Start/Stop VMs during off-hours solution in Azure Automation, Log Analytics

To automate the start and stop of the VMs hosted on Azure we need to consider two things, i) Automation Account and ii) Log Analytics Workspace

Scenario:

Set up the first solution deployment to start few VMs at 6 AM and stop them at 6 PM from Monday to Friday.

Then you would make the second solution deployment to start the other few VMs at 10 AM and stop them at 10 PM from Sunday to Thursday.

Please read through the steps, as you would have to specify the resource group/s you want this action to be taken, and you would also have to exclude the VMs on which you don’t want the solution.

For example, if you have 20 VMs in one resource group, but you only want the first 8 VMs to be started and stopped by the solution, you would have to specify the Resource Group name during deployment process and a list of the excluded VMs (VM9, VM10, VM11 … VM20).  This way, the solution will only affect (start and stop) VM1, VM2, VM3… VM8.

I have used the naming convention ‘StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-AA’, where IRIS stands for the project vendor and AA stands for Automation Account, and for ‘StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-LA’ LA stands for Log Analytics. Make sure both automation account and log analytics have the  same resource group name.

To summarize following are the process:

All services>> Automation Accounts>> click Add 

Add automation account name and fill in other relevant details for - ‘StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-AA’  and click create.

Then let’s go to the service, ‘log analytics workspaces’ via All services>> Log Analytics workspaces:

Click Add. 

Fill in sensible details for ex: 

StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-LA >> Subscription: Enterprise >> Resource Group: provide resource group name of the hosted VMs >> Location: West Europe >> Pricing Tier: Free (select what suites you) and click OK.

After creation of Log Analytics workspaces, click on 'StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-LA' which has been just created (as highlighted below).

Click workspace summary

from Overview window click 'Add' option from the marketplace search window, type 'Start/Stop VMs during off-hours' 

and click Create  

as soon as create button is clicked >> from 'Add Solution' space select workspace as 'StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-LA' >> automation account as 'StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-AA' >> configuration: configure parameters >>

parameters:

vm runbook: target resourceGroup Names: wildcard '*', * is applicable to all resource groups, else specify correct resource group where the VMs reside >> VM Exclude List (list of VMs which needs to be excluded>>  enter the VM names in the space provided. For more than one VM enter with coma >> enter schedule daily start and stop time (specify correct time zone >> select email functionality if required and specify a valid email address.>> click ok and click create.

Click log analytics workspace 'StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-LA' which we just created. and click workspace summary

Selecting the graphical ‘startstopvmview’ provides a historical summary of the schedules.

If you may want to modify the schedules to recur automation weekly or monthly based on your requirement following Home>> Automation Account >> select the required automation account (for ex: ‘StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-AA’) >> click Schedules >> Scheduled-StartVM or Scheduled-StopVM

Settings:

 You may include or exclude VMs by modifying the variables:

Automation Accounts >> StartStopVMDaily-IRIS-AA >> Variables

Select External_ExcludeVMNames and modify the Value (VMNames described under it)

Reorganize automation account and log analytics @your Azure portal favourites:

Deploy the solution twice based on the above scenario.

I hope the above depicted pictures are self-explanatory.

Have a great time J.

also read@Microsoft documentation