Is it possible to suspend and resume a windows Azure server?

Question

I have a program that I run only 1-2 hours a day. Is there a way to suspend the Azure server so I don't pay for it, then resume it later? How fast is it to suspend and then resume?

Strenuous

Answer 1

Not sure if you are asking for Window Azure Cloud Services or for Windows Azure Virtual Machines but you sure can stop/start these Azure Virtual Machines directly on Windows Portal or using Powershell or REST based Service Management API. The Windows Azure Portal does not provide a way to schedule stop/restart so you will have to manually do it by yourself or use some 3rd party service i.e. AzureWatch etc to do it.

Note: Even if you shutdown the Virtual Machine or Cloud Service, you will still pay for if you want to do it for cost saving, then you would need to delete the service or VM. Reboot/Restart does not take long as VM is already configured and ready to run so it is just the time to turn on a pre-configured VM.

If you want to use REST API in your own application to stop/start here is some help:

• Virtual Machines: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/jj157206.aspx
• Cloud Service: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg441298.aspx

If you want to use Powershell to stop/Start Azure VM look for "Start-AzureVM" and "Stop-AzureVM" cmdlet below:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/jj152841.aspx

Citrate

Thanks! Yes, I wanted to do this for cost saving. I'd like a reasonably fast machine but only need it for 1 hour/day max. – Strenuous

If you want it for cost saving then you can start the process to start it about 30 minutes so VM or Cloud Service can be ready by then. You can also customize your application in PowerShell or REST API to make it just one click. Would u please also confirm if it is Virtual Machine or Cloud Services because things could change in between these two. – Citrate

Virtual Machine. I want to run a desktop application similar to MatLab. I'm currently running it in a VM but want to be able to access from multiple locations, so I'm exploring the use of Azure for this. – Strenuous

Stopped VN's does not cost any more. brianhprince.com/2013/06/03/… – Albania

Answer 2

To clarify here, Azure no longer charges for stopped VMs. The billing change was announced in 2013 on Scott Guthrie's blog: No Charge for Stopped VMs.

This means you can use the portal or APIs to stop a VM without deallocating the resource - and avoid charges at the same time.

Breedlove

Unfortunately, I still seem to get charged but at some maintenance rate. When I delete the VM, my burn rate went down but not entirely. It went down further when I deleted my storage. I tried to remove/delete just about everything I can, and I still have a burn rate of ~$1/day. When I had all VMs inactive but still had everything else in place (VMs, storage, resource groups), my burn rate was around $8.25/day. If you can get it down to zero, I very much want to know. – Canica

Answer 3

To save money, I did Remote Desktop to my Azure Windows VM, and clicked shutdown. Then, at my Azure dashboard (https://manage.windowsazure.com) > VIRTUAL MACHINES > STATUS it changed from Running to Stopped.

But then I read this doesn't stop the billing. So I went to Microsoft Azure > Virtual machines (classic) > and saw the status was Stopped. But this doesn't mean billing stopped. I clicked the "stop" command, and it changed to Stopped (deallocated) which means no (or near 0) billing.

Dortheydorthy

Answer 4

The screenshot says it all... so only a "deallocated" VM won't be billed!

One more thing to add. As opposed to a deleted VM, a deallocated VM still has virtual disks attached to it which consume storage space and therefor creates costs.

Bromine

Answer 5

If you mean the "suspended" state you can achieve with your computer I don't think is available today on Azure. Google Cloud for example has just released that feature on beta https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/suspending-an-instance

Duran