Azure VM Software Installation RDP

Question

I am new to the cloud and have a very basic questions that I am having a hard time understanding.

1. I have created an Azure Virtual machine and now I am installing third party software using RDP. Example: BareTail, NotePad++, a Trading Software(TWS), the goal is to replace my own Desktop/PC with the one in cloud, to help me when I am travelling.

Question: How often will i have to re-install thee s/w? Or is it a one and done? I am hoping only one time, but not sure.

Thank You.

Answer 1

In Azure, by default, if you do not attach any data disk you will have a persistent system disk and temporary swap disk.

Just do not install / do not put any data on a temporary disk and all your data will persist until you pay for your subscription or you will remove your VM with OS Disk.

Even if you remove Virtual Machine resource, Azure will not remove you OS disk, so you will able to find your data but you need to use command line tools to create a Virtual Machine from existing OS disk to recover your data, so be careful. You can use Azure Locks to protect your resources from deletion.

If you want to protect data on your disks from corruption you have also Azure Backup.

Start / Stop operations do not have any impact on your data and software if it was not placed on a temporary disk.