Azure CDN retirement in China FAQ

Here are the frequently questions (FAQs) about Azure CDN retirement.

When will Azure CDN be retired in China?

Azure China CDN will be retired starting from December 1, 2025, in China. Customers must either migrate to Azure Front Door or an alternative CDN before this date to avoid service disruption.

Do you have a replacement service?

Yes. Azure Front Door (AFD) is the recommended replacement service. It offers native integration with the Azure ecosystem and DevOps workflows, enhanced content delivery and load balancing features, built-in Web Application Firewall (WAF), and advanced security features. Azure Front Door is available in China East 3 and China North 3 regions.

What are the key timelines?

  • Starting from September 15, 2025, no new profiles are allowed. If you need to create new profiles, please create on Azure Front Door.
  • Starting from November 15, 2025, no changes to existing Azure CDN profiles are allowed.
  • Starting from December 1, 2025, all existing CDN profiles will stop serving traffic.
  • Starting from December 1, 2025, compatible (with AFD) profiles are auto-migrated to Azure Front Door. The auto migration is an in place SKU upgrade from Azure CDN to Azure Front Door. Hence customers won't be able to view Azure CDN profiles after the migration.
  • Between December 1, 2025 and January 31, 2026, