When Windows Azure was launched commercially in February 2009, customers were allowed to deploy twenty applications (aka hosted services) per subscription. Each application in Windows Azure is mapped to a specific DNS name and assigned a public IP address from the Windows Azure IP range. After analyzing typical usage patterns, it was decided to lower the limit of Windows Azure applications to six per subscription in order to better serve all customers equally. This new policy goes into effect today (March 23rd).

If you need more than six applications in a given subscription, you can contact Windows Azure Support to request an increase. You can also create additional Windows Azure subscriptions, each of which will allow you to create up to six applications. The same information (*) is required if you want a quota increase for hosted services as for the other limits you can increase (number of role instances and number of storage accoutns for a subscription).

If you have an existing Windows Azure subscription with more than six applications, your applications will continue to run uninterrupted. However, if you delete one of the applications, you will not be able to create a new one until the total number of applications you have falls under six.

(*) Quota increase:

  • If you need more than the default quota allocation, you will need to contact Microsoft Online support to initiate a credit check in order to get more resources. The same process applies to the number of role instances, storage accounts and hosted services.
    • You can read more details on the Windows Azure Support page
    • Direct link to call support is currently located in the top right corner of the support page. If you decide to call support to get a quota increase, have your Subscription ID readily available. To find your Subscription ID:
      • go to the Windows Azure developer portal,
      • sign in, select a project,
      • go to the Account tab,
      • the Sub ID will be displayed in the Support Info module at the bottom of the page.

[Reference: Windows Azure Team Blog]