Virtual machine scale sets now simpler to manage

Three new capabilities that simplify the overall management of virtual machine scale sets in Azure are now available. New custom scale-in policies for virtual machine scale sets let you specify the order in which virtual machines (VMs) within a scale set are deleted during a scale-in operation based on a set of criteria (such as the newest VM that was added to a scale set). New instance protection policies enable you to protect one or more individual VMs in a scale set. Two new capabilities are provided: * _Protect from scale-in_ blocks instance deletion during scale-in operations. * _Protect from scale set actions_ blocks all scale set operations including upgrades and re-image. It’s also now possible to receive notifications about instance deletions and to set up a predefined delay timeout for the deletion operation. Notifications are sent through Azure Metadata Service Scheduled Events. Delay timeouts can range between 5 and 15 minutes. [Read the custom scale-in policy documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machine-scale-sets/virtual-machine-scale-sets-scale-in-policy) [Read the instance protection documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machine-scale-sets/virtual-machine-scale-sets-instance-protection) [Read the terminate notification documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machine-scale-sets/virtual-machine-scale-sets-terminate-notification) * Virtual Machine Scale Sets * Features * Services * [ Virtual Machine Scale Sets](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/products/virtual-machine-scale-sets/)