Azure VM public static outbound IP

Question

I have written a small service to grab files from one ftp server, edit them, and then send them to another ftp server. The catch being the ftp server being sent to requires a white-list of IP's. Now I chose to host this service on a Azure VM set up with a virtual public reserved IP address, thinking it would create a static IP that I could use for the white-list.

Unfortunately even though the VM states the virtual public reserved IP is connected to the VM, when opening up a browser and going to whatismyip.com I get a completely different IP and of course Azure shuts all VMs down once every 2-3 months for maintenance (which I assume flushes the IP).

Now I understand that the IP received from whatismyip.com is probably connected to the Azure load balancer but I can't figure out for the life of me why that would be the one that shows up for outbound connections.

My questions are:

• Is it possible to obtain a static public IP for outbound connections for that whitelist?

• Is there some obvious workaround I'm missing?

• Will Azure scheduled maintenance shutdowns save IP information?

• Is Azure just not a good platform for this kind of work? If so what is?

Answer 1

Now it is indeed possible. Please see https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/virtual-networks-reserved-public-ip/ for details.

The powershell code is as follows:

New-AzureReservedIP –ReservedIPName MyReservedIP –Location "Central US"

$image = Get-AzureVMImage|?{$_.ImageName -like "*RightImage-Windows-2012R2-x64*"}

New-AzureVMConfig -Name TestVM -InstanceSize Small -ImageName $image.ImageName `
| Add-AzureProvisioningConfig -Windows -AdminUsername adminuser -Password MyP@ssw0rd!! `
| New-AzureVM -ServiceName TestService -ReservedIPName MyReservedIP -Location "Central US"

Besides, now outbound connections only use a handful IPs by default. You can see them in new portal: https://portal.azure.com in site's Settings → Properties