How to ensure you are not being charged for Azure VMs when they are shutdown

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Rob Waggoner

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We’ve all become accustomed to shutting down our VMs when we don’t need them, but in Windows Azure, it takes more then just shutting down the OS (within the VM) to ensure your runtime costs stop accumulating.  In Azure, you have to make sure the VM is Stopped (Deallocated) not just Stopped. 

In the VM Pricing details page, it points this out:

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While the difference may seem a bit subtle, unexpected runtime costs could be anything but subtle.  As the FAQ points out, there are two ways to ensure your VM is Stopped (Deallocated) , though the User Interface where you visually see the VM is deallocated and via powershell. 

Until next time,

Rob

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