Azure Documentation

Manage Your Azure Virtual Machines

This guide provides comprehensive instructions on managing your Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) throughout their lifecycle. Effective management ensures optimal performance, security, and cost-efficiency for your cloud resources.

Starting, Stopping, and Restarting VMs

You can easily control the power state of your VMs through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell.

• Starting a VM: Initiates the VM's operating system.
• Stopping a VM: Shuts down the VM gracefully. Note that compute charges may still apply if the VM's disks are still provisioned and running. To stop compute charges, you need to deallocate the VM.
• Restarting a VM: Performs a soft reboot of the VM's operating system.

To deallocate a VM:

az vm deallocate --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyVM

Resizing Virtual Machines

You can change the size of your VM to accommodate changes in workload demands. This typically involves stopping and deallocating the VM, changing its size, and then starting it again.

Steps to Resize:

1. Navigate to your VM in the Azure portal.
2. Under "Settings", select "Size".
3. Choose a new VM size from the available options.
4. Click "Resize".

Connecting to Your VM

Securely connect to your VM using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) for Windows or SSH for Linux.

Windows VMs:

1. In the Azure portal, go to your VM's overview page.
2. Click "Connect" and select "RDP".
3. Download the RDP file and connect using your VM's administrator credentials.

Linux VMs:

1. In the Azure portal, go to your VM's overview page.
2. Click "Connect" and select "SSH".
3. Use the provided command in your terminal, e.g.:
   ssh azureuser@13.91.12.135

Managing Disks

Azure VMs utilize managed disks for storing operating system and data. You can attach, detach, and manage these disks.

Common Disk Operations:

• Attaching Data Disks: Increase storage capacity by attaching new or existing disks.
• Detaching Data Disks: Remove disks that are no longer needed. Ensure the disk is not in use by the OS.
• Resizing Disks: Expand the capacity of existing data disks.
• Snapshots: Create point-in-time copies of your disks for backup and recovery purposes.

Monitoring VM Performance

Keep track of your VM's health and performance metrics using Azure Monitor.

• Metrics: CPU usage, memory, disk I/O, and network traffic.
• Activity Log: Records of operations performed on your VM.
• Diagnostic Settings: Configure logging to collect detailed performance data.

Cost Management

Optimize your VM spending by following these practices:

• Right-sizing: Choose VM sizes that match your actual workload needs.
• Deallocation: Stop and deallocate VMs when not in use to avoid compute charges.
• Reserved Instances: Commit to 1 or 3-year terms for significant savings on predictable workloads.
• Autoscaling: Automatically adjust the number of VMs based on demand.