Using the Azure Portal

Using the Azure Portal

DRE is suitable for any type of user. However, perhaps you already have lots of IT experience and you know your way around Azure. That's when it might be interesting to know that you can also access your workspace resources through the Azure Portal. In the Azure Portal, you have a few more functionalities to your disposal, and you might be able to fix issues yourself. Your rights in the Azure portal are limited to the workspace you are a member of, of course. Also, some functionalities that you have in the regular DRE web portal are not available in the Azure Portal, e.g. connecting to a VM.
Below, we collect some of the actions you can perform in the Azure portal. Got any noteworthy new ones? Please reach out to us by posting a topic in the Community, or adding a ticket. Then we can add them to this article. Thanks!

Important: The Azure Portal is the back-end of the myDRE. Many features have been made unavailable for regular users, to ensure the integrity and safety of your resources, but it still offers a lot of possibilities to view or modify the elements that make up your workspace. Always only follow the exact steps as described in the articles on support.mydre.org and do not stray from the path. AnDREa B.V. cannot be held accountable for any damage caused by inappropriate use of the Azure Portal

Starting/deallocating Virtual Machines

Sometimes VMs get stuck, and you might be unable to deallocate them from the DRE web portal. Then, manually restarting them in the Azure Portal might just be the solution. 
  1. Log in on the http://portal.azure.com/ with your @mydre.org account.
  2. Under Resource groups you can find your workspaces.
  3. Locate your Virtual Machine (VM). This resource has the naming convention dwsxxxACRONYMServerx

  1. Check the status of the VM. If the status is Unknown, usually stopping (Press Stop at the top) and starting the VM (press Start at the top) again fixes the issue.



  1. Check whether you can log in now by going to the DRE Portal and log in as usual or straight from the Azure Portal by going to Connect (make sure your VM is on status running) and choose RDP and then Download RDP file which you can use to log in as usual.
  2. If this does not work, please create a ticket for us.

Analyzing your workspace costs

The Azure Portal can provide a detailed cost overview per workspace, which is denoted as a Resource group in the Azure portal.
  1. Log in on the Azure Portal.
  2. Locate your workspace.
  3. Find Cost analysis under Cost Management on the left-hand menu.
  4. Here you can find all the costs generated by your workspace and per individual resource (i.e. VMs or storage accounts)


Turning on/off the auto-shutdown

This is a self-service feature in the mydre.org portal, you don't necessarily need to access the Azure Portal anymore to regulate the auto-shutdown. For more information: Adjusting the auto-shutdown.
  1. Log in on the Azure Portal.
  2. Locate your workspace.
  3. Locate the VM of which you want to turn on/off the auto-shutdown. This has to be done for each individual VM.
  4. Scroll down in the left-hand menu to find Auto-shutdown under Operations.
  5. Here you can turn on or off the auto-shutdown.
  6. Press Save

BE AWARE! Turning off the auto-shutdown lets you run the virtual machine all the time. Forgetting to turn off the VM or turning the auto-shutdown function on again after use can lead to increased costs.
Here you can also:
  1. Schedule a different time for shutdown
  2. Select the time zone you are working in
  3. If a notification should be sent prior to shutdown to one or more email addresses

Blob storage

Blob storage is a relatively cheap alternative to regular data storage, and can be used for large amounts of unstructured data. Using blob storage is not as intuitive as regular storage on a drive, where 'what you see is what you get'. Its contents can only be approached using code, for example in R or Python.
Containers for your own workspaces can be created through the Azure portal. To approach the storage, you must create your own scripts and run them on a virtual machine in the DRE workspace. More information about using blob storage can be found on our applications page.
Please be aware that myDRE support for blob storage is very limited. You must carefully consider the pros and cons (e.g., redundancy, efficiency, cost benefit), and be very cautious when setting it up. It may also be necessary to become aware of possible privacy issues (see also our considerations concerning Privacy Shield). Read more on Blob storages here.

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