Azure Virtual Machine FAQ-Next

What is the default user name and password on the virtual machine?

The image provided by Azure does not have a pre-configured user name and password. When you use one of these images to create a virtual machine, you need to provide a user name and password to log on to the VM.

Tips

If you have forgotten your user name or password and installed the VM agent, you can install and use the VMAccess extension to resolve the issue.

Additional details are as follows:

· For a Linux image, if you use the management portal, "Azureuser" is the default user name, but you can change the user name by using "from library" instead of "quick create" to create the virtual machine. When using from library, you can also decide to log in using a password, SSH key, or both. A user account is an unprivileged user with the "sudo" access permission to run privileged commands. The root account has been disabled.

· For a Windows image, a user name and password are required to create the VM. Account has administrator-level access.

Can Azure run antivirus on a virtual machine?

Azure provides several options for your antivirus solution, but you need to manage it. For example, you might want to use a separate subscription for your antimalware software, and you need to decide when to run the scan and install the update. You can add a VM extension for Microsoft antimalware (preview), Symantec Endpoint Protection, or TrendMicro deep Security Agent When you create a Windows virtual machine or later Anti-virus support. Symantec and TrendMicro extensions allow you to use a free limited-time trial subscription or use an existing enterprise subscription. Microsoft antimalware (preview version) is free of charge. For more information, see one of the following:

· How to install and configure Symantec Endpoint Protection on an Azure VM

· How to install and configure Trend Micro deep Security as a service on an Azure VM

· Deploy an antimalware solution on an Azure virtual machine

What options are available for backup and disaster recovery?

For Windows virtual machines, one option is to use Azure Backup to back up files and folders in the guest operating system. For more information, see Azure Backup Overview.

The option for Linux and Windows virtual machines is to use the snapshot feature of Blob storage. If you use this option, you need to shut down the VM before you make any operations that depend on the blob snapshot. This saves pending data writes and maintains a consistent state of the file system.

How does Azure charge my VMS?

Once you've started your vm,azure, you'll start charging hourly rates based on the size of the VM and the operating system. Billing occurs when the VM status is running or stopped, but is not billed when the VM status is stopped (freed). For less than an hour, Azure will only be billed based on the number of minutes used. If you create a VM with a VM image that contains specific preinstalled software, additional software charges are also charged by the hour. Azure has a separate charge for storage of the VM's operating system and data disks (temporary disk storage is free).

After you close (release) or delete a VM through the management portal or Azure PowerShell, the VM is no longer billed.

Note

If you use an operating system command or feature to shut down a VM, it will remain in the assigned state and Azure will continue to be billed based on the calculation time.

Does Azure restart my VMS for maintenance?

Yes, Azure sometimes restarts your VMS while maintaining updates within the Azure Data Center recurring plan. Unplanned maintenance events also occur when Azure detects serious hardware problems that affect your VMS. In this case, Azure automatically migrates the VMS to a healthy physical computer and restarts the VMS.

If you have one or more VMS deployed as a single instance (not grouped into an availability set), Azure sends an e-mail message to the subscription's service administrator at least 1 weeks prior to the scheduled maintenance, as each VM may be restarted at the same time during the update. Applications running on the VM may experience downtime.

If you group two or more similar VMS into one availability set to provide redundancy, you can ensure that at least one VM remains available during planned or unplanned maintenance. For this configuration, Azure can also guarantee a certain level of VM availability. For more information, see Managing the availability of virtual machines.

Azure Virtual Machine FAQ-Next