Azure Support Plans FAQ | Microsoft Azure (2023)

Azure support overview

• Billing and subscription management support is included for all Azure customers in markets where Azure is offered. Technical support is available to customers who purchased a support plan. Some services may not be covered in all regions immediately after general availability.

• The initial response time varies depending on the support plan and the business impact of the request (also known as severity). See the severity level definitions.

• Microsoft provides support in nine languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in English for all severities and in Japanese for severity A only.

  For all other supported languages, support is available during local business hours. Support outside those hours is provided in English, with translation services included if needed. Alternatively, you may wait until the next business day to get support in your language.

• In North America, business hours for support are 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Pacific Time Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Business hours and holidays vary by country/region, but business hours for support are typically 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM local time Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.

• Basic self-help resources are included for all Azure customers at no additional cost. For one-on-one technical support, you need a paid support plan. Compare Azure support plans.

• Get answers to your technical questions in , a community channel where you can exchange ideas with community experts, Microsoft engineers, and other customers. The robust search tool returns answers from a variety of sources, making it a valuable self-help resource.

  (Video) Compare Azure Support Plans explained

  If you're a member of the Microsoft Partner Network, Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), or Microsoft for Startups, you may be eligible for limited Azure support even if you don't have a paid support plan. Refer to your service terms and conditions to see your support options and benefits.

  Your Azure subscription includes access to subscription management support (such as billing, quota adjustments, and account transfers) at no additional cost via the Azure portal. It also includes access to the Azure status dashboard, the Azure Community Support forum, and .

• Microsoft may provide access to Azure preview, beta, or other pre-release features, services, software, or regions for feedback and evaluation purposes before they're generally available. Previews are identified as such in the Azure portal and listed in Azure updates. There are three kinds of previews in Azure, differentiated by service availability and program access.

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  • Public previews are available to Azure subscribers through the Azure portal. They're intended to give you a chance to view and test upcoming services and features.
  • Private previews are provided to a subset of customers who are in direct contact with Azure Engineering. They're focused on direct and constant feedback during the development phase of a service.
  • Limited previews are offered to a fixed and limited number of customers.

  Access to Azure preview services and features is subject to reduced or different service terms as set forth in your service agreement and the preview supplemental terms. Previews are provided as-is, with all faults and as available, and are excluded from the service-level agreements (SLAs) or any limited warranties Microsoft provides for Azure services in general availability. They're made available on the condition that you agree to the terms of use, which supplement your Azure agreement.

• Azure support plans cover most services and features in public preview, but some exceptions apply. Learn more about the services and features covered. Technical support is limited to break-fix scenarios and available in English, with around-the-clock support available for severities A and B (based on your support plan).

  Azure support plans don't cover services or features in private or limited preview. For help with these services, go to Azure Community Support.

Using Azure support

• Go to the Azure portal and create a support request. Subscription management and billing support is included with your Azure subscription, and technical support is provided through an Azure support plan. For step-by-step guidance, see how to create an Azure support request.

  We recommend that you submit support requests online to help ensure that you get the most effective and efficient technical expertise. Because of the detailed nature of the requests, providing relevant information is easier to do online than by phone. The simple, intuitive process also eliminates unproductive hold time, as problems are routed more quickly to the most qualified engineer.

• Contacting support is much faster via the Azure portal than by phone, ensuring that you get to the right engineer with the area of expertise you need. If you can't access the Azure portal, call the customer service number for your country/region.

• To create a support request, go to Help + support in the Azure portal. For detailed information, see how to create an Azure support request.

  (Video) Azure Pricing & Support Explained - Azure Training

• Read how to troubleshoot Azure subscription sign-in issues. If you can't access the Azure portal, call the customer service number for your country/region.

• You can create a subscription management support request in the Azure portal even if your subscription has not yet been created.

• The account administrator, service administrator, or co-administrator on the subscription can create a support request. Additionally, anyone with write permissions (such as an owner or contributor) or with the built-in support request contributor role can create and manage support requests related to that subscription.

• You must be an administrator or owner of the subscription to change access. To do so, assign the support request contributor role to those who want to create and manage support requests for that subscription. Learn more about role assignments.

• You can get support from Azure in two ways:

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  • As the account administrator of your client's subscription, you can purchase an Azure support plan for that account, as any subscription you own under the same account is covered by the same support plan. You can also use your partner support plan benefits to create a support request without having to purchase a dedicated Azure support plan.
  • Get support using your client's account. You (the partner) must have administrator or owner privileges to the client's subscription, which must have a support plan covering it. You can also use your partner support plan benefits to create a support request without having to purchase a dedicated Azure support plan.

• Initial response time is the period from when you submit your support request to when a Microsoft Support Engineer contacts you and starts working on your support request. The initial response time varies with both the support plan and the business impact of the request (also known as severity).

• The time it takes to troubleshoot and resolve support requests varies depending on the problem. Microsoft is committed to helping you resolve your problem as soon as possible. Sometimes, that means focusing on reducing and mitigating any negative impact to your operation before moving to a full solution.

