How the Engineering Team Implemented VM Usage Tracking in Azure Lab Services

Mas023 40

Hi all,

With Azure Lab Services retiring in 2027, we plan to migrate to a new service for our school. Azure products like Virtual Machine Scale Sets or DevTest Lab look like good alternatives. However, we need to implement a key cost-saving feature: tracking the number of hours a VM has been used and automatically stopping and deallocating it, for instance, after 50 hours of usage. This feature has been extremely useful in Azure Lab Services.

Could someone from the engineering team assist us in setting up similar functionality for our VMs?

Thank you!

Adharsh Santhanam 5,180 Reputation points

2024-10-03T11:38:42.7133333+00:00

Hello Mas023, here's a link to the official MS documentation that gives you a script to automatically shutdown VMs -- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/auto-shutdown-vm?tabs=azure-cli.

You can extend the above script to specifically track the number of hours of activity before shutting the VMs down.

Please do not forget to "Accept the answer” and “up-vote” wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.
Mas023 40 Reputation points

2024-10-03T11:47:28.2233333+00:00

Thank you for your response. I already know how to stop and deallocate a VM. However, the link you provided, along with other online resources, doesn't explain how to track the number of hours a VM has been used.
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,300 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-03T16:39:34.9266667+00:00
Hi Mas023,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Platform! Thank you for asking your question here.

There are various Microsoft solutions that you might consider as a direct replacement for Azure Lab Services. Each of these Microsoft solutions offers browser-based web access. While these solutions aren't necessarily education-specific, they support a wide range of education and training scenarios.

Azure Virtual Desktop

Windows 365

Azure DevTest Labs

Microsoft Dev Box

Partner solutions (Apporto, CloudLabs by Spektra Systems, Nerdio Manager for Enterprise, and Skillable) To facilitate a smooth transition, detailed guidelines and help are available on Microsoft's support page. Users can also create support tickets through the Azure portal to address specific technical queries.
Azure DevTest Labs offer features that can help you manage costs effectively, including tracking usage and automating shutdowns.
To set up automatic VM shutdown and deallocation after a certain number of hours in Azure DevTest Lab, you can follow these steps:

Azure DevTest Lab

Enable Azure Metering to track the usage of your VMs.

Create a policy in Azure DevTest Lab to track the usage of your VMs.

Use Azure Automation or Azure Functions to automate the shutdown and deallocation of your VMs. Here is an example of how you can use Azure Automation to automate the shutdown and deallocation of your VMs:
# Get the VM usage $vmUsage = Get-AzMetric -ResourceGroupName "yourResourceGroup" -ResourceName "yourVMName" -MetricName "Percentage CPU" -TimeGrain 01:00:00 -StartTime (Get-Date).AddHours(-50) # Check if the usage exceeds 50 hours if ($vmUsage.Average -gt 50) { # Shut down and deallocate the VM Stop-AzVM -ResourceGroupName "yourResourceGroup" -Name "yourVMName" -Force Remove-AzVM -ResourceGroupName "yourResourceGroup" -Name "yourVMName" -Force }
You can also use Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps to automate the shutdown and deallocation of your VMs.

Please let us know if you have any further queries. Iam happy to assist you further :-)

Thank you!
Mas023 40 Reputation points

2024-10-04T06:16:38.1333333+00:00

Thank you @Mounika Reddy Anumandla for your reply.
Before I try your solution, I just want to clarify something: Does the automation logic you provided track the total usage of a virtual machine (VM)? Specifically, the VM isn’t running continuously. We provide these VMs to users, allowing them up to 50 hours of usage within a specific timeframe. Users can shut down the VM in between sessions, and we also have automatic shutdown enabled from the portal. However, over a given period—let’s say two months—we want to ensure that no user exceeds the 50-hour limit. Does your solution handle this scenario?

Thank you!
Mas023 40 Reputation points

2024-10-04T06:39:40.95+00:00

Something similar to quota in Azure Lab Services
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,300 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-04T15:38:13.6866667+00:00

Hi Mas023,
Thank you for your patience while we are reviewing your query.

We are working with our internal team. Will get back to you with a solution.
Azure DevTest labs does not directly give you quota hours used similar to Azure Lab Services but you can schedule Auto-shutdown, Auto-start and Auto-shutdown policy.
Meanwhile, I request you to please go through the links if it can be useful in your scenario.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devtest-labs/devtest-lab-guidance-get-started#lab-creation
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devtest-labs/devtest-lab-set-lab-policy
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,300 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-14T08:43:15.0066667+00:00

Hi Mas023,

Hope you are doing well! Just checking to see if you had a chance to see my response to your question. If you have any further queries, do let us know.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and "Upvote it."

1 answer

Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,300 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-09T08:58:04.82+00:00
Hi Mas023,

I have checked internally with the team, and this is the response provided by them.
DevTest Labs doesn't have such a feature to track VM total usage.

However, it looks like the same goal can be achieved with a combination of Azure's Cost Management/Billing and Azure Automation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/cost-optimization-monitor-costs

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/cost-management-budget-scenario

If you have any further queries, do let us know.
Please sign in to rate this answer.
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,300 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-15T08:39:31.7666667+00:00

Hi Mas023,

Hope you are doing well! Just checking to see if you had a chance to see my response to your question. If you have any further queries, do let us know.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and "Upvote it."

Mounika Reddy Anumandla 1,300 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-10-15T11:47:59.8033333+00:00

Hi Mas023,

Hope you are doing well! Just checking to see if you had a chance to see my response to your question. If you have any further queries, do let us know.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and "Upvote it."
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How the Engineering Team Implemented VM Usage Tracking in Azure Lab Services

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