Guide

Sandbox lifecycle

Stop a sandbox when work pauses, resume it when work returns, and tune idle policies so compute matches active workload time.

Lifecycle settings control when sandbox compute runs. Stopped sandboxes keep disk state and stop compute billing.

Lifecycle at a glance

A sandbox has two core states: Running and Stopped. When sandbox is created it starts in running state. When sandbox is stopping, it snapshots disk and memory (optional) before it enters stopped state. While resuming it returns to running state under a second. A lifecycle policy can stop an idle sandbox and/or delete stopped sandbox after a set interval.

Disabled state

Sandboxes can enter a third state, Disabled. A disabled sandbox cannot start until it is re-enabled.

Prepare a sandbox

Create a sandbox and capture its ID into $ID. Every CLI snippet on this page acts on $ID.

Bash

aca sandbox create \
  --disk ubuntu \
  --label name=lifecycle-demo

ID=$(aca sandbox list -l name=lifecycle-demo -o json | jq -r '.[0].id')

echo "$ID"

PowerShell

aca sandbox create `
  --disk ubuntu `
  --label name=lifecycle-demo

$ID = (aca sandbox list -l name=lifecycle-demo -o json | ConvertFrom-Json)[0].id

$ID

SDK

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.containerapps.sandbox import SandboxGroupClient, endpoint_for_region

client = SandboxGroupClient(
    endpoint_for_region("eastus2"),
    DefaultAzureCredential(),
    subscription_id=SUBSCRIPTION_ID,
    resource_group=RG,
    sandbox_group=GROUP,
)

sandbox = client.begin_create_sandbox(
    disk="ubuntu",
    labels={"name": "lifecycle-demo"},
).result()

print(sandbox.sandbox_id)

Set lifecycle policy

Set auto-suspend to pause an idle sandbox after a timeout. Auto-delete cleans up a sandbox after a longer interval.

1. In the ACA Sandboxes portal, open your sandbox group.
2. Select Sandboxes.
3. Select the sandbox, then select Lifecycle.
4. Set Auto-suspend to the idle timeout you want, such as 60 seconds.
5. Select Save.

Bash

aca sandbox lifecycle set --id "$ID" --auto-suspend enable --mode Memory --idle-timeout-seconds 60

PowerShell

aca sandbox lifecycle set --id $ID --auto-suspend enable --mode Memory --idle-timeout-seconds 60

SDK

from azure.containerapps.sandbox import (
    AutoDeletePolicy,
    AutoSuspendPolicy,
    LifecyclePolicy,
)

sandbox.set_lifecycle_policy(LifecyclePolicy(
    auto_suspend=AutoSuspendPolicy(enabled=True, interval=60, mode="Memory"),
    auto_delete=AutoDeletePolicy(enabled=True, delete_interval_seconds=600),
))

Stop a sandbox

Stop a sandbox to pause compute while keeping its disk state.

1. In the ACA Sandboxes portal, open your sandbox group.
2. Select Sandboxes.
3. Select the sandbox row.
4. Select Stop.
5. Wait for the state to change to Stopped.

Bash

aca sandbox create --disk ubuntu --label name=lifecycle-demo

aca sandbox stop -l name=lifecycle-demo

PowerShell

aca sandbox create --disk ubuntu --label name=lifecycle-demo

aca sandbox stop -l name=lifecycle-demo

SDK

import time

sandbox.stop()
time.sleep(3)
print(client.get_sandbox_client(sandbox.sandbox_id).get().state)

Resume a sandbox

Resume a stopped sandbox before running commands in it.

1. In the ACA Sandboxes portal, open your sandbox group.
2. Select Sandboxes.
3. Select the stopped sandbox.
4. Select Resume.
5. Wait for the state to return to Running.

Bash

aca sandbox resume --id "$ID"

aca sandbox exec --id "$ID" -c "uptime"

PowerShell

aca sandbox resume --id $ID

aca sandbox exec --id $ID -c "uptime"

SDK

sandbox.resume()
sandbox.wait_for_running(timeout=120)

result = sandbox.exec("uptime")
print(result.stdout.strip())

Read lifecycle state

Use the sandbox state to decide whether to stop, resume, or run work.

1. In the ACA Sandboxes portal, open your sandbox group.
2. Select Sandboxes.
3. Review the State column.
4. Select a sandbox for detailed lifecycle state.

Bash

aca sandbox get --id "$ID" -o json | jq -r '.state'

PowerShell

(aca sandbox get --id $ID -o json | ConvertFrom-Json).state

SDK

print(client.get_sandbox_client(sandbox.sandbox_id).get().state)

sandbox.ensure_running()
print("ok")

Related

Create sandboxes

Boot a sandbox before tuning its lifecycle.

Learn more →

Snapshots

Capture state before branching or rollback.

Learn more →

Volumes

Keep shared data outside sandbox compute.

Learn more →