• Microsoft offers the ability to run non-Microsoft technologies, including Linux, Oracle, SAP, and IBM, on Azure. For all scenarios that are eligible for support through an Azure support plan, Microsoft will help you isolate the problem between the application and Azure.

  Microsoft will provide technical support if the problem is determined to be caused by an Azure service or platform, and will provide commercially reasonable support in all other scenarios. If your problem isn't resolved, we may refer you to other support channels available for external software.

• First, if you haven't already, go to Azure Service Health—a personalized dashboard that provides alerts and guidance on Azure service issues—to configure alerts so that the right people are notified about events that affect your resources. If Azure Service Health shows no active or recent service issues, create a support request.

• If you have an open Azure technical support request and need a root-cause analysis, you may request one with any paid Azure support plan.

• Break-fix issues are technical problems you may experience while using Azure services. Break-fix refers to the work involved in supporting a technology when it fails during typical usage and must be restored to working order.

• Advisory support is intended to help with general how-to questions. It doesn’t address billing or break-fix questions.

• Professional Direct delivery managers provide limited advisory support based on publicly available Azure documentation and information from Azure engineers and product experts. Guidance may include:

  • Planning for deployments and migrations
  • Planning for hybrid cloud solutions
  • Boosting performance
  • Improving reliability and recoverability
  • Enhancing security

  Professional Direct delivery managers don't provide detailed assistance specific to individual customers, such as design, architecture, or code reviews; detailed instructions for application or configuration tuning (for example, performance tuning); or the verification of specifications. They also don't provide onsite support or engage in implementation activities such as coding or configuration for customer development or deployment on Azure.

  (Video) Billing and Pricing - Azure Support
• • How to update extensions in Linux through the Azure CLI
  • Which RBAC permissions configured on Azure are needed for a specific product
  • Whether Azure provides a Windows update/Red Hat update infrastructure service
  • What the required parameters are for a specific PowerShell command
  • If a specific CLI command has an equivalent PowerShell command
• • Code reviews
  • Custom code samples, regardless of coding language or scripting type (other than those in publicly available documentation)
  • Detailed architectural guidance
  • Questions about the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS and other break-fix issues supporting Linux OS internal settings and configurations, such as Red Hat update infrastructure settings in the OS, how to set permissions within the OS, Windows OS, Windows configuration, licensing, or troubleshooting

• No, the support plan doesn't cover on-premises PC or server problems.

• No, CSP migration isn’t included in Professional Direct advisory support.

  See the Azure in CSP offer for more information.

• Submit your feedback for the product or page using the applicable link at the bottom of the documentation page.

Purchasing and billing

• You may purchase a support plan online through the Azure website or Azure portal. A support plan is also available with a Microsoft Customer Agreement. If you have an Enterprise Agreement and you’d like to purchase a Professional Direct support plan, contact your Microsoft representative or partner.

• The monthly support plan cost covers one billing account, regardless of how many subscriptions or users are on the account. All subscriptions under a billing account share the same support plan, and all users with admin or owner access to any of the subscriptions under the account with a support plan are entitled to support for those subscriptions. Go to the Azure portal to see the list of subscriptions in your account.

• If you purchased your support plan through the Azure website or Azure portal, or if you have one under a Microsoft Customer Agreement, you may cancel your existing plan and then purchase a higher-tier plan in the Azure portal.

  If you have an Enterprise Agreement, contact your Microsoft representative or partner.

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• If you purchased your support plan through the Azure website or Azure portal, or if you have one under a Microsoft Customer Agreement, you can make changes to or cancel your support plan in the Azure portal.

  If you have questions about changing or canceling your support plan, create a support request. For Issue type, select Subscription management. Select the applicable support plan, and then select Request for cancellation of a subscription. Because support plans are billed monthly, you won't get a prorated refund if you cancel before the end of the month.

  If you purchased your support plan through an Enterprise Agreement, contact your Microsoft representative or partner.

• You'll be billed monthly. See the Microsoft Cost Management documentation for more information.

• If you purchased your support plan through the Azure portal, or if you have one under a Microsoft Customer Agreement, we'll automatically renew it using the payment method on file.

  If you purchased your support plan through a Microsoft representative or partner, they'll notify you when it's time to renew.

Enterprise Agreement support

• Enterprise Agreement customers can purchase Azure Standard or Professional Direct technical support through their reseller or Microsoft sales representative. Developer support isn't available through an Enterprise Agreement. For customers interested in Unified support, contact a Microsoft sales representative.

• Contact your reseller to purchase an upgrade from Standard to Professional Direct if it's available in your region.

• Yes, each Enterprise Agreement enrollment requires a separate support plan. If you have one Azure support plan and multiple Enterprise Agreement enrollments, support is covered only under the enrollment the support plan is tied to. If you have multiple Azure subscriptions under a single Enterprise Agreement enrollment with a support plan, then all of those subscriptions have access to technical support.

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• If you have a pending order for a support plan through your Enterprise Agreement, submit a subscription management support request in the Azure portal to temporarily enable technical support. Indicate the plan that you ordered (Standard or Professional Direct) and provide a description of the issue, and a support engineer will contact you.