Unable to delete a load balancer in Azure

Question

Unable to delete a load balancer in Azure

broderick roelf 0

I'm trying to delete a load balancer in my subscription, but I get an error message which says it has child resource which are in use by a virtual machine scale set in ANOTHER subscription.

Needless to say, I can't delete child resources, nor dissociate it from the vmss.

Remove-AzLoadBalancer: Cannot delete load balancer /subscriptions/661a6a8f-3dd8-4759-85d5-5a1cbd1fd4bf/resourceGroups/mc_victoriousdune-68387d6f-rg_victoriousdune-68387d6f_northeurope/providers/Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers/kubernetes since its child resources aksOutboundBackendPool,kubernetes are in use by virtual machine scale set /subscriptions/34b54468-a5ba-416a-a864-ed08540bd353/resourceGroups/MC_victoriousdune-68387d6f-rg_victoriousdune-68387d6f_northeurope/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets/aks-userpool1-71415784-vmss.

Nathan Roberts (SN) 346 Reputation points

2025-03-29T19:13:56.5933333+00:00

Hey there, broderick roelf

I have just updated your thread and applied the right tags for your question. This should allow you to get answers to your question. Also, while I was searching for what a load balancer was in Azure, I came across this article: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-overview

This may be useful.

Thanks,
Nathan
broderick roelf 0 Reputation points

2025-03-30T10:52:05.3966667+00:00

Thank you, Nathan Roberts.
Pramidha Yathipathi 320 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-31T05:16:25.6633333+00:00
Hi broderick roelf,

$vmss = Get-AzVmss -ResourceGroupName "<VMSS Resource Group>" -VMScaleSetName "<VMSS Name>"

$vmss.VirtualMachineProfile.NetworkProfile.NetworkInterfaceConfigurations[0].IpConfigurations[0].LoadBalancerBackendAddressPools = @()

Update-AzVmss -ResourceGroupName "<VMSS Resource Group>" -VMScaleSetName "<VMSS Name>" -VirtualMachineScaleSet $vmss

Run the above commands to Dissociate the backend pool from the VMSS and after that delete the load balancer again.

Please refer the document below:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/azure-kubernetes/create-upgrade-delete/load-balancer-or-nsg-in-use-by-vm-scale-set

If you found the information useful, please click "Upvote" on the post to let us know.

If you have any further queries, please let us know we are glad to help you.

Thank You.
broderick roelf 0 Reputation points

2025-03-31T13:06:31.8366667+00:00

Thank you both. I tried dissociating previously, but it seems that the load balancers get created automatically (later in a generated resource group) when creating a Container Apps Environment.

I removed everything in the resource group which had the Container Apps and the result was that the load balancer, including the generated resource group and its contents were deleted.

I will see if a load balancer can be explicitly included in my bicep file.
Pramidha Yathipathi 320 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-01T02:08:05.9333333+00:00

Hi broderick roelf ,

Thanks for update, Azure does automatically create and manage certain resources, especially with services like Container Apps. Deleting the entire resource group was right. Including the load balancer explicitly in your Bicep file is good. Let me know if you run into any issues while setting it up— I am happy to assist you.

If you found the information useful, please click "Upvote" on the post to let us know.
Thank you
Pramidha Yathipathi 320 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-02T01:27:06.0433333+00:00

Hi broderick roelf ,

If you have any further queries. Please do tell us after doing workaround - "load balancer can be explicitly included in my bicep file." running any issues while setting it up. Feel free to tag me in the comments for any queries.

Thank You.

1 answer

Your answer

Nathan Roberts (SN) 346 Reputation points

2025-03-29T19:13:56.5933333+00:00

Hey there, broderick roelf

I have just updated your thread and applied the right tags for your question. This should allow you to get answers to your question. Also, while I was searching for what a load balancer was in Azure, I came across this article: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-overview

This may be useful.

Thanks,
Nathan
broderick roelf 0 Reputation points

2025-03-30T10:52:05.3966667+00:00

Thank you, Nathan Roberts.
Pramidha Yathipathi 320 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-03-31T05:16:25.6633333+00:00

Hi broderick roelf,

$vmss = Get-AzVmss -ResourceGroupName "<VMSS Resource Group>" -VMScaleSetName "<VMSS Name>"

$vmss.VirtualMachineProfile.NetworkProfile.NetworkInterfaceConfigurations[0].IpConfigurations[0].LoadBalancerBackendAddressPools = @()

Update-AzVmss -ResourceGroupName "<VMSS Resource Group>" -VMScaleSetName "<VMSS Name>" -VirtualMachineScaleSet $vmss

Run the above commands to Dissociate the backend pool from the VMSS and after that delete the load balancer again.

Please refer the document below:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/azure/azure-kubernetes/create-upgrade-delete/load-balancer-or-nsg-in-use-by-vm-scale-set

If you found the information useful, please click "Upvote" on the post to let us know.

If you have any further queries, please let us know we are glad to help you.

Thank You.
broderick roelf 0 Reputation points

2025-03-31T13:06:31.8366667+00:00

Thank you both. I tried dissociating previously, but it seems that the load balancers get created automatically (later in a generated resource group) when creating a Container Apps Environment.

I removed everything in the resource group which had the Container Apps and the result was that the load balancer, including the generated resource group and its contents were deleted.

I will see if a load balancer can be explicitly included in my bicep file.
Pramidha Yathipathi 320 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-01T02:08:05.9333333+00:00

Hi broderick roelf ,

Thanks for update, Azure does automatically create and manage certain resources, especially with services like Container Apps. Deleting the entire resource group was right. Including the load balancer explicitly in your Bicep file is good. Let me know if you run into any issues while setting it up— I am happy to assist you.

If you found the information useful, please click "Upvote" on the post to let us know.
Thank you
Pramidha Yathipathi 320 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-02T01:27:06.0433333+00:00

Hi broderick roelf ,

If you have any further queries. Please do tell us after doing workaround - "load balancer can be explicitly included in my bicep file." running any issues while setting it up. Feel free to tag me in the comments for any queries.

Thank You.

Answer 1

Abiola Akinbade 26,900

You’re trying to delete a Load Balancer in one subscription, but it’s still referenced by a VMSS that lives in a different subscription. You must remove the backend pool reference from the VMSS first

See this answer here that describes how to do this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1376972/cant-remove-azure-lab-services-related-resources

You can mark it 'Accept Answer' and 'Upvote' if this helped you

Regards,

Abiola

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Unable to delete a load balancer in Azure

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