Overprovisioned Managed Disk for VM Limits
Balazs Engedi
Service Category
Storage
Cloud Provider
Azure
Service Name
Azure Managed Disks
Inefficiency Type
Overprovisioned Resource
Explanation

Each Azure VM size has a defined limit for total disk IOPS and throughput. When high-performance disks (e.g., Premium SSDs with high IOPS capacity) are attached to low-tier VMs, the disk’s performance capabilities may exceed what the VM can consume. This results in paying for performance that the VM cannot access. For example, attaching a large Premium SSD to a B-series VM will not provide the expected performance because the VM cannot deliver that level of throughput. Without aligning disk selection with VM limits, organizations incur unnecessary storage costs with no corresponding performance benefit.

Relevant Billing Model

Azure Managed Disks are billed based on:

  • Provisioned capacity (GB/month)
  • Disk type (Premium, Standard SSD, etc.)
  • Provisioned performance (IOPS and MBps), where applicable

However, the maximum usable IOPS and throughput is also capped by the VM size — regardless of what the disk can deliver.

Detection
  • Compare attached disk performance (IOPS and MBps) against the maximum supported by the associated VM size
  • Identify cases where disk capabilities exceed what the VM can deliver
  • Review whether performance tier (e.g., Premium SSD) is justified for the workload
  • Consult VM and disk documentation to validate the effective throughput bottleneck
Remediation
  • Resize disks to match the performance envelope of the associated VM
  • Downgrade to lower disk tiers (e.g., Premium SSD → Standard SSD) when full performance is not needed
  • Establish guardrails to ensure disk and VM configurations are aligned during provisioning and resizing events