Resizing Azure VM image

Question

We're planning to sign up for the Azure VM trial as soon as it comes out of preview. In the meantime however, can someone please clarify the following question?

If we create a 'Medium' (Medium VM (2 x 1.6GHz CPU, 3.5GB RAM) VM instance, but then later realise we need more power, can we resize the 'Medium' instance to 'Large' or 'Extra Large' without affecting the data on that instance (e.g. installed software etc)?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, you can.

You can do it either from the Management Portal, or by calling the Update Role action on the REST API. You can further automate this process using REST API Calls.

UPDATE

When I reference REST API Calls, I really mean REST API Calls. It is just an HTTP(S) Call, which can be execute from a platform/language of your choice, which do have support for making HTTPS calls. Windows Azure PowerShell management cmdlets is just a bit that has these calls. Fluent Management open source project is another implementation in C# and the Fluent API.