Enabling Availability Zones for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL Database with Serverless Capacity Mode

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Enabling Availability Zones for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL Database with Serverless Capacity Mode

$@chin 200

Is it possible to enable availability zone for an existing Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL database that is running in serverless capacity mode ? If so, what is the process to achieve this ?

Additionally, how can one determine the availability zone region is enabled or not for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL ?

Furthermore, how can one calculate the estimated cost of Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL serverless with availability zones, as the pricing calculator does not seem to offer this option?

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TP 125.8K Volunteer Moderator

Hi Sachin,

Is it possible to enable availability zone for an existing Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL database that is running in serverless capacity mode ? If so, what is the process to achieve this ?

A: No, you cannot change an existing account to use availability zone. You can only do this when creating the account.

Additionally, how can one determine the availability zone region is enabled or not for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL ?

A: You can use below commands in Cloud Shell powershell:

$db = Get-AzCosmosDBAccount -ResourceGroupName myresourcegroup -Name myserverlesscosmosacct
$db.Locations

Look for IsZoneRedundant in the output, as shown below:

qna cosmos zone redundant

Furthermore, how can one calculate the estimated cost of Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL serverless with availability zones, as the pricing calculator does not seem to offer this option?

A: For serverless, Request Units are multiplied by a factor of 1.25. See excerpt from pricing page:

qna cosmos az pricing

Please click Accept Answer and upvote if the above was helpful.

Thanks.

-TP

$@chin 200 Reputation points

2024-02-08T15:48:07.1566667+00:00

Hello TP,

Thank you for the detailed information.

Could you please provide an article that states that enabling Availability Zone for an existing deployed Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL is not possible ?
TP 125.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2024-02-08T17:29:57.5566667+00:00

Could you please provide an article that states that enabling Availability Zone for an existing deployed Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL is not possible ?

A: Zone redundancy can only be set when creating region, and with serverless tier only one region is allowed. With provisioned, you could add another region, failover to that, remove/recreate original region as zone redundant, fail back, delete second region. You can't use above technique with serverless.

Excerpt from documentation:

You can configure zone redundancy only when you're adding a new region to an Azure Cosmos DB account. For existing regions, you can enable zone redundancy by removing the region then adding it back with the zone redundancy enabled. For a single-region account, this approach requires you to add a region to temporarily fail over to, and then remove and add the desired region with zone redundancy enabled.

Screenshot from Create Azure Cosmos DB in portal:
Oury Ba-MSFT 20,931 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2024-02-08T19:56:00.7066667+00:00

Sachin Thank you for reaching out. If the above answer from @tp answers your question, please do mark as accept answer and let us know if you have additional query. Regards, Oury
$@chin 200 Reputation points

2024-02-09T05:33:44.9333333+00:00

Hello TP,

Could you please help me with the below approach ?

You can configure zone redundancy only when you're adding a new region to an Azure Cosmos DB account. For existing regions, you can enable zone redundancy by removing the region then adding it back with the zone redundancy enabled. For a single-region account, this approach requires you to add a region to temporarily fail over to, and then remove and add the desired region with zone redundancy enabled.

I was trying the same using below query:
resourceGroupName='myResourceGroup'
accountName='mycosmosaccount'

Create an account with 2 regions

az cosmosdb create --name $accountName --resource-group $resourceGroupName \
--locations regionName="West US" failoverPriority=0 isZoneRedundant=False \
--locations regionName="East US" failoverPriority=1 isZoneRedundant=False

Add a region

az cosmosdb update --name $accountName --resource-group $resourceGroupName \
--locations regionName="West US" failoverPriority=0 isZoneRedundant=False \
--locations regionName="East US" failoverPriority=1 isZoneRedundant=False \
--locations regionName="South Central US" failoverPriority=2 isZoneRedundant=False

Remove a region

az cosmosdb update --name $accountName --resource-group $resourceGroupName \
--locations regionName="West US" failoverPriority=0 isZoneRedundant=False \
--locations regionName="East US" failoverPriority=1 isZoneRedundant=False

However, encountered with an error. attached the screenshot for your ref.
TP 125.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2024-02-09T14:49:22+00:00

The error you are seeing is normally caused by trying to change the zone redundancy state of a region. For example, if a region is currently isZoneRedundant=False and you change it to True, this error will be returned. Same if it is True and you try to change it to False.

