Azure Cloud Services Naming Issue (Service name unavailable)

Question

Azure Cloud Services Naming Issue (Service name unavailable)

Jester Bojorque 250

Hello,

We have an issue naming our new services in Azure. To give context, we had a whole Azure infrastructure already running before but due to malicious actor gaining access to it and messed things up and after doing our best to gain access and contain the situation, we ultimately failed to get it back and Azure billed us for the services created by the actor. We tried contacting Azure support but they are unable to help as well. Our last resort was to delete everything, which we did.

Now we are currently rebuilding the infrastructure from scratch. While doing that I came across an issue naming the new services. As much as possible we want to use the same service names we had before for the reason that we also utilizing IoT devices and were are trying to lessen the impact or change we need to do to those devices to make them work again.

This is the previous dps we had before. The whole infrastructure was already deleted by Azure support and we can no longer access that.

User's image

Now I am trying to recreate the same services but im getting service name unavailable.

Does anyone here had the same issue before? If yes, could you give some advice? If not, any recommendation would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

JB

Jester Bojorque 250 Reputation points

2026-09-03T00:36:50.6066667+00:00

I forgot to attach the image on my original post but here it is:

This is the error I am having when creating the service.

Thank you.

1 answer

Your answer

Jester Bojorque 250 Reputation points

2026-09-03T00:36:50.6066667+00:00

I forgot to attach the image on my original post but here it is:

This is the error I am having when creating the service.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Allan Solomon Mejia 8,420

Hello @Jester Bojorque

The “Device Provisioning Service name unavailable” message usually means the DPS name you’re trying to reuse is still unavailable at the Azure platform level. DPS instance names must be globally unique across Azure, not just unique within your subscription or resource group. DPS names must be 3–64 characters and contain only alphanumeric characters or hyphens.

Since your previous environment was deleted after the security incident, there are a couple of possibilities:

The previous DPS resource may still be undergoing backend cleanup, so the name hasn’t been released yet.
The name might now be reserved or associated with another existing resource.
Residual resource metadata may exist that only Microsoft Support can verify.

As a quick test, try creating the DPS instance with a slightly modified name, such as adding a suffix. If that succeeds, it confirms the subscription, region, and resource provider are fine and the problem is specific to the original name.

You can also test from Azure CLI:

az iot dps create \
  --name <new-unique-dps-name> \
  --resource-group <resource-group> \
  --location japaneast

Microsoft's CLI documentation also confirms that the DPS name must be globally unique.

If retaining the exact old name is essential, I would recommend reopening an Azure Support case and asking them specifically to verify whether the deleted Microsoft.Devices/provisioningServices resource name is still retained or reserved in the backend. You can't normally release this from the Azure portal.

One important point for your IoT devices: DPS devices use the ID Scope to identify the provisioning service, and Microsoft states that the ID Scope is generated when DPS is created and is immutable. Therefore, even if you're able to recreate a DPS resource using the same name, the newly created DPS instance will receive a different ID Scope. Devices configured with the previous ID Scope would still need to be updated or reprovisioned accordingly.

References:

Set up IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service

IoT Hub DPS terminology

Set up DPS using Azure CLI

Help make this community better for everyone: if this answer resolved your issue, please accept it or upvote it. If not, share more details in a comment so we can continue the discussion and find the right solution.

Jester Bojorque 250 Reputation points

2026-09-14T00:04:14.56+00:00

Hello @Allan Solomon Mejia ,

Thank you for your response.

I can confirm that creating a new dps works and I was able to restore some parts of our system. However its just impossible for us to update almost 4,000 devices we have on the field. Those devices are now experiencing issues on critical functions. We desperately needed to use the same DPS url and IDScope for them to work properly.

Is there anything else we could do?

I came across with this faq: https://docs.azure.cn/en-us/iot-dps/dps-faq#how-can-i-recover-from-an-accidental-deletion-of-a-dps-instance-

It says:

With this information, it is possible to use the same name and IDscope but Azure will do that?

I also tried creating a ticket but it directs me to the community instead.

Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

Cheers!

JB
Allan Solomon Mejia 8,420 Reputation points

2026-09-14T01:23:47.23+00:00

Hi @Jester Bojorque

Yes, the FAQ you found is directly applicable to your situation.

So while the deleted DPS instance itself cannot be restored, Microsoft Support can provision a new DPS instance using the previous ID Scope.

That is probably the best path for your environment, especially since you have almost 4,000 deployed devices that depend on the existing DPS configuration.

However, there is an important distinction between the DPS service name and the ID Scope. The FAQ specifically guarantees you can recreate a DPS instance with the same ID Scope; it does not say Microsoft can guarantee restoring the previous DPS resource/service name.

The ID Scope is the important part for your existing devices. Once the enrollments are rebuilt, devices can reconnect using that same scope. The original provisioning data itself is not recoverable.

Therefore, don't start modifying the 4,000 field devices yet. First, escalate this to Azure IoT DPS support and reference the Microsoft FAQ you found.

In the support request, state something along these lines:

“Our Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service instance was deleted during recovery from a compromised Azure environment. Microsoft documentation states that Azure Support can create a new DPS instance with the same ID Scope after accidental deletion. We have approximately 4,000 deployed devices that depend on the previous ID Scope and need assistance recreating the DPS instance with that same ID Scope.”

Include the previous DPS resource name, previous ID Scope, subscription/tenant information, and region, but don't post those identifiers publicly here.

Regarding your problem creating the support ticket: the Azure portal first presents recommended solutions and community options, but you can continue the support-request workflow by selecting Return to support request and then proceeding to the next step.

You will need appropriate subscription permissions. The Owner, Contributor, or Support Request Contributor role (or an equivalent custom role containing Microsoft.Support/*) can create support requests.

One caveat: technical support requires a support plan. If your current subscription only has Basic support, that may explain why the portal routes the technical issue to Microsoft Q&A instead of letting you open a technical case.

Given that the Microsoft DPS FAQ specifically instructs customers in this situation to open a support ticket, reference that documentation when escalating the issue. The community can't do this because recreating a DPS instance with the previous ID Scope requires Microsoft backend involvement.

References:

Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service FAQ

Create an Azure support request

Hope this helps, and in your situation, definitely pursue the same ID Scope recovery path before considering changes to thousands of devices.

Help make this community better for everyone: If this answer helped or resolved your issue, please accept it or upvote it. If not, share more details in a comment so we can continue the discussion and find the right solution. Thank you.
Jester Bojorque 250 Reputation points

2026-09-14T05:57:29.6366667+00:00

Hello @Allan Solomon Mejia ,

Thank you for your prompt response.

The IDScope is just one of our issues, we also need the same dps name since it is also configured on our devices. We actually using four parameters on our devices to connect to Azure: DPS name, IDscope, Sym key(Primary key) and DNS.

You mentioned before that the dps name error could be that our previous Azure may still be running (or its remnants atleast or undergoing clean-up) so in that case technically, Azure can delete that so the name will now be available, only if that is the case. Our most feared scenario is that other entity is now using it.

We will also put this dps name in our support ticket request for confirmation as well.

BTW, you are correct. We were on the basic support plan thats why we only have the community as support. Now we got the standard so we can send tickets directly to support engineers.

I will wait for the support engineers response and keep you posted. For the meantime I will keep this thread open to kindly ask for your further recommendation.

Thank you again for your time.

Cheers!

JB