from: https://www.sqlchick.com/entries/2016/9/18/overview-of-azure-automation Azure Automation is a cloud service in Microsoft Azure which let you schedule execution of PowerShell cmdlets and PowerShell workflows. Azure Automation uses the concept of runbooks to execute a set of repeatable, repetitive tasks via PowerShell. Consistency in execution, reduction of errors, and of course saving time, are all key objectives - which makes DBAs and system admins happy, eh? Examples of How You Could Use Azure Automation Shut down a virtual machine in a development environment on a schedule to avoid charges when it's not being used Pause Azure SQL Data Warehouse on a schedule to avoid compute charges during the time it's not serving queries or processing data loads Check size of an Azure resource to determine if it's close to reaching its threshold for scaling up Scale Azure resources up or down on a predefined schedule Deployment of resources from Dev to Test en