Cannot delete Azure SQL Database due to “orphaned” Data Sync metadata

Hello Nikolaos Chatzinikolaou

It looks like the database is still registered as a “hub” (sync metadata) database, so Azure won’t let you drop it until all sync groups and agents are fully removed. Here’s a checklist you can follow to clean everything up and then delete the DB:

1. Delete all Sync Groups:
   • Portal: – Go to your SQL Database → Data Sync → Sync Groups. – Delete each sync group and wait for the “Deleting…” state to finish.

• CLI/PowerShell (if the portal blade hangs): –
List groups:

 Get-AzSqlSyncGroup -ResourceGroupName "ResourceGroup01" -ServerName "Server01" -DatabaseName "Database01" | Format-List

Delete group:

Remove-AzSqlSyncGroup -ResourceGroupName "ResourceGroup01" -ServerName "Server01" -DatabaseName "database01" -Name "syncGroup01"

Unregister (or Force-Delete) Sync Agents:

• Portal: SQL Data Sync → Agents → Delete each agent.
• If an on-prem agent shows “unreachable,” use the “Force Delete” option in the portal or run the Data Sync Agent app locally and choose Force Delete.

Clean Up Orphaned Metadata (if needed):
• If the portal/CLI still sees phantom sync objects, run the Data Sync Metadata Cleanup script: https://github.com/vitomaz-msft/DataSyncMetadataCleanup
• Important: don’t manually drop Data Sync tables or objects in your DB—use the supported script.

**
Remove Any Resource Locks:**
• In the Azure portal, open the Resource Group → Locks and remove any “Delete” or “ReadOnly” locks on the database or RG.

**
Delete the Database:**
• Portal: go to the DB blade → Delete
• CLI:

   az sql db delete -g <RG> -s <Server> -n <HubDB> --yes

After those steps, you should be able to drop the database cleanly. If not, please let me know i will help you.

Hello Saraswathi Devadula**,

**Thanks for quick response. I've tried using Vitor Tomaz’s cleanup scripts, but unfortunately didn't help resolve my problem. This Azure SQL database is still registered as a sync metadata DB in the Azure backend. The links from the Azure backend still remain so all sync groups\members will need to be deleted. The Sync Groups\Members cannot be retrieved due to 504 GatewayTimeout error.

I believe that Microsoft will need to clear the stuck registration at this stage as the service keeps timing out.

Can you please assist?

Regards,
Nick

Hello Nikolaos Chatzinikolaou
Kindly please share the details requested in the private message for further investigation.

Hello Nikolaos Chatzinikolaou

I would recommend to run both scripts again and share the output.
https://github.com/vitomaz-msft/DataSyncMetadataCleanup

Post that check if there is any DSS schema object around

SELECT      s.name  AS schema_name,     o.name  AS object_name,     o.type_desc AS object_type FROM sys.objects o JOIN sys.schemas s     ON o.schema_id = s.schema_id WHERE s.name = 'dss' ORDER BY o.type_desc, o.name;

--if there is something drop it