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Manage Azure Local VMs for multi-rack deployments (preview)

Applies to: Multi-rack deployments of Azure Local 2511 and later

This article describes how to manage Azure Local virtual machines (VMs) enabled by Azure Arc for multi-rack deployments. The procedures to start, stop, restart, and delete an Azure Local VM, and manage guest management are detailed.

Important

This feature is currently in PREVIEW. See the Supplemental Terms of Use for Microsoft Azure Previews for legal terms that apply to Azure features that are in beta, preview, or otherwise not yet released into general availability.

Prerequisites

  • Access to a multi-rack deployment of Azure Local.
  • On the Azure Local Overview page, find the custom location of the instance.
  • One or more Azure Local VMs running on your Azure Local instance. For more information, see Create Azure Local virtual machines.
  • The Azure Local VM must have access to public network connectivity to enable guest management.

Verify guest management

When you enable guest management on an Azure Local VM, the Azure Connected Machine agent installs on the VM. You use the Azure Connected Machine agent to manage Azure Local VM extensions on your VM.

Note

Enable guest management at VM creation. You can't enable it after the VM is created.

Follow these steps to verify that guest management is enabled in the Azure portal:

  1. Go to the Azure portal.

  2. Go to Your Azure Local > Virtual machines, and then select the VM on which you enabled guest management.

  3. On the Overview page, on the Properties tab, go to Configuration. Guest management should show Enabled (connected).

    Screenshot of the Azure portal that shows the area for verifying that guest management is enabled.

View VM properties

To view VM properties for your Azure Local instance, follow these steps in the Azure portal:

  1. Go to the Azure Local resource, and then go to Virtual machines.

  2. In the list of virtual machines, select the name of the VM whose properties you want to view.

    Screenshot of a virtual machine selected from the list of virtual machines.

  3. On the Overview page, select the Properties tab to view the properties of your VM.

    Screenshot of the properties of a selected Azure Local virtual machine.

Start a VM

To start a VM, follow these steps in the Azure portal for your Azure Local instance:

  1. Go to the Azure Local resource, and then go to Virtual machines.

  2. In the list of virtual machines, select a VM that isn't running and that you want to start.

  3. On the Overview page for the VM, on the command bar, select Start.

    Screenshot of the button for starting a virtual machine on the overview page.

  4. On the confirmation dialog, select Yes.

  5. Verify that the VM started.

Restart a VM

To restart a VM, follow these steps in Azure portal for your Azure Local instance:

  1. Go to the Azure Local resource, and then go to Virtual machines.

  2. In the list of virtual machines, select the VM that's stopped and that you want to restart.

  3. On the Overview page for the VM, on the command bar, select Restart.

    Screenshot of the button for restarting a virtual machine on the overview page.

  4. On the confirmation dialog, select Yes.

  5. Verify that the VM restarted.

Stop a VM

To stop a VM, follow these steps in the Azure portal for your Azure Local instance:

  1. Go to the Azure Local resource, and then go to Virtual machines.

  2. In the list of virtual machines, select a VM that's running and that you want to stop.

  3. On the Overview page for the VM, on the command bar, select Stop.

    Screenshot of the button for stopping a virtual machine on the overview page.

  4. On the confirmation dialog, select Yes.

  5. Verify that the VM stopped.

Delete a VM

Deleting a VM doesn't delete all the resources associated with the VM. For example, it doesn't delete the data disks or the network interfaces associated with the VM. You need to locate and delete these resources separately.

To delete a VM, follow these steps in the Azure portal for your Azure Local instance:

  1. Go to the Azure Local resource, and then go to Virtual machines.

  2. In the list of virtual machines, select the VM that you want to remove from your system.

  3. On the Overview page for the VM, on the command bar, select Delete.

  4. On the confirmation dialog, select Yes.

    Screenshot of the warning for deleting a virtual machine.

  5. Go to the resource group where this VM was deployed. Verify that the VM is removed from the list of resources in the resource group.

  6. Locate the associated resources, such as the network interfaces and data disks, and delete them. You might need to select Show hidden types to view the resources associated with this VM that weren't deleted.

    Screenshot of hidden types of resources associated with a virtual machine.

Change the local account password

Follow these steps to change the local account passwords for an Azure Local VM deployed on your Azure Local instance. The steps are different for Windows and Linux VMs.

Change the local account password for Windows VMs

  1. Sign in to the Azure Local VM.

  2. Run the following Azure PowerShell command:

    # Define the username
$username = "AccountName"

# Prompt the user to enter the new password
$newPassword = Read-Host -AsSecureString "Enter the new password for $username"

# Prompt the user to re-enter the new password for verification
$verifyPassword = Read-Host -AsSecureString "Re-enter the new password for verification"

# Convert the secure strings to plain text for comparison
$plainPassword = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto([Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($newPassword))
$plainVerifyPassword = [Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto([Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($verifyPassword))

# Check if the passwords match, and change the password if they match. Fail if the passwords don't match.
if ($plainPassword -eq $plainVerifyPassword) {
    $account = [ADSI]"WinNT://./$username,user"
    $account.SetPassword($plainPassword)
    $account.SetInfo()

    Write-Host "Password for user $username has been reset successfully." -ForegroundColor Green
} else {
    Write-Host "The passwords do not match. Please try again." -ForegroundColor Red
}

Change the local account password for Linux VMs

If Bash is in a different directory, make sure you change the #!/bin/bash line accordingly.

  1. Sign in to the Azure Local VM.

  2. Go to the folder where Bash is installed and run the following script:

    #!/bin/bash

# Define the username
username="AccountName"

# Prompt the user to enter the new password
echo -n "Enter the new password for $username: "
read -s newPassword
echo

# Prompt the user to re-enter the new password for verification
echo -n "Re-enter the new password for verification: "
read -s verifyPassword
echo

# Check if the passwords match
if [ "$newPassword" == "$verifyPassword" ]; then
    # Reset the password for the local account
    echo "$username:$newPassword" | sudo chpasswd
    echo -e "\e[32mPassword for user $username has been reset successfully.\e[0m"
else
    echo -e "\e[31mThe passwords do not match. Please try again.\e[0m"
fi

Change cores and memory

To change cores and memory, follow these steps in Azure portal for your Azure Local instance:

  1. Go to your Azure Local resource, and then go to Virtual machines.

  2. In the list of VMs, select and go to the VM whose cores and memory you want to modify.

    Note

    You can't change the VM CPU and memory of a running VM. You need to stop the VM and then update the CPU and memory.

  3. Under Settings, select Size. Edit the CPU cores or Memory (MB) values to change the cores or the memory size for the VM. For memory, only the size can be changed. You can't change the memory type after a VM is created.

    Screenshot of Size settings associated with a virtual machine.

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