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Start and Stop VMs

Control VM power state to manage costs and resources.

Quick Start

# Stop VM (deallocate to save costs)
azlin stop my-vm

# Start VM
azlin start my-vm

# Check status
azlin status --vm my-vm

Overview

azlin provides simple power management for Azure VMs:

  • azlin stop - Stop and deallocate VM (stops compute billing)
  • azlin start - Start a stopped/deallocated VM
  • azlin status - Check current VM power state

Stop Command

azlin stop [OPTIONS] VM_NAME

Options

Option Description Default
VM_NAME Name of VM to stop Required
--resource-group, --rg TEXT Resource group From config
--deallocate / --no-deallocate Deallocate resources --deallocate

Examples

# Stop and deallocate VM (default - saves money)
azlin stop my-vm

# Stop without deallocation (maintains IP, still charges)
azlin stop my-vm --no-deallocate

# Stop VM in specific resource group
azlin stop my-vm --rg production-rg

What Happens

With --deallocate (default): 1. VM shuts down gracefully 2. Compute resources released 3. Compute billing stops 4. Storage still charged (disks remain) 5. Public IP may change on restart

With --no-deallocate: 1. VM shuts down 2. Compute resources reserved 3. Compute billing continues 4. Public IP remains the same 5. Faster restart time

Cost Savings

Always use --deallocate (default) to stop compute charges. Only use --no-deallocate if you need to preserve the exact IP address.

Start Command

azlin start [OPTIONS] VM_NAME

Options

Option Description Default
VM_NAME Name of VM to start Required
--resource-group, --rg TEXT Resource group From config

Examples

# Start VM
azlin start my-vm

# Start VM in specific resource group
azlin start my-vm --rg production-rg

What Happens

  1. Allocates compute resources
  2. Starts VM from stopped state
  3. Resumes from where it left off
  4. May get new public IP (if deallocated)
  5. Typically takes 2-3 minutes

Status Command

azlin status [OPTIONS]

Options

Option Description Default
--resource-group, --rg TEXT Resource group From config
--vm TEXT Specific VM to check All VMs

Examples

# Status of all VMs
azlin status

# Status of specific VM
azlin status --vm my-vm

# Status in specific resource group
azlin status --rg production-rg

Output

╭──────────────────┬─────────────────┬────────────────╮
│ VM Name          │ Power State     │ IP Address     │
├──────────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ azlin-vm-12345   │ Running         │ 20.51.23.145   │
│ dev-vm           │ Stopped         │ -              │
│ ml-training      │ Deallocated     │ -              │
╰──────────────────┴─────────────────┴────────────────╯

Common Workflows

Cost Management

# Stop VMs at end of work day
azlin stop dev-vm-1
azlin stop dev-vm-2
azlin stop dev-vm-3

# Start in the morning
azlin start dev-vm-1
azlin start dev-vm-2
azlin start dev-vm-3

Savings: Assuming 16 hours/day stopped * 5 days/week = ~48% cost reduction

Batch Operations

# Stop multiple VMs
for vm in $(azlin list --tag env=dev --no-quota --no-tmux | tail -n +2 | awk '{print $1}'); do
  azlin stop $vm
done

# Start multiple VMs
for vm in worker-{1..5}; do
  azlin start $vm
done

Check Before Stopping

# Verify VM is running
azlin status --vm my-vm

# Stop if running
azlin stop my-vm

# Confirm stopped
azlin status --vm my-vm

Quick Restart

# Stop and immediately restart
azlin stop my-vm && azlin start my-vm

Power States Explained

State Billing Description
Running Compute + Storage VM is powered on and operational
Stopped Compute + Storage VM shutdown but resources reserved
Deallocated Storage only VM shutdown, compute released
Starting Compute + Storage VM is booting up
Stopping Compute + Storage VM is shutting down

Troubleshooting

VM Won't Start

# Check quota
azlin quota

# Check VM status
azlin status --vm my-vm

# Try different region
azlin new --region westus

VM Won't Stop

# Check VM status
azlin status --vm my-vm

# Force stop via Azure CLI
az vm stop -g <rg> -n <vm> --skip-shutdown

# Deallocate if stuck
az vm deallocate -g <rg> -n <vm>

IP Address Changed

# Use static IP (requires Azure configuration)
az network public-ip update -g <rg> -n <vm-ip> --allocation-method Static

# Or use session names instead of IPs
azlin session my-vm my-project
azlin connect my-project  # Works regardless of IP

Source Code

Last updated: 2025-11-24