Virtual machine sizing for Office 365 with single sign-on and Azure Virtual Machines

Applies to: Office 365

Summary: Provides guidelines about sizing virtual machines to host directory integration components for Office 365.

We're listening to your feedback and consolidating all our Office 365 deployment content. On July 1st, 2015, all information in this guide will be moved to https://support.office.com/, and these pages will be removed from TechNet. As you review the content still on TechNet, you'll notice many have links pointing to the new content already on https://support.office.com/.

To explore content available on https://support.office.com/, start with the Office 365 for business - Admin Help page.

There are several things to consider when sizing your Azure Virtual Machine. For example, the billing rate for a virtual machine depends on its size. To minimize expenses, use a virtual machine size that is exactly as large as you need. You can increase its size later on, if required. For Office 365, the primary factor in determining the size of the virtual machine you need is the number of users in your organization.

Sizing your virtual machines

Virtual Machine sizing guidelines are provided for the Office 365 directory integration component in the following table.

As part of your deployment planning, these guidelines should be compared to the most recent product documentation and your own requirements to ensure you are appropriately sizing the virtual machines. The following resources are available to assist with capacity planning:

• Resources included in the small, medium, and large-size virtual machines: Virtual Machines

• Available sizes and options for Azure Virtual Machines: Virtual Machine and Cloud Service Sizes for Azure

• Directory Synchronization: Prepare for directory synchronization

• AD FS:

  • Planning for Federation Server Capacity

  • AD FS 2.0 Capacity Planning Spreadsheet

• SQL Server: Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2008 R2