Differentiate Azure VMs and Azure VM Scale Set (VMSS) Instances in Cloudaware CMDB

This page explains how to differentiate Azure VMs and Azure VM Scale Set instances in Cloudaware CMDB.

Overview

Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) manage groups of load-balanced VMs for scalable, highly available workloads. With flexible orchestration, standard Azure VMs can be added to a scale set, and Microsoft Azure reports them as both regular VMs and VMSS instances. This can create duplicate instance records in the CMDB, visible in the Related CIs tab on a record and in reports.

Differentiate Azure VMs and Azure VM Scale Set (VMSS) - Related CIs (duplicates).png

How to tell which object you are looking at

Use these Cloudaware fields on the Azure VM record:

VM Scale Set
VM Scale Set ID

Differentiate Azure VMs and Azure VM Scale Set (VMSS) - Fields on a record to check.png

Decision rule

VM Scale Set	VM Scale Set ID	What it means	Recommended reporting treatment
empty	empty	The VM was created as a standalone Azure VM (even if later associated with a scale set)	Treat as an Azure VM record
populated	populated	The VM is represented as an Azure VM Scale Set instance (created/managed in the context of a scale set)	Treat as a VM Scale Set instance record

If you see VM Scale Set populated but VM Scale Set ID empty (or vice versa), treat it as an inconsistency and validate ingestion timing and object refresh.

Reporting filters (examples)

To count only VM Scale Set instances:

Filter: VM Scale Set ID not equals to blank

To count only standalone VMs:

Filter: VM Scale Set ID equals blank

Troubleshooting

I still see duplicates in reports

Confirm your report/list view filters explicitly include or exclude records based on VM Scale Set ID.
If you are joining datasets (e.g., VM Scale Set ↔ VM), ensure you are not counting both populations in the same aggregation without classification.

Fields are not populated as expected

If VM Scale Set and/or VM Scale Set ID are unexpectedly empty or partially populated, re-check after the next data refresh/ingestion cycle.
Validate you are inspecting the correct object type (Azure VM vs. VM Scale Set-related representation) and that the report/list view is using the intended source object.

To learn how Cloudaware derives the cost per Azure Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS) instance in reports, see this guide.