Azure SQL Managed Instance hardware generation update (Standard-series to Premium-series) stuck at Step 2/6 "Virtual Cluster resize/creation" for 15+ hours

Question

I started an update on an Azure SQL Managed Instance to change only the hardware generation from Standard-series (Gen 5) to Premium-series. The vCore count and storage size were not changed.

Instance configuration: - Service tier: General Purpose - vCores: 4 - Region: West Europe - Current hardware: Standard-series (Gen 5) - Requested hardware: Premium-series

Current state of the operation: - The operation has been running for more than 15 hours. - In the portal it shows Step 2/6 "Virtual Cluster resize/creation" as In Progress. - From the CLI (az sql mi op list): State = InProgress, PercentComplete = 0, IsCancellable = True. - No error is shown in the portal or in the Activity log. - Azure Service Health shows no active issue for the region and service, and Resource health reports the instance as Available. - The instance is still serving its workload normally with no downtime so far.

What I have read so far: - A hardware generation change makes the virtual cluster create a new VM group for the new hardware generation if one does not exist yet. - Community answers suggest resize operations usually take between 1 and 4 hours, and I found one case where an operation was stuck for about 12 hours and then recovered by itself.

My questions:

1. Is more than 15 hours at Step 2/6 with 0% expected for a General Purpose instance when changing the hardware generation?
2. What are the common causes of this step stalling (for example, Premium-series capacity in the region, not enough free IP addresses in the subnet, or another operation in the subnet)?
3. Is there a way to see more detail about why Step 2 is not progressing without opening a support case?
4. Is it safe to cancel this operation at this stage, and will the instance stay on Standard-series with no data impact?
5. If I cancel and retry, are there any recommendations to avoid hitting the same problem?

Thank you.