Although much of the value in serverless computing is the ability to ignore infrastructure and simply run with available resources, there’s still a need for some fixed options that control how your function deploys and what resources it can use. These include using private networking, choosing the memory size for your host instances, and supporting different scale-out models.
You can think of this plan as a premium option, one that adds features focused on large implementations that require rapid responses. Scaling is still event-driven, but you can now have up to 1,000 instances rather than a maximum of 200. At the same time, new instances support fast deployments, as well as a set number of instances that are ready to run at all times. This approach reduces application latency, spinning up additional always-ready instances as soon as your current set becomes active. Larger memory instances get access to more network bandwidth and more CPU.
As well as the default 2048MB memory option, Flex Consumption plans allow larger instances, supporting 4096MB. This can help with applications that need larger memory or more compute, for example, running vector searches for event-driven RAG applications. Support for private virtual networks is another important option for enterprise serverless computing, as it ensures links to other Azure services and to storage remaining inside your own secure network.
