Azure AVD Scaling Plan - "excludeFromScaling" Tag Not Working

Question

Azure AVD Scaling Plan - "excludeFromScaling" Tag Not Working

Himanshu Garg 0

I have an AVD Scaling Plan configured to shut down VMs after 15 minutes user log off. My setup includes four host pools, each containing 10 VMs.

To ensure that VM7 in Hostpool02 runs 24/7, I applied the ExcludeFromScaling tag as per Microsoft documentation (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/autoscale-create-assign-scaling-plan?tabs=portal%2Cintune&pivots=power-management) -

Key: ExcludeFromScaling

Value: true

Key: excludeFromScaling

Value:

Despite this, the AVD Scaling Plan still stops VM7 after the idle timeout. Steps I have already taken:

Verified the tag is correctly applied in Azure VM settings.

2.. Checked Azure Logs, but VM7 still follows the scaling schedule.

3.Tested on multiple VMs, and the issue persists.

Please assist in troubleshooting this issue and confirm if there are any known limitations or workarounds.

JimmySalian-2011 42,511 Reputation points

2025-04-03T21:50:07.2266667+00:00

Hi,

What is the capacity threshold setting and Minimum percentage of hosts? As this will play part of the configuration in Autoscale, so you will have to identify the % and actual usage to see what is causing this shutdown.

Autoscale will only shut down VMs if all existing user sessions (active and disconnected) in the host pool can be consolidated to fewer VMs without exceeding the capacity threshold.

Note, Autoscale can turn off all VMs in a host pool if the minimum percentage of hosts is set to 0% and there are no user sessions on the session hosts in the host pool.

So I suggest you to check all the ramp off settings and check the policies.

Please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful

If this answer helped you please mark it as "Verified" so other users can reference it.

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JimmySalian-2011 42,511 Reputation points

2025-04-03T21:50:07.2266667+00:00

Hi,

What is the capacity threshold setting and Minimum percentage of hosts? As this will play part of the configuration in Autoscale, so you will have to identify the % and actual usage to see what is causing this shutdown.

Autoscale will only shut down VMs if all existing user sessions (active and disconnected) in the host pool can be consolidated to fewer VMs without exceeding the capacity threshold.

Note, Autoscale can turn off all VMs in a host pool if the minimum percentage of hosts is set to 0% and there are no user sessions on the session hosts in the host pool.

So I suggest you to check all the ramp off settings and check the policies.

Please don't forget to upvote and Accept as answer if the reply is helpful

If this answer helped you please mark it as "Verified" so other users can reference it.

Answer 1

Hi Himanshu Garg,

Hope you've set "excludeFromScaling" as the tag name field on the respective VMs in the host pool to overcome Auto scale operations.

Add the Exclusion tag in the scaling plan settings under properties configuring in the Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) scaling plan where specific tags applied to virtual machines (VMs). This ensures that VMs with these tags are excluded from scaling operations.

Navigate to Azure Virtual Desktop > Select Scaling Plans and then choose the relevant scaling plan > Under Properties, locate the field for "Exclusion Tags" > Enter the tag name that matches the tags applied to VMs you want excluded > Save and Apply.

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Azure AVD Scaling Plan - "excludeFromScaling" Tag Not Working

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