Research Terraform resilience for Azure: region, VM size, and subscription restrictions

[madebygps]

Parent Issue

Sub-issue of #95

Goal

Research what options exist to make the Azure Terraform deployment more resilient for users with restricted subscriptions (e.g., student subscriptions, limited regions, VM size quotas, spending caps).

Research Areas

• What Azure regions are commonly restricted or unavailable for student/free-tier subscriptions?
• Which VM sizes are most universally available (e.g., Standard_B1s vs Standard_DS1_v2)?
• How do Azure subscription types (Pay-As-You-Go, Student, Visual Studio, etc.) affect available resources?
• Can we add Terraform validation or pre-flight checks to surface quota/region issues early?
• Are there Azure-specific Terraform patterns for graceful fallback (e.g., trying multiple regions)?

Deliverables

• Document findings in this issue
• Recommend whether changes are worth implementing for Azure
• If yes, propose specific Terraform variable defaults, validation rules, or fallback logic

Notes

Azure student subscriptions are particularly common for this project's audience. Even if no changes are needed, document why.

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