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ZRS synchronously replicates across availability zones in one region. GRS and GZRS replicate asynchronously to a paired region, so recent writes may be lost during failover. RA-GRS and RA-GZRS add read-only access to that secondary before failover. Microsoft’s redundancy overview describes these options and their durability figures.
Azure Storage redundancy options compared
| Option | Primary-region replication | Secondary region | Secondary reads | Object durability per year | Primary-region outage behavior |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LRS | Synchronous copies in one physical datacenter | None | No | At least 99.999999999% (11 nines) | Not protected against datacenter loss |
| ZRS | Synchronous copies across three or more availability zones | None | No | At least 99.9999999999% (12 nines) | Access continues after one zone fails; networking or DNS updates can briefly interrupt access |
| GRS | LRS | Asynchronous copy to paired region, stored as LRS | No, until failover | At least 99.99999999999999% (16 nines) | Failover restores write access; recent writes may be lost |
| RA-GRS | LRS | Asynchronous copy to paired region, stored as LRS | Yes | At least 99.99999999999999% (16 nines) | Secondary reads are available; writes require failover |
| GZRS | ZRS across three or more availability zones | Asynchronous copy to paired region, stored as LRS | No, until failover | At least 99.99999999999999% (16 nines) | Zone failures are covered locally; regional recovery requires failover |
| RA-GZRS | ZRS across three or more availability zones | Asynchronous copy to paired region, stored as LRS | Yes | At least 99.99999999999999% (16 nines) | Combines zone resilience, secondary reads, and regional failover |
Durability is not the same as availability, recovery-point objective, or protection from accidental deletion. The durability figures in this table are from Microsoft’s Azure Storage redundancy documentation.
LRS: lowest cost, single-datacenter protection
Locally redundant storage keeps synchronous copies in one physical datacenter. It does not protect against loss of that datacenter or the wider region. LRS can suit reproducible data, temporary processing output, or workloads where the cost of zone and regional protection is not justified. The copies are not independent disaster-recovery locations.
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ZRS: synchronous protection across availability zones
Zone-redundant storage synchronously writes data across three or more availability zones in the primary region. A successful write is acknowledged after it reaches the ZRS replicas. ZRS is designed to protect against an availability-zone failure while keeping the account in the same region; networking or DNS changes can cause a temporary interruption. It does not provide a second region or protect against accidental deletion. See Microsoft’s explanation of Azure Files redundancy.
GRS: regional disaster recovery without secondary reads
Geo-redundant storage combines LRS in the primary region with asynchronous replication to the paired secondary region, where data is also stored with LRS. A write acknowledged in the primary may not yet exist in the secondary. GRS does not provide secondary reads before failover; it is for regional disaster recovery, not normal active-active access.
RA-GRS: read-only access to the secondary
Read-access geo-redundant storage has the same replication model as GRS, but exposes a secondary read endpoint. It can support reporting or validation where eventually consistent data is acceptable. The secondary remains read-only before failover, and replication remains asynchronous.
GZRS: zone resilience plus regional replication
Geo-zone-redundant storage uses synchronous ZRS in the primary region and asynchronous replication to the paired secondary, where data is stored with LRS. It combines protection from an availability-zone failure with a regional recovery location. Replication between regions is not synchronous, so the secondary can lag.
RA-GZRS: zone resilience with secondary reads
Read-access geo-zone-redundant storage combines synchronous zone redundancy in the primary region, asynchronous replication to the paired secondary, and read access through the secondary endpoint. Secondary writes require failover. It is suited to workloads that need these capabilities, but may cost more than simpler choices.
Which redundancy option should you choose?
| Requirement | Usually suitable | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest cost; data can be recreated | LRS | Copies stay in one datacenter |
| Protection from an availability-zone failure | ZRS | Synchronous copies span zones |
| Regional recovery without secondary reads | GRS or GZRS | Both replicate to a paired region; GZRS also protects against zone failure |
| Regional recovery with secondary reads | RA-GRS or RA-GZRS | Choose RA-GZRS if primary-region zone resilience is also needed |
| Data must stay in one region | LRS or ZRS | Neither creates a secondary-region copy |
| Protection from accidental deletion or overwrite | Redundancy plus recovery controls | Deletes and overwrites replicate too |
Azure determines the paired secondary region; you cannot choose it independently in the redundancy setting. Verify the pairing when data residency matters. Redundancy conversion does not move an account to another region.
