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Deprecated → MigratedCompute, Security & InfraAzure

Azure Cloud Services (classic) Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets & App Service (Classic Deployment Retirement)

Legacy names Azure Cloud Services (classic), Azure Virtual Machines (classic), Windows Azure Service Management (ASM)

Modern Azure Resource Manager (ARM) compute and PaaS platforms replacing legacy Azure Service Management (ASM) classic virtual machines and Web/Worker role cloud services.

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Naming timeline

  1. Windows Azure Cloud Services & Virtual Machines (ASM / Classic)

    · Original ASM Deployment Model

    Launched in February 2010 for PaaS Web/Worker Roles and expanded in June 2012 with IaaS Virtual Machines on the Azure Service Management (ASM) stack.

  2. Azure Cloud Services (extended support)

    · ARM Bridge General Availability

    Provided an ARM-based deployment model (Microsoft.Compute/cloudServices) for legacy Web/Worker roles ahead of the August 31, 2024 ASM classic retirement.

  3. Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets & App Service (Classic Deployment Retirement)Current name

    · ASM Retired (Aug 31, 2024) & CSES Deprecated (Retiring March 31, 2027)

    Following the August 31, 2024 retirement of Classic VMs/Cloud Services, Cloud Services (extended support) was deprecated on March 31, 2025 (retiring March 31, 2027) in favor of VM Scale Sets, App Service, and AKS.

What replaced Azure Cloud Services (classic)?

Azure Cloud Services (classic) has been superseded by Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets & App Service (Classic Deployment Retirement), with the latest change on 31 March 2025 (ASM Retired (Aug 31, 2024) & CSES Deprecated (Retiring March 31, 2027)). Earlier names covered by this entry also include Azure Virtual Machines (classic), Windows Azure Service Management (ASM). Modern Azure Resource Manager (ARM) compute and PaaS platforms replacing legacy Azure Service Management (ASM) classic virtual machines and Web/Worker role cloud services. The underlying legacy API or CLI surface is deprecated, so a technical migration is required.

Also known as

  • Azure Cloud Services (extended support)
  • Web Roles and Worker Roles

Technical identifiers

Legacy identifiers deprecated. The underlying API or CLI surface for the legacy name is officially deprecated, so this change requires a technical migration rather than a label update.

ARM Resource Providers (Microsoft.*)Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines Microsoft.Compute/cloudServices (deprecated, retiring 2027-03-31) Microsoft.ClassicCompute/domainNames (retired 2024-08-31) Microsoft.ClassicCompute/virtualMachines (retired 2024-08-31)
Azure CLI (az) / PowerShellaz vmss az vm az cloud-service (deprecated)
Entra ID / Azure RBAC RolesVirtual Machine Contributor
Terraform Resources (azurerm_*)azurerm_orchestrated_virtual_machine_scale_set azurerm_linux_virtual_machine_scale_set azurerm_windows_virtual_machine_scale_set

The Microsoft.ClassicCompute/* and Microsoft.ClassicNetwork/* ARM providers were retired on August 31, 2024, and Microsoft.Compute/cloudServices (Cloud Services extended support) is deprecated and retiring on March 31, 2027.

Notes & disambiguation

  • Launched at PDC 2008 and commercially available in February 2010, Windows Azure Cloud Services (Web Roles and Worker Roles) and IaaS Virtual Machines (2012) originally ran on the XML-based Windows Azure Service Management (ASM / RDFE) deployment model (`Microsoft.ClassicCompute`, `Microsoft.ClassicStorage`, `Microsoft.ClassicNetwork`).
  • Following the introduction of Azure Resource Manager (ARM) in 2014, Microsoft retired the classic ASM deployment model (`Azure Cloud Services (classic)` and `Azure Virtual Machines (classic)`) on August 31, 2024.
  • Although Azure Cloud Services (extended support) (`Microsoft.Compute/cloudServices`) was introduced in 2021 as an interim ARM-based bridge for Web/Worker roles, Microsoft officially deprecated Cloud Services (extended support) on March 31, 2025 and scheduled its full retirement for March 31, 2027, directing customers to Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (`Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets`), Azure App Service, Azure Kubernetes Service, or Azure Container Apps.

Sources & official documentation

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