Missing Scheduled Shutdown for Non-Production Azure Virtual Machines

Yulia Perlis

Service Category

Compute

Cloud Provider

Azure

Service Name

Azure Virtual Machines

Inefficiency Type

Inefficient Configuration

Explanation

Non-production Azure VMs are frequently left running during off-hours despite being used only during business hours. When these instances remain active overnight or on weekends, they generate unnecessary compute spend. Azure offers built-in auto-shutdown features that allow teams to define daily stop times, retaining disk data and configurations without paying for VM runtime. Implementing scheduled shutdowns in dev/test environments is a simple, low-risk optimization that can reduce compute costs by 30–60%.

Relevant Billing Model

Azure VMs are billed per second, with a minimum of one minute, based on:

VM size and type
Operating system and licensing
Runtime duration

Note: Storage (managed disks) continues to incur charges even when the VM is stopped.

Detection

Identify VMs labeled or tagged as dev/test/staging
Use Azure Monitor or Cost Management to assess usage and uptime patterns
Detect VMs with consistent business-hours usage but 24/7 runtime
Review VM configuration to check whether auto-shutdown is enabled

Remediation

Enable Azure’s built-in auto-shutdown setting for applicable non-prod VMs
Alternatively, configure shutdown/start schedules using Azure Automation or Logic Apps
Preserve state using managed disks, snapshots, or generalized images
Review schedules periodically to align with changing team usage

Relevant Documentation