Azure VM name changes

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Will changing the Azure VM computer name after initially choosing a different name during creation have any adverse effects?

@Donald-Muncy , I hope all is well. The short answer is that renaming a VM once it is deployed in Azure is not supported.

The only way to do so is to delete the original VM after backing up its configuration and redeploying it again with a new name if that is indeed what you want/need to do.

You can take a look at this article for how to do so from PowerShell:

https://www.whatsupgold.com/blog/how-to-rename-an-azure-vm-using-powershell-a-step-by-step-guide

You can rename the VM from within the O/S while it is running, just like any other machine (physical or VM), but that is not the same as renaming the VM object itself in Azure.

Good Luck !!!

Cheers,

Adam

What issues could arise from renaming the VM within the OS and leaving the VM object named differently?

@Donald-Muncy , I hope all is well. The same kind of issues that occur if you rename a machine that is not in Azure. For instance, if you have scripts that reference that machine by name, instead of IP address or some other unique identifier (MAC Address, GUID, etc...) then they will break and have to have the new name of the machine added to work properly.

If you have mapped drives or processes that are set/run based on the machine name, these would have to be updated.

Basically, anything that would reference the old machine name would have to be updated to reference the new machine name.

Cheers,

Adam

I changed the name and did not notice any difference. I questioned whether it was a good idea to change the OS name after I started configuring a backup policy. Everything looked like it was working correctly. It is almost as if the VM object in Azure is a container for the VM image itself.

Thank you