Azure Support Plans

*Also available through Microsoft Customer Agreement and Reduction Eligible when acquired under that agreement.

Subscription Term

Except as described below for Azure reservations, Customer may only subscribe to Microsoft Azure Services (including Microsoft Azure Services Plans) for a subscription term that ends on the end date of Customer’s Enrollment (“coterminous”). Customer must have at least two months remaining in its Enrollment term in order to subscribe to Microsoft Azure Services.

Purchasing Microsoft Azure Services

Microsoft Azure Services may be purchased in one or a combination of the following ways:

Azure prepayment: Customer will have access to its entire Azure prepayment throughout the term of its Enrollment if Customer agrees to be invoiced for the full amount upfront (the “Fully Prepaid Option”). Alternatively, if Customer elects to be invoiced for its Azure prepayment on an annual basis, Customer will have access to an Allocated Annual prepayment each year of the Enrollment (the “Annually Prepaid Option”). Under the Fully Prepaid Option, any unused Azure prepayment will be forfeited at the end of the Enrollment, and under the Annually Prepaid Option, any unused Allocated Annual prepayment will be forfeited on the following Enrollment anniversary date. Customer may contact Microsoft or Customer’s reseller about increasing its Azure prepayment or reducing its Allocated Annual prepayment for any future Enrollment anniversary. Customer’s reseller (if any) must process reductions with Microsoft prior to the next anniversary.

Consumption: Customer pays based on the amount of Microsoft Azure Services consumed during a billing period. Certain features of the Microsoft Azure Services may only be available for purchase on a consumption basis.

Microsoft Azure Services Plan: Customer may be able to subscribe to a Microsoft Azure Service as a Microsoft Azure Services Plan.

Automatic Provisioning: As part of the Server and Cloud Enrollment, Customers who have not ordered Microsoft Azure Services as part of their Enrollment may receive an activation email from Microsoft inviting them to provision Microsoft Azure Services under their Enrollment without an Azure prepayment.

Azure reservations: Azure reservations are purchased for specified terms of up to three years with either a single upfront payment or equal monthly payments (when available). Azure reservations expire at the end of the specified term. Customer will not be refunded payment (paid or scheduled) for unused Azure reservations.  Using Azure commitment tiers, Customers pay upfront monthly for connected containers and Azure usage. Overage will be invoiced when usage exceeds the commitment tier limit. For disconnected containers, Azure commitment tier payments are made upfront yearly, except for disconnected container proof of concept (POC) SKUs, which have a one month prorated price. Customers can renew the POC license automatically up to two times, allowing for three months of total usage of a POC SKU.

Azure compute savings plan: Azure compute savings plan is purchased for specified terms of up to three years with either a single upfront payment or equal monthly payments (when available). Azure compute savings plan expires at the end of the specified term. Customer will not be refunded payment (paid or scheduled) for unused Azure compute savings plan. Azure compute savings plans are noncancellable. Customer will owe the amount charged for the plan for the duration of the selected term, even if the Agreement is terminated. Notwithstanding the terms in Customer’s volume licensing agreement, fixed pricing does not apply to Azure compute savings plan.

Pricing

Microsoft may offer lower prices to Customer (or Customer’s reseller) for individual Microsoft Azure Services during Customer’s Enrollment term on a permanent or temporary (promotional) basis. Fixed pricing does not apply to promotions and previews.

Notwithstanding the terms in Customer's volume licensing agreement, fixed pricing does not apply to Azure reservations, Azure spot, or Azure Communication Services. Customer can refer to the Azure portal for current pricing including adjustments for FX rates.

Azure Spot: Customer can refer to the Azure portal for pricing adjustments. Customer's access to a given Azure Spot virtual machine is temporary and may be interrupted at any time. Customer may elect to be notified immediately prior to workload interruption.

1. Using Azure prepayment: Each month, Microsoft will deduct from Customer’s Azure prepayment (or Allocated Annual prepayment, if applicable) the monetary value of Customer’s usage of eligible Microsoft Azure Services. Once Customer’s Azure prepayment (or Allocated Annual prepayment, if applicable) balance has been exhausted, any additional usage will be invoiced at Consumption Rates (as described below).
2. Invoicing Azure prepayment: If Customer elects the Fully Prepaid Option, Azure prepayment will be invoiced immediately. If Customers elects the Annually Prepaid Option, the first Allocated Annual prepayment will be invoiced immediately, and future Allocated Annual prepayments will be invoiced on the anniversary of the Enrollment effective date.
3. Invoicing Azure prepayment overage: If Customer’s usage is higher than either its Azure prepayment under the Fully Prepaid Option or its Allocated Annual prepayment under the Annually Prepaid Option, such excess will be invoiced at Consumption Rates to Customer (or its reseller) at the end of each Enrollment month.
4. Consumption invoicing: If Customer provisions Microsoft Azure Services without a Azure prepayment, it (or its reseller) will be invoiced monthly at Consumption Rates. All usage of the Microsoft Azure Services after the expiration or termination of Customer’s subscription term will be invoiced to Customer (or its reseller) at then-current Consumption Rates on a monthly basis.
5. Azure Services Plan invoice: The purchase of a Microsoft Azure Services Plan will be invoiced to Customer (or its reseller) either on an upfront or annual basis, according to the terms of Customer’s volume licensing agreement governing payment terms for the order of Online Services generally. Azure prepayment cannot be applied to the purchase of a Microsoft Azure Services Plan; provided, however, that if a Microsoft Azure Services Plan includes the purchase of an initial quantity of a service (“Initial Quantity”), Customer usage that exceeds the Initial Quantity will be billed at Consumption Rates, and Customer’s Azure prepayment can be applied to such usage.
6. Azure reservations: The purchase of Azure reservations will be deducted automatically from any available Azure prepayment. If Customer has used all of its Azure prepayment or if the cost of Azure reservations exceeds the available Azure prepayment balance at the time of purchase, the excess will be invoiced as otherwise provided in this “Payment and Fees” section. Azure reservations Customer purchases via Azure.com will be charged against its credit card on file for the full upfront payment, or the charge will appear on its next invoice. Azure reserved instances for a virtual machine or Azure SQL Database services cover compute only (the base rate) and do not include the cost of the software (e.g., Windows Server or SQL Server), storage or back-up. Conversely, Azure reserved instances for software do not include the cost of compute. 
7. Azure compute savings plan: The purchase of Azure compute savings plan will be deducted automatically from any available Azure prepayment. If Customer has used all of its Azure prepayment or if the cost of Azure compute savings plan exceeds the available Azure prepayment balance at the time of purchase, the excess will be invoiced as otherwise provided in this “Payment and Fees” section. Azure compute savings plan Customer purchases via Azure.com will be charged against its credit card on file for the full upfront payment, or the charge will appear on its next invoice. Azure compute savings plan covers compute only (the base rate) and does not include the cost of the software (e.g., Windows Server or SQL Server), storage or back-up.