Redundancy does not replace backup
Redundant copies follow data changes. Deletes, overwrites, and other changes are replicated, so redundancy alone is not point-in-time recovery. Use appropriate controls such as blob soft delete, versioning, container soft delete, snapshots, backup, immutable storage, or an application-level recovery process. Test restoration.
How to change an account’s redundancy
Azure portal
- Open the storage account in the Azure portal.
- Under Data management, select Redundancy.
- Update the Redundancy setting.
- Select Save.
The account-level setting applies to Blob Storage, Azure Files, Queue Storage, and Table Storage. Use separate accounts when services need different redundancy settings. See Microsoft’s redundancy migration guidance.
PowerShell
To change between LRS and geo-redundant settings, use the target SKU with Set-AzStorageAccount:
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Set-AzStorageAccount -ResourceGroupName <resource_group> -Name <storage_account> -SkuName <sku>
Examples include Standard_LRS, Standard_GRS, Standard_RAGRS, Standard_GZRS, and Standard_RAGZRS, subject to account-type and regional support. Changes to the zone-redundancy dimension use an account conversion:
Start-AzStorageAccountMigration -AccountName <String> -ResourceGroupName <String> -TargetSku <String> -AsJob
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Set-AzStorageAccount -ResourceGroupName <resource_group> -AccountName <storage_account> -UpgradeToStorageV2
Azure CLI
To change between LRS and geo-redundant settings, use:
az storage account update –name <storage-account> –resource-group <resource_group> –sku <sku>
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To upgrade a legacy GPv1 account to StorageV2, use:
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Conversion constraints and timing
Adding or removing geo-redundancy differs from changing the zone-redundancy dimension. For example, moving from LRS to GZRS requires geo-redundancy and a zone conversion as separate operations.
- A conversion has no completion SLA. In supported regions, it typically begins within 72 hours, but starting and completing can take longer.
- After a zone-redundancy conversion, wait at least 72 hours before another redundancy change.
- Non-hierarchical-namespace accounts do not require application downtime for supported conversions. HNS-enabled accounts can experience a pause of less than 30 seconds while resiliency changes.
- Unsupported conversions, or migrations that must fit a controlled maintenance window, require manual migration and downtime.
- The target redundancy type must be supported by the account type and region. Conversion does not move the account to another region.
- An LRS account created by customer-managed failover cannot be converted to ZRS or GZRS; manual migration is required.
- LRS-to-ZRS conversion is unsupported when Blob Storage NFSv3 is enabled.
- Azure Files NFSv4.1 shares with public endpoint access can block conversion until that access is disabled.
- ZRS, GZRS, and RA-GZRS do not support archive-tier blobs. Move or rehydrate archived blobs before conversion. LRS accounts with archive blobs also cannot switch to GRS or RA-GRS until those blobs are rehydrated, unless you use manual migration.
Timing and conversion constraints are from Microsoft’s redundancy migration guidance.
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Microsoft’s documented cost order, from least to most expensive, is LRS → ZRS → GRS → RA-GRS → GZRS → RA-GZRS. Actual billing depends on region, service, access tier, transactions, and data volume.
Adding zone redundancy has no initial conversion charge, but ongoing storage costs rise because more replicas are maintained. Adding geo-redundancy incurs a one-time egress charge during initial replication and replication-related egress charges for subsequent writes. Removing geo-redundancy deletes the secondary copy. Removing read access from RA-GRS continues to incur RA-GRS billing for 30 days after conversion. See Microsoft’s migration cost guidance.
How customer-managed failover works
Customer-managed failover is available for GRS, RA-GRS, GZRS, and RA-GZRS—not LRS or ZRS, which have no secondary region.
Portal procedure
- Open the storage account and select Redundancy under Data management.
- Confirm the account uses GRS, RA-GRS, GZRS, or RA-GZRS.
- Select Prepare for Customer-Managed failover.
- Choose Unplanned Failover or Planned failover.
- Review the confirmation page, type yes, and select Failover.
A planned failover waits for synchronization and displays the last sync time. An unplanned failover can lose writes not yet replicated. Customer-managed failover typically takes less than one hour, but completion time varies. Azure reports progress in Notifications, the Activity log, and the Redundancy page. These procedure details are from Microsoft’s failover guidance.
