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.
