Azure ARC Servers - Schedule machines restart with tags

This repo is a set of Runbooks that allows you to schedule weekly Azure ARC Servers restarts by simply applying a POLICY_RESTART tag on Azure ARC Servers.

• Azure ARC Servers - Schedule machines restart with tags
• Global Picture
  • POLICY_RESTART syntax
  • Prerequisites
  • Runbooks details
• Authors

Global Picture

Shared Runbooks need the following initial bricks to work:

• An Automation Account
  • The Automation account must use a System-assigned Managed Identity
  • The System-assigned Managed Identity must have Contributor role
    • assigned on all subscriptions where Azure ARC Servers can be found
    • assigned to the Resource Group where the Automation Account is located

POLICY_RESTART syntax

Here is the syntax to follow for the POLICY_RESTART tag: DaysOfWeek;rebootTime

You can provide multiple days but they must be comma separated.

Examples:

• Server1 - POLICY_RESTART= Sunday;11:00 PM will be restart every Sunday, at 11:00 PM.
• Server2 - POLICY_RESTART= Monday,Thursday;01:00 AM will be restarted every Monday and Thursday at 01:00 AM.
• Server3 - POLICY_RESTART= Wednesday,Saturday;07:30 AM will be restarted every Wednesday and Saturday at 07:30 AM.
• Server4 - POLICY_RESTART= Friday;04:00 AM will be restarted every Friday at 04:00 AM.

Portal screenshot:

Prerequisites

Automation Account must have the following modules installed:

• Az.ResourceGraph, >= 0.11.0
• Az.ConnectedMachine >= 0.2.0

Note: Runbooks must be deployed using Powershell Runtime v5.1

Runbooks details

There is a set of 3 Runbooks that must be deployed in the Automation Account:

• ArcServers-ScheduleRestartWithTags must be scheduled (at least) daily. Searches for all machines with the POLICY_RESTART tag and creates reboot schedules with ArcServers-RestartMachine Runbook.
• ArcServers-RestartMachine restarts a given Azure ARC Server. To perform the restart, the runbook deploy a CustomScript (linux machines) or CustomScriptExtension (windows machines) extensions on Azure ARC Server.
• ArcServers-CleanUpCustomScriptExtension must be scheduled (at least) daily. Removes old CustomScript (linux machines) or CustomScriptExtension (windows machines) extensions on Azure ARC Servers.

Portal screenshot when Runbooks are deployed to the Automation Account:

Remember: ArcServers-ScheduleRestartWithTags and ArcServers-CleanUpCustomScriptExtension Runbooks must be scheduled daily.

Authors

David Santiago & Nicolas Ghirardi