Why can't I move any of my app services to a new app service plan I created?

Question

I created a new app service plan, identical to an existing one (the only way to rename a plan). But it won't let me assign app services to it. Why?

Same region & plan.

thanks - dave

Answer 1

I have an App Service Plan and a Web App that are in the same Resource Group and also the same Region, which according to the above comments and the referenced documentation make them part of the same webspace, but I still cannot move the Web App, and in fact the "Change app service plan" link in the Azure Portal is disabled.

After reading the section at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/app-service-plan-manage#move-an-app-to-another-app-service-plan I see the statement "Note that plans can’t move webspaces after they’re created, so you can’t move a plan into “the same webspace” as another plan by moving it to another resource group." This applies to me, as I first created the Web Apps in one Resource Group and then moved them to the Resource Group of the target App Service Plan, to no avail :-(

I thin it would be very helpful for the Azure Portal to display the name of the webspace in the Overview section of the Web App and App Service Plan, to explicitly call out this "hidden" but important attribute and avoid confusion, thanks.

Answer 2

@David Thielen You can move an app to another App Service plan, as long as the source plan and the target plan are in the same resource group and geographical region.

To elaborate, Azure deploys each new App Service plan into a deployment unit, internally called a webspace. Each region can have many webspaces, but your app can only move between plans that are created in the same webspace. All plans created with the same resource group and region combination are deployed into the same webspace.

For example, if you created a plan in resource group A and region B, then any plan you subsequently create in resource group A and region B is deployed into the same webspace. (Note that plans can’t move webspaces after they’re created, so you can’t move a plan into “the same webspace” as another plan by moving it to another resource group.)

Please refer to this article to know more: Move an app to another App Service plan

Hope this helps. Do let us know if you have further questions.

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Answer 3

@David Thielen Thanks for taking the time to report this issue. Summarizing the outcome of the offline investigation here so it helps others in the community as well.

To work around the issue, you can clone your existing App Service app to a newly created app in the same region selecting the desired App Service Plan.

Steps to clone your App Service app:

• Navigate to your app on the Azure Portal and look for the Clone App option under the Development Tools section
• When cloning the app, make sure you select the desired values for the app name (cannot be the same as the previous app), resource group and App Service plan (choose the desired ASP)
• Click on Create

The above can also be performed with some Azure PowerShell cmdlets. Check this article for more details: Azure App Service App Cloning Using PowerShell

Hope this helped you get around the issue. Do let us know if you have further questions.

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Answer 4

Looks like we've found a solution.
It appears ability to move resources between service plans depends on something called "webspace" which you can not define by yourself but it is possible to ensure you deploy service plan to the same webspace.
ToDo:

• check json of service plan you want to move and check for the resource group defined in a webspace ( it might be different than an actual resource group plan is currently in if plan was previously moved )
• create new service plan in the same group that is defined in a webspace attribute ( region must be the same )
• move service plan to the group you want it to be in

Once you create plan under "correct" webspace you can move it whenever you want as webspace parameter won't change anymore.
The app should see the new plan listed after that's done