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Migrate an Azure Collector OS Disk from Standard HDD to Standard SSD🔗

Microsoft has announced the retirement of Standard HDD OS disks for Azure virtual machines. When the retirement date is reached, Microsoft will automatically migrate any remaining Standard HDD OS disks to Standard SSD on your behalf. While this automatic migration is intended to be non-disruptive, proactively completing the migration yourself gives you control over the timing and lets you validate that your XDR Collector continues to operate normally after the change.

We recommend completing this migration during a scheduled maintenance window rather than waiting for Microsoft's automatic migration to occur.

For the latest retirement timeline and official guidance from Microsoft, see Convert the disk type of an Azure managed disk.

Important

This procedure covers the OS disk only. If your collector also has a data disk attached (the 200G volume at /dev/sdc), that disk type can be changed using the same process outlined in Step 3 below after the OS disk migration is complete and validated.

Prerequisites🔗

Make sure the following prerequisites are met:

  • Either the Owner role or the Contributor plus User Access Administrator roles on the subscription.
  • A scheduled maintenance window for the collector, since the disk type change requires the VM to be stopped and deallocated.
  • Familiarity with the Azure portal.

Migration Steps🔗

  1. Open the collector VM in the Azure portal and identify the attached OS disk.

  2. Create a snapshot backup of the OS disk before making any changes. For instructions, see Create a snapshot of a VHD.

    Note

    Log collection will be interrupted in the next step while the VM is stopped. Plan this during a low-activity window or notify stakeholders in advance.

  3. Change the OS disk type from Standard HDD to Standard SSD. For instructions, see Change the type of an individual managed disk.

    Important

    The disk type change requires the VM to be in a Stopped (deallocated) state. A VM that is only stopped still retains its compute resources and the change will not be available. Follow the Microsoft documentation above to stop, deallocate, change the disk type, and restart the VM.

  4. Validate collector operation after the VM is back online:

    • In XDR, go to Integrations > Data Collectors and confirm the collector status is Connected.
    • Verify log ingestion has resumed by checking for recent events from devices sending syslog to this collector.
    • If the collector does not reconnect, see Access Troubleshooting Console and review the Azure VM boot diagnostics.

Rollback🔗

If validation fails, use the snapshot created in Step 2 to restore the OS disk. Refer to Microsoft's documentation on restoring a VM from a snapshot for detailed steps.