Unable to Enable Zone Redundancy for Azure SQL Managed Instance in East US 2

Ali Mehmood 0 Reputation points
2026-06-17T20:43:26.9033333+00:00

Issue Summary

We are attempting to enable Zone Redundancy for our Azure SQL Managed Instance deployed in the East US 2 region. According to Microsoft documentation and the Azure region availability information, East US 2 supports Zone Redundant deployments for Azure SQL Managed Instance.

However, when we navigate to the configuration settings for our Managed Instance, the Zone Redundancy option is disabled and cannot be selected. We have verified that the instance is deployed in East US 2, but the portal does not allow us to enable this feature.

Request

Could anyone please help us determine:

  1. Why the Zone Redundancy option is disabled for SQL Managed Instance.
  2. Whether there are any prerequisites, configuration limitations, service tier restrictions, or subscription constraints preventing us from enabling the feature.
  3. What steps are required to enable Zone Redundancy on the existing instance, or alternatively, whether a new deployment is required.
Azure SQL Database

1 answer

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  1. SAI JAGADEESH KUDIPUDI 3,550 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-07-02T06:56:33.54+00:00

    Hi @Ali Mehmood ,
    It sounds like you’re running into the Zone redundancy toggle being disabled (grayed out) in the Azure portal for an Azure SQL Managed Instance in East US 2, even though you believe the region is supposed to support it.

    Based on the provided documentation, this usually happens for one of a few specific reasons—most notably backup storage redundancy not being set to the required zonal/geo-zonal type, or the instance being in an unsupported configuration (instance pool / unsupported tier / etc.), even if the region is generally listed as supported.
    Why the “Zone redundancy” option may be disabled

    Here are the documented checks that control whether the portal shows or allows enabling zone redundancy:

    1. Backup storage redundancy isn’t set correctly (most common)

    To enable zone redundancy for SQL Managed Instance, Backup storage redundancy must be:

    • Zone-redundant (ZRS), or
    • Geo-zone-redundant (GZRS)

    If your instance’s Backup storage redundancy is not set to ZRS/GZRS, then the zone redundancy option may not appear or cannot be enabled in the portal.

    What to do (portal):

    • Go to your SQL Managed Instance
    • Settings → Compute + storage
    • Ensure Backup storage redundancy is set to Zone-redundant or Geo-zone-redundant

    Apply changes, wait for completion, then refresh the page and try enabling Zone redundancy again

    1. The instance is in an instance pool

    If the managed instance is part of an instance pool, it does not support zone redundancy. In that case, the toggle will be disabled/unavailable.

    1. Service tier limitation (Next-gen General Purpose)

    Zone redundancy is not currently available for the Next-gen General Purpose service tier.

    So if your instance is on that tier, the portal won’t allow enabling zone redundancy.

    1. Regional/temporary platform/capacity constraints (even if “supported”)

    Even with region support listed, there are situations where zone redundancy can be temporarily disabled per region due to capacity constraints or temporary platform updates. In such cases, the feature may be unavailable/disabled in the portal.

    Enabling zone redundancy on an existing instance (once prerequisites are met)

    Once the prerequisites above are satisfied, zone redundancy for an existing SQL Managed Instance can be enabled using the Azure portal (or PowerShell/Azure CLI/REST), and the change runs as a fully online scaling operation in the background.

    Portal flow (existing instance):

    1. Set Backup storage redundancy to Zone-redundant (ZRS) or Geo-zone-redundant (GZRS)
    2. Then use the Zone redundancy toggle under Compute hardware

    Save/apply and wait for the operation to complete

    If you still can’t enable it

    If after confirming backup redundancy, not in an instance pool, and a supported tier, the toggle is still unavailable, then it’s likely temporarily unavailable in that region (capacity/platform constraints).

    The docs recommend these supported alternatives for high availability/disaster recovery:

    • Use Failover Groups (including cross-region HA)
    • Deploy to a different region that supports zone redundancy
    • Consider other supported options like LTR backups for additional protection

    Reference list (from provided documentation)

    Hope this helps. If you have any follow-up questions, please let me know. I would be happy to help.

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