Tag: az cli azure start vm

In this article I will explain how one can start multiple VMs on Azure using a pipeline automation. The steps you need to follow:

First create a service connection with your subscription. You should navigate to service connections -> azure resource manager and then select service principal (automatic)

You will then have to select the scope* the subscription or resource group this service connection will access.

In my scenario I added a friendly name of the subscription as Azure Subscription Service Connection

	trigger: none
	pr: none
	parameters:
	– name: vms
	type: object
	default: ["ubuntu1","windows-1"]
	pool:
	vmImage: ubuntu-latest
	jobs:
	– job: startvmjob
	displayName: Start VMs
	steps:
	– checkout: none
	– ${{ each vm in parameters.vms }}:
	– task: AzureCLI@2
	displayName: starting vm ${{vm}}
	inputs:
	azureSubscription: 'Azure Subscription Service Connection'
	scriptType: 'pscore'
	scriptLocation: 'inlineScript'
	inlineScript: |
	$vmrequest = az vm list | ConvertFrom-Json | Where-Object {$_.Name -Match "${{vm}}"}
	az vm start –resource-group $vmrequest.resourcegroup –name $vmrequest.name

view raw start-vms-azure-pipeline hosted with ❤ by GitHub

When you run the pipeline you will need to provide the VM names. You can also run this pipeline on a schedule using a cron task. My vms are ubuntu1, windows-1

By running the pipeline

Then by navigating on Azure you can notice the VM as started.

Video tutorial on YouTube: