Allowed Resources
The ACX Lab supports a specific set of VM sizes, regions, and resource types. Resources outside these limits will be rejected by Azure Policy.
Allowed VM Sizes
| VM Size | vCPU | RAM | GPU | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D2s_v3 | 2 | 8 GB | — | Dev/test, light workloads |
| D4s_v3 | 4 | 16 GB | — | Moderate workloads, small databases |
| D8s_v3 | 8 | 32 GB | — | Heavy workloads, large builds |
| A4_v2 | 4 | 8 GB | — | Basic workloads, cost-efficient |
| NC8_A2 | 8 | 16 GB | NVIDIA A2 | ML inference, light GPU workloads |
| NC16_A16 | 16 | 64 GB | NVIDIA A16 | ML training, GPU rendering |
!!! note "Requesting additional sizes" If your workload requires a VM size not listed here, contact the ACX Lab team with your justification. Additional sizes may be enabled on a case-by-case basis.
Allowed Regions
All ACX Lab resources must be deployed to one of these Azure regions:
| Region | Display Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
eastus |
East US | Primary region |
westus2 |
West US 2 | Secondary region |
canadacentral |
Canada Central | Toronto site (Azure Local clusters) |
Resources deployed to other regions will be blocked by Azure Policy.
Allowed Resource Types
The following Azure resource types can be created in the ACX Lab:
| Resource Type | Notes |
|---|---|
| Virtual Machines (Arc-enabled) | Azure Local VMs managed through Arc |
| Virtual Networks | Lab-managed VNets; user-created VNets must be peered |
| Network Interfaces | Created automatically with VMs |
| Managed Disks | OS and data disks for VMs |
| Storage Accounts | For data storage (Blob, File, Table, Queue) |
| AKS Arc Clusters | Managed by lab admins; users get namespace access |
| Azure Virtual Desktop resources | Host pools, session hosts, app groups |
| Azure Migrate projects | Assessment and migration tools |
| Automation Account runbooks | For self-service provisioning |
| Key Vaults | For secrets and certificate management |
Restricted Resource Types
These resources cannot be created by lab users:
- Public IP addresses (lab access is provided through AVD and private networking)
- Load Balancers with public frontends
- VPN Gateways (not offered as a self-service access path)
- Azure Firewall (lab-managed only)
- Custom Azure Policies
- Management Groups
Required Tags
All user-created resources must include the following tags:
| Tag | Format | Example | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
owner |
Microsoft alias | youralias |
Identifies the resource owner |
expires |
YYYY-MM-DD |
2025-06-30 |
Expiration date for automatic cleanup |
Optional but recommended tags:
| Tag | Format | Example | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
project |
Free text | aks-testing |
Project or scenario name |
team |
Free text | hybrid-platform |
Team name |
!!! warning "Untagged resources will be flagged"
Resources without the required owner and expires tags are flagged for review and may be deleted after a 7-day grace period.
Per-User Resource Limits
| Resource | Default Limit |
|---|---|
| Total VMs | 5 |
| Total vCPUs | 32 |
| Total RAM | 128 GB |
| GPU VMs | 1 |
| AKS namespaces | 2 |
| Storage accounts | 3 |
| Total disk storage | 2 TB |
To request a limit increase, contact the ACX Lab team with your business justification.