Uploading a HyperV VHD into Windows Azure and creating a Virtual Instance.

I have several legacy VHDs that are taking up space on my laptop.  I decided to move one of them up to Azure to test how this would work and the potential benefits and drawbacks.  I selected a VHD that is a Windows Server 2003 running SharePoint 2007 (WSS 3.0) and SQL Server 2005.  This is a self contained configured environment.  I put together the following PowerShell script to load the VHD into Windows Azure.  In order to execute this script you must have Windows Azure cmdlets installed locally, your MSDN subscription settings saved locally, and have a Windows Azure storage account setup.

This post assumes you already have Windows Azure PowerShell installed locally with the subscription settings and a storage account setup.  If you do not have that already done, then you can view my Getting started with Microsoft Windows Azure PowerShell post for instructions on how to accomplish that.

Load VHD into Azure Storage Account

Here are the contents of my UploadVHDFile.ps1 script, which I used to upload a HyperV VHD into Windows Azure.

$moduleLocation = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Azure\PowerShell\Azure\Azure.psd1"
$publishSettingsLocation = "<C:\Users\<UserProfile>\Downloads\<SubscriptionName>-credentials.publishsettings>"
$subscriptionName = "<Visual Studio Premium with MSDN>"
$storageAccountName = "<StorageAccountName>"

$diskName = "<disk name>"

 

# Source VHD
$vhdsource = '<the complete path of the VHD file example: c:\vhds\myimage.vhd>'

 

# Upload Location
$vhddestination= 'http://' + $storageAccountName + '.blob.core.windows.net/vhds/' + $diskName + '.vhd'

Import-Module $moduleLocation
Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile $publishSettingsLocation
    
Add-AzureVhd -LocalFilePath $vhdsource -Destination $vhddestination
    
Add-AzureDisk -OS Windows -MediaLocation $destosvhd -DiskName $diskName

To execute the script file,  ...

1. I open the Windows Azure PowerShell console as Administrator. 
2. I change directory, CD, to the folder containing the script.  Example CD c:\MyScripts
3. I enter in the script filename .\UploadVHDFile.ps1

After serveral minutes / hours, the new DISK will be loaded into your Azure storage account.

 

Create Virtual Machine from Disk

Here are the contents of my CreateVirtualMachine.ps1 script file which I used to create a Virtual Machine from the VHD that I loaded into Windows Azure.

 

$moduleLocation = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Azure\PowerShell\Azure\Azure.psd1"
$publishSettingsLocation = "<C:\Users\<UserProfile>\Downloads\<SubscriptionName>-credentials.publishsettings>"
$subscriptionName = "<Visual Studio Premium with MSDN>"
$storageAccountName = "<StorageAccountName>"

$diskName = "<disk name>"
$location = 'East US'

 

# Has to be a unique name. Verify with Test-AzureService
$serviceName = "<UNIQUE SERVICE NAME>"

# Server Name
$vmname1 = "<MY VM NAME>"

    
$migratedVM = New-AzureVMConfig -Name $vmname1 -DiskName $diskName -InstanceSize 'Medium' |
     Add-AzureEndpoint -Name 'Remote Desktop' -LocalPort 3389 -Protocol tcp

New-AzureVM -ServiceName $serviceName -Location $location -VMs $migratedVM

 

To execute the script file,  ...

1. I open the Windows Azure PowerShell console as Administrator. 
2. I change directory, CD, to the folder containing the script.  Example CD c:\MyScripts
3. I enter in the script filename .\CreateVirtualMachine.ps1

 

 

After a couple minutes, the new virtual machine will be available for you to use in Windows Azure.

 

 

Benefits and Drawbacks

The huge benefit is that you are able to make a virtual machine more accessible for your use.  You can add more resources be changing the instance size.  You can free up space on your local harddrive.  One additional plus, is that you are able to load images into Windows Azure that are no longer natively supported through their website, such as Windows Server 2003.  The downside is that you now incur a cost.  There is a fee just for storing an image out in Windows Azure.  Plus, you have to pay a cost for the time the Virtual Machine is allocated.   And to be clear, an instance that is Shut Down through windows is still allocated. You must use the Windows Azure website or PowerShell console to stopped the instance so that you don't get charged.