How can I activate the pay as you go plan on my Azure Linux RHEL Virtual machine

Question

How can I activate the pay as you go plan on my Azure Linux RHEL Virtual machine

Michel Escalant 0

Hi, I created a Linux RHEL 9.4 VM in Azure Cloud and I would like to know if the VM offers the pay as you go RHEL subscription ; or saving plan subscription ; so I could leverage from a RHEL license? Otherwise, what specific Linux VM should I create to leverage for the RHEL subscription? Thanks

Jilakara Hemalatha 4,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-10T18:37:02.9833333+00:00
Hii Michel Escalant

Thanks for reaching out Q/A. On Azure, RHEL virtual machines can use one of two licensing models:

How can I activate the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) plan on my Azure Linux RHEL virtual machine?

You don’t need to manually activate PAYG. The RHEL PAYG license is automatically applied when you create your VM using an official RHEL image from the Azure Marketplace. These images include the RHEL license cost in the hourly VM rate. Azure automatically manages your Red Hat subscription and software updates.

To confirm your VM uses a PAYG image:

Go to the Azure portal >> check for Image reference

If it shows RedHat:RHEL-byos, it means Bring Your Own Subscription (BYOS). If not it was PAYG.

Reference: PAYG vs. BYOS

Does my VM offer a Pay-As-You-Go RHEL subscription or a savings plan subscription?

Pay-As-You-Go RHEL subscription: Automatically available if your VM was deployed from a PAYG Marketplace image.

Savings Plan subscription: Azure Savings Plans (or Reserved VM Instances) only reduce compute costs, not the RHEL license cost. You can combine a PAYG RHEL VM with a Savings Plan to lower compute charges, but the RHEL license will still be billed at the PAYG rate.

What specific Linux VM should I create to leverage the RHEL Pay-As-You-Go subscription?

Choose an image from the Azure Marketplace labelled with RHEL PAYG.

No separate Red Hat registration is required; the PAYG license is included automatically.

Example using Azure CLI:

az vm create --name <VMNAME> --resource-group <RGNAME> --image RedHat:RHEL:9_4:latest --admin-username azureuser --generate-ssh-keys

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/cli-ps-findimage

Hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any queries.
Jilakara Hemalatha 4,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-12T17:18:44.56+00:00

Hello @Michel Escalant

Could you please check and let me know if provided response was resolved your query. Please let me know if you have any queries.

1 answer

Your answer

Jilakara Hemalatha 4,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-10T18:37:02.9833333+00:00

Hii Michel Escalant

Thanks for reaching out Q/A. On Azure, RHEL virtual machines can use one of two licensing models:

How can I activate the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) plan on my Azure Linux RHEL virtual machine?

You don’t need to manually activate PAYG. The RHEL PAYG license is automatically applied when you create your VM using an official RHEL image from the Azure Marketplace. These images include the RHEL license cost in the hourly VM rate. Azure automatically manages your Red Hat subscription and software updates.

To confirm your VM uses a PAYG image:

Go to the Azure portal >> check for Image reference

If it shows RedHat:RHEL-byos, it means Bring Your Own Subscription (BYOS). If not it was PAYG.

Reference: PAYG vs. BYOS

Does my VM offer a Pay-As-You-Go RHEL subscription or a savings plan subscription?

Pay-As-You-Go RHEL subscription: Automatically available if your VM was deployed from a PAYG Marketplace image.

Savings Plan subscription: Azure Savings Plans (or Reserved VM Instances) only reduce compute costs, not the RHEL license cost. You can combine a PAYG RHEL VM with a Savings Plan to lower compute charges, but the RHEL license will still be billed at the PAYG rate.

What specific Linux VM should I create to leverage the RHEL Pay-As-You-Go subscription?

Choose an image from the Azure Marketplace labelled with RHEL PAYG.

No separate Red Hat registration is required; the PAYG license is included automatically.

Example using Azure CLI:

az vm create --name <VMNAME> --resource-group <RGNAME> --image RedHat:RHEL:9_4:latest --admin-username azureuser --generate-ssh-keys

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/cli-ps-findimage

Hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any queries.
Jilakara Hemalatha 4,360 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-12T17:18:44.56+00:00

Hello @Michel Escalant

Could you please check and let me know if provided response was resolved your query. Please let me know if you have any queries.

Answer 1

To activate the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) plan for your Azure Linux RHEL virtual machine, you need to ensure that your VM is set up to use the PAYG subscription model. Here are the steps you can follow:

Check Current Subscription: First, verify if your current RHEL VM is already using the PAYG model. You can do this in the Azure portal by navigating to your VM's settings and checking the licensing section.
Switch to PAYG: If your VM is not currently on PAYG, you can switch to this model using the Azure Hybrid Benefit. This allows you to convert your existing VM from a bring-your-own-subscription (BYOS) model to PAYG without needing to redeploy your VM.
- To do this, go to the Licensing section of your VM settings in the Azure portal and select the option to use the PAYG model.
Creating a New VM: If you are creating a new VM and want to ensure it uses the PAYG model, during the VM creation process in the Azure portal, you can select the PAYG option in the Licensing section.
Eligible Images: Make sure that the image you are using for your VM is eligible for PAYG. The RHEL PAYG offers published by Red Hat are suitable for this purpose.

If you want to leverage a RHEL license, ensure that you are using images specifically published by Red Hat that support the PAYG model.

References:

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How can I activate the pay as you go plan on my Azure Linux RHEL Virtual machine

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