Azure AI search has stopped working suddenly

Hi @Harry Cardillo

Thanks for posting about your Azure AI Search service suddenly failing in the Search Explorer (with that "Failed to fetch" error). This one comes up pretty often, and it's almost always tied to a recent change in networking settings—specifically, when a private endpoint is enabled and Public network access is set to Disabled. The portal's Search Explorer makes direct browser calls to the service, so it can't reach it once public access is locked down.

The fix is usually quick. Here's exactly what to do:

1. Open your Azure AI Search resource in the portal.
2. In the left menu, click Networking.
3. On the Firewalls and virtual networks tab, change Public network access to Enabled.
4. Click Save, wait 1–2 minutes, then refresh Search Explorer and try a test query again.

That should get you back up and running right away. If you need to keep private-only access for security reasons, you can manage the service from inside your VNet (via Azure CLI, PowerShell, or a VM in the same network) instead of the public portal.

Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/service-create-private-endpoint

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/private-link/troubleshoot-private-endpoint-connectivity

Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

Please "upvote" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.

It was already set to Public network access, All Networks. Any other thoughts?

Hi @Harry Cardillo

Thanks for confirming that Public network access is already enabled and set to All networks.

With that setting in place, the “Failed to fetch” error in Search Explorer is almost always a client-side connectivity or DNS resolution issue on the browser/portal side, rather than a problem with the search service or indexes themselves.

Here are the most common remaining causes and what to try next:

1. VPN, Proxy, or Corporate Network Filtering (most frequent fix) Even when the service allows all networks, corporate VPNs, proxies, or endpoint security tools can still block the direct calls the Azure portal makes to your search endpoint (https://<your-service>.search.windows.net).

Quick tests:

• Try accessing the Azure portal in an InPrivate/Incognito window.
• Temporarily disconnect from any VPN or proxy.
• Test from a different network (e.g., your mobile hotspot).

2. Lingering DNS resolution from a previous Private Endpoint If the service ever had a private endpoint, your local machine or corporate DNS may still be resolving the search service name to a private IP address that the public Azure portal cannot reach.

Run this command to check:

nslookup <your-search-service-name>.search.windows.net

If it returns a private IP (starting with 10., 172.16-31., or 192.168.), that’s likely the culprit.

3. Validate the service is healthy using direct REST call (bypasses the portal) Use a tool like Postman or curl:

GET https://<your-search-service-name>.search.windows.net/indexes?api-version=2023-11-01
api-key: <your-admin-key>

If this returns the list of indexes successfully, the service is working fine — the issue is isolated to portal/browser connectivity.

Let me know the result of the nslookup and whether disconnecting the VPN helps. If possible, share the nslookup output (you can mask the actual name), and we can narrow it down further.

reference :

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/service-create-private-endpoint

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/search-get-started-text?tabs=windows&pivots=csharp

Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

Please "upvote" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.

NS lookup is good, Postman Request times out

Hi @Harry Cardillo

Thank you for sharing the nslookup and Postman screenshots — this is a classic symptom with Azure AI Search.

Even though DNS resolution is working perfectly (the name resolves to 52.159.86.10), the actual HTTPS connection is being dropped before it can be established. This almost always happens when the IP firewall on the search service is enabled and your client IP is not in the allowed list. Azure drops unmatched connections silently, so it shows up as a "Request timed out" in Postman instead of a clear error.

Recommended Solution:

1. Open your Azure AI Search service in the Azure portal.
2. Go to Networking in the left menu.
3. Under IP firewall rules, click + Add your client IP address (this adds your current public IP automatically).
4. Make sure Allow Azure services and trusted Microsoft services to access this search service is enabled if needed.
5. Click Save and wait 2–3 minutes for the change to apply.

After that, retry the request in Postman.

reference :

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/service-configure-firewall

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/search-security-best-practices

Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

Please "upvote" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.