Hi co, great question )) cleaning up old automation accounts can save u money and keep things tidy.
u can totally delete automation accounts using powershell or az cli.
Remove-AzAutomationAccount
or if u prefer az cli, try this
az automation account delete
microsoft docs have more deets here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.automation/remove-azautomationaccount. pretty straightforward, right? )
now about that support plan thing... aha, good thinking! u dont necessarily need to upgrade. start by checking the 'quota and limits' section in azure portal. sometimes u can request cleanup help without paying extra. but yes, if u hit a wall, temporary upgrade might unblock u.
also worth poking around azure advisor )) it often spots unused resources begging to be deleted. here's the link https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/advisor/advisor-overview. microsoft really made this tool handy for cleanup!
always check billing alerts first. they're like canaries in coal mines for unused stuff. most cloud platforms have similar cost management tools. set up cleanup policies early next time! terraform or arm templates can auto-expire test resources. works in aws too btw ))
microsoft actually has decent lifecycle management docs here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-intro. worth bookmarking!
and before u delete anything... maybe export runbooks u might need later? just saying ))
hope this helps. let me know if u get stuck anywhere
rgds,
Alex