Automation Azure - Script to Change Virtual Machines Size ARM & ASM

In this post I'll show you how to resize automatically azure virtual machines.

Microsoft Azure offers some cheap low spec virtual machines. But as we all know, the prices can go up pretty quickly as the specs go up. But we need large VMs to support today’s modern day workloads. The downside is that most of these workloads are only present during business hours but you end up running and paying for these large VMs even during non-business hours and on weekends.

 

The solution here is to have an azure automation script that resizes the VMs to the lowest possible size during non-business hours and have another automation script to resize the VMs to their original size just before start of business.

 

Because Azure has two portals (for now..), I'll show you the scripts from both (since threre are many differences).

• Old Portal - Azure ASM (Azure Service Manager)
• New Portal - Azure ARM (Azure Resource Manager)

Let's see how to do it!

 

Upgrade In-Place SCCM 2012 R2 - WIndows Server 2008 R2 to 2012 R2

Today, in the post I will show you how to migrate SCCM operating system from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 R2 in-place. I had some problems and that is what I will try to describe in more detail. You can do a in-place upgrade from:

• Windows Server 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 R2 (SCCM 1602 or higher)
 
You cannot go from Server 2008 R2 to Server 2016, Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012!

 

The key reason for this change is that most installations of SCCM 2012 R2 are based on Windows Server 2008 R2. And if the SCCM evolves, the operating system also has to evolve. Another possible approach would be to install a Windows Server 2012 R2 from scratch and do a restore of the SCCM and database (keeping the same name and IP). I think the first approach is simpler and I will describe it.