Unable to disable Azure Notifications Hub Availability Zone for new namespace in specific regions

Question

Both https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/azure-docs/blob/main/articles/reliability/reliability-notification-hubs.md and https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/reliability/reliability-notification-hubs describe availability zones as an optional feature for notification hub namespaces.

They also confirm that availability zones cannot be disabled once they have been enabled.

However, when creating a new namespace for the Africa North region, we are unable to disable availability zones (it becomes read-only and automatically enabled after changing the region).

We specifically do not want availability zones for this region, and the documentation confirms that it should be optional with no reference to exceptions.

How can we disable this option?

Answer 1

Hi @Adjutant,

It seems like you’re running into a situation where the Enable availability zones option for your Azure Notification Hub namespace in the South Africa North region becomes read-only and automatically enabled, even though the documentation states it should be optional.

Some Azure regions, particularly newer or certain ones such as South Africa North, can have availability zones enabled by default as part of Azure's efforts to provide high availability and resiliency for services within those regions. Although the documentation typically states availability zones as optional, some regions have this enabled by default and cannot be disabled. That's why the option becomes read-only upon choosing this region, it's a design element of the region's infrastructure.

Unfortunately, in these particular regions, availability zones cannot be disabled once enabled. If keeping them off is a hard requirement, you might think about hosting your Notification Hub in another region where this option is still configurable.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/reliability/availability-zones-region-support
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/reliability/availability-zones-service-support
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/reliability/reliability-notification-hubs

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