ProvisioningDisabled when disabling auto-pause on Azure SQL free serverless database

Lyubomir Shumantov 0 Reputation points
2026-09-29T14:25:43.3266667+00:00

I have an existing Azure SQL Database in Sweden Central with the following configuration:

  • General Purpose serverless
  • SKU: GP_S_Gen5
  • Maximum capacity: 2 vCores
  • Minimum capacity: 0.5 vCores
  • useFreeLimit: true
  • freeLimitExhaustionBehavior: AutoPause
  • autoPauseDelay: 60
  • current status: Paused

The subscription is Enabled, and the Microsoft.Sql resource provider is Registered.

The database has remained Paused. An application connection previously timed out during the pre-login phase, and its readiness endpoint returned HTTP 503.

I performed exactly one management-plane update attempt that changed only autoPauseDelay from 60 to -1.

Azure rejected the update with:

ProvisioningDisabled

The Activity Log showed:

  • Status: Failed
  • Error: ResourceOperationFailure
  • No explicit billing, quota, policy, lock, regional capacity or free-offer reason

No change was applied. A subsequent read confirmed:

  • status: Paused
  • autoPauseDelay: 60
  • useFreeLimit: true
  • freeLimitExhaustionBehavior: AutoPause

Free-limit metrics around the recorded pause time showed remaining allowance above zero, so exhaustion at the time of the pause was not established.

Questions:

  1. Is autoPauseDelay=-1 supported when useFreeLimit=true and freeLimitExhaustionBehavior=AutoPause?
  2. What conditions cause ProvisioningDisabled for this specific update?
  3. Can idle auto-pause be disabled while retaining the free-offer monthly exhaustion behavior?
  4. If this combination is unsupported, what is the smallest supported configuration change that prevents repeated idle pauses?
  5. Would that change convert the database to paid usage or allow charges beyond the free allowance?
  6. Is there a supported way to distinguish idle auto-pause from a free-offer or provisioning restriction?

I have not retried the update and do not want to change billing behavior, networking, firewall, identity, SKU or capacity until the restriction is understood.

Azure SQL Database

2 answers

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  1. TP 163.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-09-30T03:38:49.87+00:00

    Hi,

    When Azure SQL Database Free tier database is set to: Behavior when free off limit reached: Auto-pause the database until next month, you are not allowed to change auto-pause delay. This is why you are seeing ProvisioningDisabled error when you attempted to disable auto-pause by setting delay to -1.

    Full error below, for reference:

    (ProvisioningDisabled) Only default value for auto pause delay is allowed for Free Limit database with auto pause exhaustion behavior
Code: ProvisioningDisabled
Message: Only default value for auto pause delay is allowed for Free Limit database with auto pause exhaustion behavior

    If you change it to: Behavior when free off limit reached: Continue using database for additional charges you will be able to change auto-pause delay, however, you would not want to disable auto-pause since that would massively increase your monthly charges. Typically DTU or Provisioned tier would make more sense (while costing less).

    When using Serverless tier, any time the database is Online (not Paused) you are being charged vCore seconds. Even if there are no connections to the database, you are still being charged.

    If you were to disable auto-pause, and you didn't use the database at all, your free credits would be consumed in about 55.5 hours (2+ days)! 55.5 hours is best case--if you set minimum vCore to higher value and/or executed queries against the database, the credits could be consumed in less than a day.

    For application/use case that expects to be able to connect to SQL Database instantly, 24x7, selecting DTU or Provisioned tier database is the appropriate choice. Alternatively, if the end users are okay with it, you can adjust your application code so that it properly handles the database being paused when connecting, waits 1 minute or so, and retries the connect.

    Please let me know if you have any questions or if something I wrote above is unclear.

    Thanks.

    -TP

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  2. Deepesh Dhake 1,245 Reputation points
    2026-10-02T02:47:19.3133333+00:00

    autoPauseDelay = -1 with free AutoPause: Microsoft's documentation doesn't say whether this is supported. Only Microsoft can confirm.

    ProvisioningDisabled: Microsoft documents this as a region-access or capacity restriction, not a configuration error. Whether it caused your specific failure needs Microsoft to check the correlation ID.

    Disabling idle pause: it would backfire. At 0.5 vCores minimum, the 100,000 monthly vCore-seconds run out in about 2.3 days, and the database then pauses for the rest of the month.

    Smallest fix: keep idle pause and make the app tolerate resume, with retries, a longer first-connect timeout, and a readiness check that allows for warm-up.

    Billing: charges apply only under "Continue using database for additional charges." Neither your current setting nor the app-side fix causes charges.

    Diagnosis: the Free amount remaining metric rules out exhaustion (yours was above zero). Telling idle pause from a provisioning restriction needs Microsoft support.

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