Stopped vs Deallocated
As you might already know an Azure Virtual Machines that are simply Stopped and not Deallocated still cost you money. Virtual Machines that have the status “VM Stopped” will occur in CPU and Memory allocation charges.
This post helps you implement a PS Script to run on a schedule in a Runbook that will go over all the virtual machines in the subscriptions that are Stopped but not Deallocated and will deallocate them for you. As the Virtual Machine is already Stopped running this brings no risk.
Creating a Runbook
Navite to Azure Automation Accounts. Use the Search to find it faster
If you already have an Automation Account to use skip this step.
In the automaton account page click on + Add
Give it a name, select a subscripion, resource group and location. Select Yes for “Create A Run As Account”
The Run As Account will create a Service Principal into your Azure Active Directory. Make sure you have permission for it
Acess the automation account you just created. In the account’s blade, first we need to do is add the Az.Compute and Az.Account module. For that, click on Modules gallery and search for Az.Accounts and Az.Compute. Click on it and then Import. It can take sometime to finish the importation.
Now click on Runbooks and hen Create a runbook
Give it a name, select PowerShell for type and a optional description
In the Edit PowerShell Runbook, copy the Script below and paste there.
#Ensures you do not inherit an AzContext in your runbook
Disable-AzContextAutosave –Scope Process
$connection = Get-AutomationConnection -Name AzureRunAsConnection
#Wrap authentication in retry logic for transient network failures
$logonAttempt = 0
while(!($connectionResult) -And ($logonAttempt -le 10))
{
$LogonAttempt++
#Logging in to Azure...
$connectionResult = Add-AzAccount `
-ServicePrincipal `
-Tenant $connection.TenantID `
-ApplicationId $connection.ApplicationID `
-CertificateThumbprint
$connection.CertificateThumbprint
Start-Sleep -Seconds 10
}
$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
#Ingest all subscriptions
[array]$AzureSubscriptions = (Get-AzContext).Subscription
#Loop Subscriptions
ForEach($AzureSubscription in $AzureSubscriptions) {
$SubscriptionCount++
$Script:ActiveSubscriptionName = $AzureSubscription.Name
$Script:ActiveSubscriptionID = $AzureSubscription.Id
#Set AzContext as we are in a ForEach Loop
Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId $AzureSubscription.Id
}
#Get VMs Status
[array]$StoppedAzVMs = Get-AzVM -Status
if($StoppedAzVMs) {
#Loop through each VM in this Resource Group
ForEach($StoppedAzVM in $StoppedAzVMs) {
#If PowerState is VM stopped
if($StoppedAzVM.PowerState -eq "VM stopped") {
Stop-AzVM -Name $StoppedAzVM.Name -ResourceGroupName $StoppedAzVM.ResourceGroupName -Force
}
}
}
Click on Test Pane an then Start to validate the Script. Bear in mind that even during the validation, if the script finds Stopped VMs it will deallocate them.
The Output should be as follow and any Stopped machines should now be Stopped Deallocated
Now that you have tested the script, go back to the Script Editor and click Publish.
To run it on a schedule, you have to either link it to an existent schedule or create a new one.
That should be it. Please give feedback and comments below.
