Azure Deallocate VM for Cost Savings and Efficiency

Deallocating a VM in Azure can save you a significant amount of money, especially if you're not using it. According to Azure's pricing model, a stopped VM still incurs costs, but a deallocated VM doesn't.

To take advantage of this cost-saving feature, you need to understand the difference between stopping and deallocating a VM. Stopping a VM only saves you from paying for compute resources, but deallocating it also saves you from paying for storage resources.

Deallocating a VM is a simple process that can be done through the Azure portal or using Azure CLI. You can also automate the deallocation process by using Azure's built-in features, such as Azure Automation or Azure Policy.

Stopping an Azure VM is not as simple as shutting down the operating system, as this will still incur costs for compute resources. You need to use Azure to stop the VM, which deallocates the compute resources and releases them for use by another customer. This will cause Azure to no longer charge you for the compute resources.

There are several ways to stop an Azure VM, including using the Azure Portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell. If you're connected to the VM via Remote Desktop, shutting down the OS won't save you money, as you'll still be paying for the compute resources.

To stop an Azure VM and save money, you can use the Azure Portal to stop the VM, or use the Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell to automate the process. This will deallocate the compute resources and stop charges from Azure.

When you shut down an Azure VM, it may seem like it's stopped, but you're still being charged for the compute resources. This is because shutting down the operating system only powers down the VM, but doesn't deallocate the compute resources.

The key difference is that if you shut down the operating system, the Azure Portal will report the VM as "Stopped", but if you use Azure to stop the VM, it will report as "Stopped (Deallocated)". This is a crucial distinction, as the latter will release the compute resources and stop charging you for them.

While the VM is in the "Stopped (Deallocated)" state, you won't be charged for the compute resources, but you will still need to pay for OS and data storage disks attached to the VM. It's a good idea to stop your VM using Azure whenever you don't need it to be running, as this will help you save money.

Stopping an Azure VM can be done using the Azure CLI, which is a more automated solution than using the Azure Portal. This method is ideal when you need to stop multiple VMs at once.

You can use the Azure CLI to stop and deallocate Azure Virtual machines (VMs) using the following commands.

Defining stop and shutdown actions is a crucial step in automating the process of stopping and starting your Azure VMs. You can do this within the Azure Portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell.

To define a stop action, you'll need to add a new action in the Actions tab of your Azure VM's monitoring definition. This action should be based on a schedule instead of an expression.

Here's a step-by-step guide to defining a stop action:

1. Open the Edit dialog for your Azure VM from the Netreo dashboard.

2. Go to the Actions tab and add a new action.

3. Specify the name and severity of the action.

4. Set the execution target to "Self".

5. Set the execution command to "AzureVmInstanceShutdownDeallocate" to deallocate the VM and stop charges from Azure.

You can also define a start action using the same process, but with the execution command set to "AzureVmInstanceStart".

Here's a comparison of the two actions:

By defining these actions, you can automate the process of stopping and starting your Azure VMs, saving you time and money.

VM Power Management is a crucial aspect of managing Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) to save costs. You can use the Azure CLI or PowerShell cmdlets to stop and deallocate VMs, but automation is a better solution in many cases.

To save costs, you can manually shut down a VM to put it in the Stopped (Deallocated) status, but this requires remembering to stop the VM. To avoid human error, Microsoft has added a scheduled auto-shutdown feature that allows you to configure a specific time and time zone for the VM to shut down automatically.

Azure provides two popular ways to schedule virtual machine shutdowns during off-peak hours: using the Auto-shutdown feature in the Azure Portal, and using Azure Automation to create a runbook that outlines a step-by-step process for shutting down VMs at a specified time.

Here are the options to auto-stop Azure VMs:

You can hibernate a VM using the portal or CLI. For the portal, go to the VM page and you'll see a new hibernate button.

Hibernating a VM is a convenient way to save resources without completely shutting it down. Once you've hibernated a VM, you can start it again with the Az VM Start command.

To start the VM again, press the start button in the portal or use the Az VM Start command. This will get your VM up and running in no time.

You can schedule virtual machine (VM) starts and shutdowns on Azure without using PowerShell, and it takes about 1-2 minutes to set up. This feature works for both Windows and Linux VMs and doesn't rely on complex PowerShell scripts or Azure Automation runbooks.

Scheduling the start and shutdown of VMs allows you to save money on Azure costs. A VM that has been shutdown and deallocated does not incur any Azure charges, except for the space it occupies in blob storage.

To schedule VM starts and shutdowns, you can use the Azure Portal or Azure Automation. The Azure Portal allows you to configure a specific time and time zone for auto-shutdown, and you can also specify a Webhook URL and an email address to receive alert notifications.

Azure Automation provides a tool for automating labor-intensive processes, including cloud and configuration services. You can use Azure Automation to create a runbook that outlines a step-by-step process for automatically shutting down your VMs at a specified time.

Here are the two popular ways to schedule virtual machine (VM) shutdowns during off-peak hours:

1. Azure's integrated Auto-shutdown feature, which allows you to schedule the shutdown of your VM for a specific time and time zone.

2. Azure Automation, which provides a tool for automating labor-intensive processes, including cloud and configuration services.

Note: You can also use Azure Automation to create a runbook that outlines a step-by-step process for automatically shutting down your VMs at a specified time, but this requires more setup and maintenance.

Some technical considerations to note: when a VM is shutdown its IP is deallocated, and when it is brought back up, it will get a new IP unless it is assigned an Azure Reserved IP.