Step 10 — Cleanup (Avoid Ongoing Charges)
In this final step, you will remove the Azure resources created for this lab. This prevents unexpected charges and reinforces good cloud hygiene.
Cost awareness and cleanup are real-world responsibilities — not optional extras.
1. Stop (Deallocate) the Virtual Machines
- Open the Azure Portal
- Navigate to Virtual Machines
- Select each VM created for the lab
- Select Stop (Deallocate)
In Azure, a VM must be deallocated to stop compute charges. Simply shutting down the OS inside the VM is not sufficient.
Deallocating VMs stops compute billing, but storage and networking resources may still incur costs.
2. Delete the Resource Group (Recommended)
The safest and cleanest way to remove everything is to delete the entire resource group.
- Navigate to Resource Groups
- Select the lab resource group (for example:
ad-lab-rg) - Select Delete resource group
- Type the resource group name to confirm
- Select Delete
Deleting the resource group removes all associated VMs, disks, public IPs, network interfaces, and virtual networks.
3. Verify All Resources Are Removed
- No virtual machines remain
- No managed disks remain
- No public IP addresses remain
- The resource group no longer exists
Azure billing stops only when all billable resources are deleted.
Optional: Keep the Environment
If you plan to continue experimenting or reuse this lab:
- Deallocate VMs when not actively using them
- Monitor costs in Azure Cost Management
- Delete the resource group once finished
Many engineers keep labs temporarily, but very few leave them running indefinitely.
Lab Complete
If you completed this lab end-to-end, you built and validated a functional Active Directory environment using real infrastructure and real workflows.
These are the same foundational skills used daily by IT professionals.
You now understand how identity, authentication, DNS, group membership, and policy work together — not just how to click through a wizard.