Start and Stop Azure VMs Via Powershell

With PowerShell it is fast and convenient to manage my development and test servers running on Windows Azure. It is just easier to use command line tools than logging into the Azure management portal shutting down each VM. To set up PowerShell:

1. Install the Azure PowerShell cmdlets
2. Start the Azure PowerShell (do not start the regular PowerShell as it is not preconfigured with the Azure PowerShell cmdlets)
3. Authorize Azure PowerShell to access your Azure subscriptions by typing in the Azure PowerShell shell:

Add-AzureAccount

In the sign-in window, provide your Microsoft credentials for the Azure account.

If you like me have multiple Azure subscriptions – change the default subscription with:

Select-AzureSubscription [-SubscriptionName]

To start an Azure VM the syntax is:

Start-AzureVM [–Name] [-ServiceName] To start a VM named vs2015 in the cloud service lybCloudService requires as little as: Start-AzureVM vs2015 lybCloudService To stop the VM is just as easy Stop-AzureVM [-Name] [-ServiceName] f it is the last running VM in the cloud service, then you will be asked if you want to deallocate the cloud service or not, as the cloud service will release the public IP address. That is not a problem if you access your VM via DNS name – which most people do. You can override the question by appending –Force like this: Stop-AzureVM vs2015 lybCloudService –Force There are many useful Azure PowerShell cmdlets to use. To list all Azure PowerShell cmdlets: List all VMs: Get-AzureVM [–Name] [-ServiceName] The PowerShell prompt is just like a normal command prompt, so you can use tab completion and F7 to show all executed commands.