Deploy automatically to virtual machines in Windows Azure using Visual Studio Release Management

This post details the configuration of Visual Studio Release Management for continuous deployment to virtual machines in Windows Azure. It outlines the steps for setting up a proxy Release Management Deployer, installing Azure PowerShell cmdlets and the .NET SDK, configuring Azure credentials, and linking subscriptions. It also explains how to configure Release Management servers and components for Azure VMs, including starting and stopping VMs as part of release stages and managing drop location access. The post provides specific examples of release template configurations for development, QA, and production stages, highlighting the use of configuration variables for Azure VM actions.