Creating Azure Snapshots -- from http://www.westerndevs.com/azure-snapshots/

azure_snapshot.ps1

# Set variable values
$resourceGroupName = "SnapshotDemo"
$location = "West US"
$vmName = "SnapshotDemo"
$vmSize = "Standard_A1"
$vnetName = "SnapshotDemo"
$nicName = "snapshotdemo98"
$dnsName = "snapshotdemo"
$diskName = "SnapshotDemo"
$storageAccount = "snapshotdemo5062"
$storageAccountKey = "<Insert Storage Account Key Here>"
$subscriptionName = "Visual Studio Enterprise with MSDN"
$publicIpName = "SnapshotDemo"

$diskBlob = "$diskName.vhd"
$backupDiskBlob = "$diskName-backup.vhd"
$vhdUri = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/vhds/$diskBlob"
$subnetIndex = 0

# login to Azure
Add-AzureRmAccount
Set-AzureRMContext -SubscriptionName $subscriptionName

# create backup disk if it doesn't exist
Stop-AzureRmVM -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Name $vmName -Force -Verbose

$ctx = New-AzureStorageContext -StorageAccountName $storageAccount -StorageAccountKey $storageAccountKey
$blobCount = Get-AzureStorageBlob -Container vhds -Context $ctx | where { $_.Name -eq $backupDiskBlob } | Measure | % { $_.Count }

if ($blobCount -eq 0)
{
  $copy = Start-AzureStorageBlobCopy -SrcBlob $diskBlob -SrcContainer "vhds" -DestBlob $backupDiskBlob -DestContainer "vhds" -Context $ctx -Verbose
  $status = $copy | Get-AzureStorageBlobCopyState 
  $status 

  While($status.Status -eq "Pending"){
    $status = $copy | Get-AzureStorageBlobCopyState 
    Start-Sleep 10
    $status
  }
}

# delete VM
Remove-AzureRmVM -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Name $vmName -Force -Verbose
Remove-AzureStorageBlob -Blob $diskBlob -Container "vhds" -Context $ctx -Verbose
Remove-AzureRmNetworkInterface -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Force -Verbose
Remove-AzureRmPublicIpAddress -Name $publicIpName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Force -Verbose

# copy backup disk
$copy = Start-AzureStorageBlobCopy -SrcBlob $backupDiskBlob -SrcContainer "vhds" -DestBlob $diskBlob -DestContainer "vhds" -Context $ctx -Verbose
$status = $copy | Get-AzureStorageBlobCopyState 
$status 

While($status.Status -eq "Pending"){
  $status = $copy | Get-AzureStorageBlobCopyState 
  Start-Sleep 10
  $status
}

# recreate VM
$vnet = Get-AzureRmVirtualNetwork -Name $vnetName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName

$pip = New-AzureRmPublicIpAddress -Name $publicIpName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -DomainNameLabel $dnsName -Location $location -AllocationMethod Dynamic -Verbose
$nic = New-AzureRmNetworkInterface -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Location $location -SubnetId $vnet.Subnets[$subnetIndex].Id -PublicIpAddressId $pip.Id -Verbose
$vm = New-AzureRmVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize $vmSize
$vm = Add-AzureRmVMNetworkInterface -VM $vm -Id $nic.Id
$vm = Set-AzureRmVMOSDisk -VM $vm -Name $diskName -VhdUri $vhdUri -CreateOption attach -Windows

New-AzureRmVM -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -Location $location -VM $vm -Verbose

amazing script ... thanks for sharing....

i have one question. what is the easiest way to get the values that we need to incorporate in variables ?