Are the commands you posted the exact commands you entered?

If you tried to change zone redundant status, did you make sure the region was successfully removed before creating it as new with isZoneRedundant=True?

Please note there is high demand for cosmos db zonal redundancy in many Azure regions, including the ones (eastus,westus) that you posted. As a result of this you may need to create a new support request and request access to the feature for these regions.

If your subscription is not enabled for cosmos db zonal redundancy for a region and you try to enable it in that region, you will receive an error (different error than you posted above).
$@chin 200 Reputation points

2024-02-09T17:57:02.29+00:00

Hello ,

Yes, I run the same commands. Firstly, I execute the remove command and then add the region by setting the zone redundancy to True.

Example:

remove region

az cosmosdb update --name Cosmosdb --resource-group demo
--locations regionName="Central India" failoverPriority=0 isZoneRedundant=False

add region

az cosmosdb update --name Cosmosdb --resource-group demo
--locations regionName="Southeast Asia" failoverPriority=1 isZoneRedundant=True

When I passed priority 0, encountered the following error:

When I passed priority 1, encountered the following error:
$@chin 200 Reputation points

2024-02-11T15:12:05.4466667+00:00

hello TP,

Is it supported in Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL Serverless ?

Am I missing anything in the above ?
TP 125.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2024-02-11T16:28:29.86+00:00

Hi Sachin,

When you removed region, did you verify it had been removed before trying to add it with isZoneRedundant=True? The remove is asynchronous and takes some time to complete.

When I've removed region I think it took around 10-15 minutes or so to complete.

Reason I ask is the AZ migration error you received is caused by trying to switch a region from/to zonal redundancy.
$@chin 200 Reputation points

2024-02-12T13:32:13.48+00:00

hello TP,

After checking the article, I understand that these commands first add three regions and then update the region by removing one region, specifically [South Central US].

If that is the case or if my understanding is correct, does Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL serverless support multiple regions ?

I attempted the same for Provisioned Throughput Capacity Mode Cosmos DB for NoSQL, where I encountered an error with the CLI stating that migration capability is disabled for the subscription. However, through the GUI, the same task can be accomplished without any issues, as the "Replicate data globally" feature is directly available on the portal for Provisioned Throughput Capacity Mode.
TP 125.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2024-02-13T08:22:40.91+00:00

Hi Sachin, as mentioned above Serverless only supports one region. That is why "Replicate data globally" blade doesn't show up on Serverless accounts.

TP 125.8K Volunteer Moderator

@$@chin I just did test. Created resource group, then executed below commands in Azure Cloud Shell:

resourceGroupName='myResourceGroup'
accountName='mycosmosaccount'

az cosmosdb create --name $accountName --resource-group $resourceGroupName \
--locations regionName="West US" failoverPriority=0 isZoneRedundant=False \
--locations regionName="East US" failoverPriority=1 isZoneRedundant=False

Next I ran below command:

az cosmosdb update --name $accountName --resource-group $resourceGroupName \
--locations regionName="West US" failoverPriority=0 isZoneRedundant=False \
--locations regionName="East US" failoverPriority=1 isZoneRedundant=False \
--locations regionName="South Central US" failoverPriority=2 isZoneRedundant=False

And finally below command:

az cosmosdb update --name $accountName --resource-group $resourceGroupName \
--locations regionName="West US" failoverPriority=0 isZoneRedundant=False \
--locations regionName="East US" failoverPriority=1 isZoneRedundant=False

All of the above completed successfully and had expected results.

TP 125.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2024-02-19T13:27:55.95+00:00

Hi Sachin, please click Accept Answer and upvote to close up this thread.

Thank you.

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Enabling Availability Zones for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL Database with Serverless Capacity Mode

Create an account with 2 regions

Add a region

Remove a region

remove region

add region

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