Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server stuck in "Starting" state for 8h+ after scheduled stop/start; "stop" and "restart" both rejected with SeverBusyWithOtherOperation

Question

We have an Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Flexible Server in Central India that has been stuck in the Starting provisioning state for over 8 hours after a routine scheduled stop/start cycle.

This appears very similar to the issue discussed here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5909626/azure-postgres-server-stuck-in-starting-status-for

Configuration

• Burstable (Standard_B1ms)
• PostgreSQL 16
• VNet-injected, private access only
• HA disabled
• Central India

Symptoms

• Provisioning state remains Starting
• Server is not accepting connections on port 5432
• Resource Health shows Available
• Activity Log contains only Started / Accepted for the start operation
• az postgres flexible-server stop and restart both fail with:

(ServerBusyWithOtherOperation)
Cannot perform operation because the server is busy processing another operation.

Answer 1

Hi @Ahmad

Since you have already restored the database and created a new server, there is no further action required from our side at this time. You may continue using the restored server and delete the old server once you have confirmed everything is functioning as expected.

Regarding the start/stop operation, we do not expect this issue to persist during future scheduled maintenance cycles. If you encounter the same behavior again, please reach out to us, and we will be happy to assist you further.

Answer 2

The server is blocked by a long-running internal start operation. Because that operation has not completed, any additional stop or restart calls are rejected with ServerBusyWithOtherOperation, and normal management actions are not possible while the server is in this transitional state.

There is no supported way in CLI or PowerShell to forcibly cancel that internal operation; stop, start, and restart all require the server to be in a valid state (Ready or Stopped) and will fail otherwise:

• az postgres flexible-server stop only works when the server is in Ready state; otherwise a ServerIsNotReady-type error is returned.
• az postgres flexible-server start only works when the server is in Stopped state and can also fail if there is a capacity issue in the region.
• az postgres flexible-server restart only works when the server is in Ready state.

Once a flexible server is stuck in Starting for many hours and is rejecting operations as busy, this indicates a platform-side provisioning/startup problem rather than a configuration issue that can be fixed from the client side.

Actionable steps:

1. Do not keep retrying stop/restart from CLI or PowerShell; they cannot succeed while the internal operation is in progress.
2. Open an Azure support request so the platform team can:
   • Inspect and, if necessary, cancel the stuck internal operation.
   • Manually complete or roll back the start operation for the server in Central India.
3. In the support ticket, include:
   • Server name, resource group, subscription ID, and region (Central India).
   • Exact error message ServerBusyWithOtherOperation and the time the schedule attempted to start the server.
   • Confirmation that the issue started after a scheduled stop/start cycle.

If this is blocking production workloads and a support engineer cannot immediately unblock the instance, consider provisioning a new Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server in the same or an alternate region and restoring from the latest backup, if available, as a temporary workaround.

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References:

• Stop compute of a server
• Start compute of a server
• Restart PostgreSQL engine
• Resolve capacity errors for Azure Database for PostgreSQL
• Planned maintenance for Azure Database for PostgreSQL
• Start-AzPostgreSqlFlexibleServer
• az postgres flexible-server restart