Trying to auto-start my VM

Question

I'm trying to setup an auto start for my Virtual Machine in Azure at 4:00PM Arizona time. However, it isn't working. What am I doing wrong? I'm not sure if the timezone is the issue or the interval is - I'm super new to Azure.

Answer 1

Hi Veer Mayo,

For the first error message:

Provide a start date and time, which has a maximum of 49 years in the future and must follow the ISO 8601 date time specification in UTC date time format, but without a UTC offset: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss if you select a time zone -or- YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ if you don't select a time zone So for example, if you want September 18, 2024 at 2:00 PM, then specify "2024-09-18T8:00:00" and select a time zone such as Pacific Standard Time. Or, specify "2024-09-18T8:00:00Z" without a time zone. Important: If you don't select a time zone, you must add the letter "Z" at the end without any spaces. This "Z" signifies a UTC time format with a UTC offset. If you select a time zone value, you don't need to add a "Z" to the end of your Start time value. If you do, Azure Logic Apps ignores the time zone value because the "Z" signifies a UTC time format.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/connectors/connectors-native-recurrence?tabs=consumption
Second error if your User Id is in a different Tenant than the VM you get an Authorization (401) error (InvalidAuthenticationTokenTenant).

Change Connection:

1. Enable Managed Identities for the Logic App
2. Add a new role assignment in the VMs Access Control (IAM) section for the Logic App
3. Update the Start virtual machine task in the Logic App to connect using the managed identity
   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/405123/azure-logic-app-azure-vm-connector-invalidauthenti

Another way: Connect with Service Principal: this option will execute this Logic App using a specific Service Principal and strongly recommended.

• if you want to create a Service Principal just follow the steps here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/howto-create-service-principal-portal
• Don't forget to assign permission to allow this Service Principal on the Resource Group to manage virtual machines. You can use the built-in role Virtual Machine Contributor.

This document gives you a detailed explanation on how to create Stop/Start VMs on Azure using Logic Apps: https://github.com/fabioharams/stopstart-logicapps
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/start-stop-vms/deploy

Hope this helps!