Start/Stop Virtual Machines at the same time

This script will allow you to use an Automation Account to Start and Stop all Virtual Machines selected at the same time based on tags.

Subscription Owner Role

To be able to create an Automation Account with a Run As Account you need the Owner RBAC role under the subscription.

Create an Automation Account

If you don’t have an automation account, you need to create one.

Assign RBAC role to Automation Account

To perform the tasks, the Automation account needs the Contributor or Virtual Machine Contributor RBAC role.

Add Tags to Virtual Machine

You need to configure 3 Tags in Virtual Machines :

Tip You can use only the Startup or the Shutdown rule

• startup : 09:00
• shutdown : 19:00
• StartStopRule - on / off
  • If the flag is on it Will turn on/off the virtual machine
  • If the flag is off the rule will not be applied.

PowerShell Script

Create a Runbook with the PowerShell script below.

Note: Be aware that you need to change the values inside the variables

$AutomationAccount = "AutomationName"
$ResourceGroup = "ResourceGroup"
$ScheduleName = "schedule-Name"
$ConnectionName = "AzureRunAsConnection"

if ((get-date).DayOfWeek.value__ -in 1..5){
    
    Try
    {
        # Get the connection "AzureRunAsConnection "
        $servicePrincipalConnection=Get-AutomationConnection -Name $ConnectionName

        "Logging in to Azure..."
        Login-AzAccount -ServicePrincipal -TenantId $servicePrincipalConnection.TenantId `
            -ApplicationId $servicePrincipalConnection.ApplicationId -CertificateThumbprint $servicePrincipalConnection.CertificateThumbprint 

        #Get the offset of the Schedule because the time in Azure Automation is in UTC
        $Time = ((get-date (Get-AzAutomationSchedule -Name $ScheduleName -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroup -AutomationAccountName $AutomationAccount).NextRun.ToString("HH:mm")).AddHours(-(Get-AzAutomationSchedule -Name $ScheduleName -ResourceGroupName $ResourceGroup -AutomationAccountName $AutomationAccount).Interval)).ToString("HH:mm")

        #List all vms filtering by tags startup, shutdown and StartStopRule
        $VMs = Get-AzVM -Status | Where-Object {$_.Tags.Keys -eq "startup" -or $_.Tags.Keys -eq "shutdown" -and $_.Tags.Keys -eq "StartStopRule" }

        #Displays the time used as reference
        Write-Output "Time: $($Time)"
        ForEach ($VM in $VMs) 
        {        
            Write-Output "Processing VM $($VM.Name). StartTime $($VM.tags.startup). ShutdownTime $($VM.tags.shutdown). StartStopRule $($VM.tags.StartStopRule)"
            
            #If is shutdown time and vm is running
            if ($VM.tags.shutdown -eq $Time -and $VM.tags.StartStopRule -eq "on" -and $vm.PowerState -eq "VM running") {
                Write-Output "Shuting down: $($VM.Name)"
                Stop-AzVM -Name $VM.Name -ResourceGroupName $VM.ResourceGroupName -Force
            }
        
            #If is start time and vm is NOT running
            if ($VM.tags.startup -eq $Time -and $VM.tags.StartStopRule -eq "on" -and $vm.PowerState -eq "VM deallocated") {
                Write-Output "Starting: $($VM.Name)"
                Start-AzVM -Name $VM.Name -ResourceGroupName $VM.ResourceGroupName
            }
        }
    }
    
    Catch {
        if (!$servicePrincipalConnection)
        {
            $ErrorMessage = "Connection $connectionName not found."
            throw $ErrorMessage
        } else{
            Write-Error -Message $_.Exception
            throw $_.Exception
        }
    }
} 

Create a Schedule

The last step is to create a Schedule for your Automation Account.

Don’t forget to attach it to your Automation Account.