Schedule Azure VM to shutdown and restart on a schedule.

Question

_{Tuesday, April 24, 2018 4:44 PM}

Steps are too complicated to follow.

Can this not be done in less than 100 step and using the Azure Powershell to do it?

Why is this so difficult to do?

All replies (8)

_{Tuesday, April 24, 2018 4:53 PM}

You might try to setup a Azure automation run book for Starting/stopping VMs on a schedule. Check out this link - /en-us/azure/automation/automation-solution-vm-management

Note - it is in preview

- Vaibhav Gujral

_{Tuesday, April 24, 2018 4:59 PM}

I have check out this link and the steps are too ambiguous to follow.

Is there not an easy way to schedule an Azure VM?

_{Tuesday, April 24, 2018 5:16 PM}

I am not aware of any way we can do it from Azure Portal.

- Vaibhav Gujral

_{Tuesday, April 24, 2018 5:35 PM}

As Vaibhav mentioned, the automation book is the way to achieve this. You can achieve auto shutdown via the portal but not restart and start. 

So to simply answer your question, no, there is not a more simple way to achieve this. 

If you want you can add your feedback for this feature suggestion here

https://feedback.azure.com/forums/34192--general-feedback

_{Tuesday, April 24, 2018 5:45 PM}

Hi,

Please check this links that talks about Start and Shut down role of the VM through REST API. You can wire up the end point with Azure Function, Puppet, or Chef to automate this process

VM - Start/Shut down Role(s)

Murugesa Pandian MCSA,MCSE,MCPD

Gear up for some solid action by doing. Slide,theory and blog won't useful much. 
After all world likes only doers not sayers/speakers .

_{Tuesday, April 24, 2018 9:19 PM}

I have a business need for this feature.

I was not able to configure the automation book myself.
I need assistance.

I should not have to build Azure VM automation myself using a Rest API.

If Microsoft wants to charge for Azure by CPU hours, then there should be an easy way to schedule this CPU workload on a weekly schedule.

I can do this with Google Cloud services.
Do I have to migrate my Clients away from using Azure VMs for this reason?

_{Tuesday, April 24, 2018 9:26 PM}

The guidance to Create an Automation Account is obsolete and incorrect and needs revising.

There is no Yes/No displayed for App registrations.

I was not able to complete this step.

I need additional assistance for this.

Permissions required to create an Automation account

To create or update an Automation account, and to complete the tasks described in this article, you must have the following privileges and permissions:

• To create an Automation account, your Azure AD user account must be added to a role with permissions equivalent to the Owner role for Microsoft. Automation resources. For more information, see Role-Based Access Control in Azure Automation.
• In the Azure portal, under Azure Active Directory > MANAGE > App registrations, if App registrations <g class="gr_ gr_30 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" data-gr-id="30" id="30">is</g> set to Yes, non-admin users in your Azure AD tenant can register Active Directory applications. If App registrations <g class="gr_ gr_28 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" data-gr-id="28" id="28">is</g> set to No, the user who performs this action must be a global administrator in Azure AD.

_{Tuesday, April 24, 2018 9:52 PM}

Unfortunately, the methods described above are the way to go about what you are trying to achieve in Azure. 

I looked at the Automation documentation and it appears to have been updated on 3/20/2018. However, if you are finding errors on it we recently made the switch to GitHub so you can make product and doc suggestions and let us know when an issue is present. 

For example, going to the automation documentation mentioned you will see the following at the bottom of the page: 

Here you can see that we give you the option to provide product feedback such as an easier way to shutdown/ start/ restart VMs on schedule and a way to give documentation feedback if there is an issue. If you believe there are issues with the doc please provide feedback there so we can take a look and get it updated ASAP. 

As per the error mentioned above it appears you do not have the correct permissions for the subscription to create an automation account. You need to have the equivalent of owner level to be able to do this. You can ask the admin of the subscription to give you the correct permissions.