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?

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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