supported. 

  • Comment author
    Jon Derrenbacker

    For the section around ‘What Happens if I Don’t Make these Changes’, is this failure to boot issue limited to the ‘Standard_D2s_v4’ size?

    I see the ‘Standard_D2s_v2’ as well as the ‘Standard_D3s_v2’ both support more than 2 NICs. Assuming a vSocket is running one of those, should they be mitigated from this failure to boot issue?

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes/general-purpose/dv2-series?tabs=sizenetwork

  • Comment author
    JM

    Jon Derrenbacker I guess the issue with those sizes are that they have not been validated by Cato, and that they are v2 and deprecated by Microsoft.

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