Azure Reservation Options

The following options apply to Azure reservations Customer has purchased.

1. Exchange: is an option that allows Customer to apply the monetary value of a remaining Azure reservation term to the purchase of one or more new Azure reservations of equal or greater monetary value for the same service.
2. Cancel: is an option that allows Customer to receive a prorated refund based on a remaining Azure reservation term minus an early termination fee (currently 12 percent) and subject to a cancellation limit set by Microsoft (currently $50,000 per year).

Five Year Reservations for Azure VMs

As an exception to the general terms for Azure reservations, we offer five year Azure reservation terms for select VM families. The early termination fee for a five-year Azure reservation is 35%. Microsoft reserves the right during a five-year Azure reservation to move Customer to a newer version of the HB series for reasons including, but not limited to, unavailability of parts for maintenance or lack of support from the hardware vendor. In such cases, the new version and hardware configuration will provide at least the same level of performance.

Restriction on U.S. Police Department Use of Azure Facial Recognition Services  

Customer may not use Azure Facial Recognition Services if Customer is, or is allowing use of such services by or for, a police department in the United States. Violation of any of the restrictions in this section may result in immediate suspension of Customer’s use of the service.

Notices

The Communication Services, Professional Services, Azure Media Services H.265/HEV Encoding, Adobe Flash Player, H.264/AVC Visual Standard, and VC-1 Video Standard in Notices apply.  Any deployment services provided to Customer are subject to the Professional Services terms (refer to Professional Services).

Service Level Agreement

Refer to http://azure.microsoft.com/support/legal/sla/.

Limitations

Customer may not

• resell or redistribute the Microsoft Azure Services, or
• allow multiple users to directly or indirectly access any Microsoft Azure Service feature that is made available on a per user basis (e.g., Microsoft Entra ID). Specific reassignment terms applicable to a Microsoft Azure Service feature may be provided in supplemental documentation for that feature.

Retirement of Services or Features

Microsoft will provide Customer with 12 months’ notice before removing any material feature or functionality or discontinuing a service, unless security, legal or system performance considerations require an expedited removal. This does not apply to Previews.

Data Retention after Expiration or Termination

The expiration or termination of Customer’s Online Service subscription will not change Customer’s obligation to pay for hosting of Customer Data during any Extended Term.

Azure Customer Solution

Use Rights and Conditions for Use

Customer may create and maintain a Customer Solution. Despite anything to the contrary in Customer’s licensing agreement, Customer may permit third parties to access and use the Microsoft Azure Services solely in connection with the use of that Customer Solution. 

Customer is responsible for: (1) ensuring that third parties who access, use or distribute the Customer Solution comply with these terms, the terms and conditions of Customer's licensing agreement, and all applicable laws; and (2) obtaining any necessary licenses related to Standards in a Customer Solution. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Customer’s volume licensing agreement, Microsoft has no defense obligation or liability for any infringement claim for patents alleged to be infringed by the implementation of any Standards in a Customer Solution.
 

Use of Software within Microsoft Azure

For Microsoft software available within a Microsoft Azure Service, Microsoft grants Customer a limited license to use the software only within the Microsoft Azure Service.

Data Center Availability

Usage of data centers in certain regions may be restricted to Customers located in or near that region. For information on service availability by region, please refer to http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/regions.

Sharing

The Microsoft Azure Services may provide the ability to share a Customer Solution and/or Customer Data with other Azure users and communities, or other third parties. If Customer chooses to engage in such sharing, Customer agrees that it is giving a license to all authorized users, including the rights to use, modify, and repost its Customer Solution and/or the Customer Data, and Customer is allowing Microsoft to make them available to such users in a manner and location of its choosing.

Marketplace

Microsoft Azure enables Customer to access or purchase products and services which are optimized for use with Azure through features such as the Microsoft Azure Marketplace and the Virtual Machine Gallery, subject to separate terms available at https://learn.microsoft.com/legal/marketplace/marketplace-terms.

Please note these resources are provided for reference purposes only and are not considered to be part of the Product Terms.