Hibernate Azure VM

[the-a-man]

Why doesn't Azure support/have a hibernation state for VMs? AWS EC2 instances have supported it for years. Is this feature on the roadmap? I'd be very happy to hear that Azure is working on supporting hibernation.

[#2]

Is this still true?

[#3]

@the-a-man 

It has been Preview since stable 2021 Jul for hibernation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/compute/virtual-machines/deallocate?tabs=HTTP

hibernate query parameter

It's required to enable hibernation when creating VM
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/compute/virtual-machines/create-or-update?tabs=HTTP#creat...

[#4]

Hibernation support for Azure virtual machines is not currently available, but there are other ways to save on costs and reduce the time needed to start up a virtual machine. One option is to use the Azure VM auto-shutdown feature, which allows you to schedule when your virtual machines will shut down. This can be a great way to save on costs for development and test environments that are only used during certain hours of the day or week. The auto-shutdown feature can be configured through the Azure portal or using PowerShell scripts. Another option is to use Azure Spot VMs, which provide access to unused Azure compute capacity at a lower cost. Spot VMs are available in all regions where Azure is offered and can be used for a variety of workloads. However, it's important to note that Spot VMs are subject to preemption and may be reclaimed by Azure with just a 30-second notice. They are ideal for non-critical workloads and batch processing tasks. While hibernation is not currently supported, Microsoft is continually evaluating customer feedback and is open to the possibility of adding hibernation support to Azure virtual machines in the future. In fact, Microsoft is currently investigating a feature that is similar to hibernation and is designed to provide faster startup times for virtual machines. This feature is known as "Predictive VM Scale-out" and is currently in preview. Predictive VM Scale-out analyzes usage patterns for a virtual machine and pre-warms the virtual machine before an expected increase in usage. This can significantly reduce the time it takes to start up a virtual machine, as the machine is already warmed up and ready to go when the expected increase in usage occurs. In summary, while hibernation is not currently supported for Azure virtual machines, there are other ways to save on costs and reduce startup times. Microsoft is continually working to improve its services and is always open to customer feedback, so it is possible that hibernation support may be added in the future. In the meantime, customers can take advantage of other features such as auto-shutdown and Spot VMs.

[#5]

@infocloud We don't want to force shutdown daily - that interferes with productivity, due to lost app/work-in-progress, and increased boot time. What AVD customers need is auto-hibernate, not auto-shutdown. What is preventing from this functionality from being released? This has been a feature request from the community for many years. AVD pricing is not a good value given the limitations.

[#6]

Yo, hibernation is in preview now! Just today did they add the "Hibernate" option in the portal, and though I could find no news articles on the same, if you go into your Subscription's Preview feature's page, you can find the Hibernation feature, and reach the docs from there.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/hibernate-resume

The VM sizes currently supporting it aren't too crazy either, nor do they need to be reserved or dedicated machines. The FAQs say there's no capacity assurance when unhibernating as of now though, whatever that means... But other than that, this is insane! Truly a game-changer! I know there's other reasons they're pushing on to this cloud PC agenda, but regardless, thank you so so so much, the Azure devs! Love you lots! *kisses.

[#7]

The hibernate feature went in preview officially, just this week! I've linked the docs page in an independent comment post. So happy and excited!