After failover, the secondary becomes primary and the account is automatically converted to LRS in the new primary region. After an unplanned failover, re-enable geo-redundancy manually; this creates a new secondary and incurs replication and egress charges. Writes made to the former primary after the last replicated point must be repeated.
PowerShell and CLI failover
PowerShell command:
Invoke-AzStorageAccountFailover -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Name $saName -FailoverType <planned|unplanned>
Install the Azure CLI storage preview extension required by the documented procedure:
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az extension add -n storage-preview
Check replication status and synchronization information:
az storage account show –resource-group <resource-group-name> –name <storage-account-name> –expand geoReplicationStats
Start failover:
az storage account failover –resource-group <resource-group-name> –name <storage-account-name> –failover-type <planned|unplanned>
The documented CLI failback capability requires Azure CLI 2.30.0 or later. Microsoft recommends Az PowerShell modules rather than the retired AzureRM family. See Microsoft’s failover instructions.
Important failover caveats
Failover is a disaster-recovery operation, not a way to move an account to a region of your choice. Azure determines the secondary. The Storage resource provider’s REST API can continue to report the original location after failover because the resource metadata location does not itself change.
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StorageV2 accounts support all six configurations. Legacy GPv1 accounts support classic LRS, GRS, and RA-GRS. Premium services have narrower choices:
- Premium block blob accounts: LRS and ZRS.
- Premium file-share accounts: LRS and ZRS.
- Premium page-blob accounts: LRS.
- Azure managed disks: LRS and ZRS, not GRS-family redundancy.
- Unmanaged disks: no ZRS or GZRS.
- Azure Files SSD shares: LRS and ZRS.
Check the redundancy matrix for the specific service. See Microsoft’s service and redundancy overview.
GPv1 and ZRS Classic retirement
Microsoft will retire GPv1 storage accounts on October 13, 2026; upgrade GPv1 accounts to GPv2 before then to avoid service disruption. New GPv1 account creation is already blocked in the portal, and ARM API creation is scheduled to be blocked in September 2026. These dates are from Microsoft’s GPv1 migration FAQ.
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ZRS Classic is a legacy configuration available only for block blobs in GPv1 accounts. It used an older asynchronous replication model, not modern synchronous three-zone ZRS. GPv1 standard ZRS accounts are also scheduled for retirement on October 13, 2026. ZRS Classic cannot be converted directly to LRS, GRS, or RA-GRS; upgrade to modern ZRS or manually migrate. The current portal path is Configuration settings → Upgrade. See Microsoft’s migration guidance.
FAQ
Is ZRS synchronous in Azure Storage?
Yes. Modern ZRS synchronously writes data across three or more availability zones in the primary region. See Microsoft’s ZRS explanation.
Does GRS allow reads from the secondary region?
No. Use RA-GRS for read-only access to the secondary endpoint. RA-GRS does not allow secondary writes before failover.
Is GZRS synchronous between regions?
No. GZRS is synchronous across zones in the primary region and asynchronous to the paired secondary region.
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Which Azure Storage redundancy option is best?
It depends on the failures you need to survive. Choose LRS for low-cost, reproducible data; ZRS for zone protection; GRS or GZRS for regional recovery; and RA-GRS or RA-GZRS when secondary reads are also needed.
Does redundancy protect against accidental deletion?
No. Deletes and overwrites are replicated. Use soft delete, versioning, snapshots, backup, immutable storage, or another recovery mechanism.
Can I choose Azure’s secondary region?
No. Azure determines the paired secondary region for the primary region. Redundancy conversion does not move the account.
How long does a redundancy conversion take?
There is no completion SLA. In supported regions, a customer-initiated conversion typically begins within 72 hours, but it can take longer. After a zone conversion, wait at least 72 hours before another redundancy change. See Microsoft’s conversion guidance.
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The secondary becomes primary and the account is automatically converted to LRS in the new primary region. After an unplanned failover, manually re-enable geo-redundancy; writes not replicated before failure may need to be recreated.
The Bottom Line
Choose LRS when data is disposable or easy to recreate. Choose ZRS for availability-zone protection. Choose GRS or GZRS for regional recovery, remembering replication is asynchronous. Choose RA-GRS or RA-GZRS when you also need read-only access to the secondary.
Before changing an account, check service support, archive blobs, NFS features, conversion timing, and the account-wide effect of the redundancy setting.
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