diff -rup cloud-init-18.3/cloudinit/sources/DataSourceAzure.py cloud-init-18.3-new/cloudinit/sources/DataSourceAzure.py
--- cloud-init-18.3/cloudinit/sources/DataSourceAzure.py	2018-06-20 05:49:26.000000000 +0530
+++ cloud-init-18.3-new/cloudinit/sources/DataSourceAzure.py	2018-09-20 21:06:26.700264085 +0530
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 DS_NAME = 'Azure'
 DEFAULT_METADATA = {"instance-id": "iid-AZURE-NODE"}
-AGENT_START = ['service', 'walinuxagent', 'start']
+AGENT_START = ['systemctl', 'start', 'waagent']
 AGENT_START_BUILTIN = "__builtin__"
 BOUNCE_COMMAND_IFUP = [
     'sh', '-xc',
diff -rup cloud-init-18.3/cloudinit/sources/helpers/azure.py cloud-init-18.3-new/cloudinit/sources/helpers/azure.py
--- cloud-init-18.3/cloudinit/sources/helpers/azure.py	2018-06-20 05:49:26.000000000 +0530
+++ cloud-init-18.3-new/cloudinit/sources/helpers/azure.py	2018-09-20 22:29:32.376130787 +0530
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import re
 import socket
 import struct
 import time
+import configobj
 
 from cloudinit.net import dhcp
 from cloudinit import stages
@@ -16,9 +17,10 @@ from xml.etree import ElementTree
 
 from cloudinit import url_helper
 from cloudinit import util
+from io import StringIO
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
+NETWORKD_LEASES_DIR = '/run/systemd/netif/leases'
 
 @contextmanager
 def cd(newdir):
@@ -281,6 +283,32 @@ class WALinuxAgentShim(object):
         return dhcp_options
 
     @staticmethod
+    def networkd_parse_lease(content):
+        """Parse a systemd lease file content as in /run/systemd/netif/leases/
+        Parse this (almost) ini style file even though it says:
+          # This is private data. Do not parse.
+        Simply return a dictionary of key/values."""
+
+        return dict(configobj.ConfigObj(StringIO(content), list_values=False))
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def networkd_load_leases(leases_d=None):
+        """Return a dictionary of dictionaries representing each lease
+        found in lease_d.i
+        The top level key will be the filename, which is typically the ifindex."""
+
+        if leases_d is None:
+            leases_d = NETWORKD_LEASES_DIR
+
+        ret = {}
+        if not os.path.isdir(leases_d):
+            return ret
+        for lfile in os.listdir(leases_d):
+            ret[lfile] = WALinuxAgentShim.networkd_parse_lease(
+                util.load_file(os.path.join(leases_d, lfile)))
+        return ret
+
+    @staticmethod
     def _get_value_from_dhcpoptions(dhcp_options):
         if dhcp_options is None:
             return None
@@ -306,8 +334,9 @@ class WALinuxAgentShim(object):
             # Option-245 stored in /run/cloud-init/dhclient.hooks/<ifc>.json
             # a dhclient exit hook that calls cloud-init-dhclient-hook
             LOG.debug('Finding Azure endpoint from hook json...')
-            dhcp_options = WALinuxAgentShim._load_dhclient_json()
-            value = WALinuxAgentShim._get_value_from_dhcpoptions(dhcp_options)
+            value = WALinuxAgentShim._networkd_get_value_from_leases()
+            LOG.debug('networkd value from lease %s', value)
+
         if value is None:
             # Fallback and check the leases file if unsuccessful
             LOG.debug("Unable to find endpoint in dhclient logs. "