# Missing Scheduled Shutdown for Non-Production Azure Virtual Machines

Canonical: https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/inefficiencies/missing-scheduled-shutdown-for-non-production-azure-virtual-machines

[Cloud Efficiency Hub](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub) 

# Missing Scheduled Shutdown for Non-Production Azure Virtual Machines

## Explanation

Non-production Azure VMs are frequently left running during off-hours despite being used only during business hours. When these instances remain active overnight or on weekends, they generate unnecessary compute spend. Azure offers built-in auto-shutdown features that allow teams to define daily stop times, retaining disk data and configurations without paying for VM runtime. Implementing scheduled shutdowns in dev/test environments is a simple, low-risk optimization that can reduce compute costs by 30-60%.

## Relevant Billing Model

Azure VMs are billed per second, with a minimum of one minute, based on:

- VM size and type

- Operating system and licensing

- Runtime duration

Note: Storage (managed disks) continues to incur charges even when the VM is stopped.

## Detection

- Identify VMs labeled or tagged as dev/test/staging

- Use Azure Monitor or Cost Management to assess usage and uptime patterns

- Detect VMs with consistent business-hours usage but 24/7 runtime

- Review VM configuration to check whether auto-shutdown is enabled

## Remediation

- Enable Azure's built-in auto-shutdown setting for applicable non-prod VMs

- Alternatively, configure shutdown/start schedules using Azure Automation or Logic Apps

- Preserve state using managed disks, snapshots, or generalized images

- Review schedules periodically to align with changing team usage

## Relevant Documentation

[Submit Feedback](https://hub.pointfive.co/inefficiencies/missing-scheduled-shutdown-for-non-production-azure-virtual-machines)

## At a glance

Reference

CER-0144

Cloud provider

Azure

Service

Azure Virtual Machines

Category

[Compute](https://www.pointfive.co/efficiency-hub/service-category/compute)

Inefficiency type

Inefficient Configuration

## Contributed by

- ### Yulia Perlis

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