Scale compute

This article provides step-by-step instructions to perform scaling operations for the compute of an Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server.

You're allowed to change your compute between the burstable, general purpose, and memory optimized tiers. And, among each of those tiers, you can choose the number of virtual cores (vCores) that is more suitable to run your application. To learn more about the different compute tiers available in Azure Virtual Machines, and the use case for which they're best suited, refer to size for virtual machines in Azure.

When you request a scaling operation of the compute used by your Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server, your server undergoes a restart and so leaves your server unavailable for some time. For more information about how that process works, and the expected duration of the downtime, see near-zero downtime scaling.

Using the Azure portal:

Select your Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server.
In the resource menu, select Compute + storage.
If you want to select a different tier than the one currently selected, in the Compute tier group of radio buttons, select the option that best adjusts to your needs.
If the region of your server supports Intel and AMD processors, you can use the Compute processor radio button to filter the options listed in the Compute size drop-down to only hardware produced by the manufacturer selected.
If you want to select a different machine size among the ones available in the same tier, expand the Compute size drop-down and select the size that best suits your needs.
Once you choose your desired configuration, select Save.
If the changes you're requesting require a server restart and its associated service disruption, confirm or abort your decision to apply the configuration change.
A notification shows that a deployment is in progress.
When the scale process completes, a notification shows that the deployment succeeded.

You can initiate the scaling of your compute via the az postgres flexible-server update command.

az postgres flexible-server update \
  --resource-group <resource_group> \
  --name <server> \
  --tier <tier> \
  --sku-name <sku_name>

Note

The previous command might need to be completed with other parameters whose presence and values would vary depending on how you want to configure other features of the existing server.

The list of allowed values for the --sku-name parameter is dependent of the value passed to the --tier parameter, and of the region in which you're trying to deploy your server.

If you pass an incorrect value to --sku-name, you get the following error with the list of supported SKU names:

Invalid value for --sku-name. The SKU name is not available in the <tier> tier. Provide a valid SKU name for this tier, or specify --tier with the correct tier. Allowed values: ['<sku_name_1>', '<sku_name_2>', ..., '<sku_name_n>']

If the changes you're requesting require a server restart and its associated service disruption, and you haven't provided the --yes parameter, you receive the following prompt:

You are trying to update the compute or storage size assigned to your server in a way that requires a server restart. During the restart, you'll experience some downtime of the server. Do you want to proceed? (y/n):

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Last updated on 2026-06-11

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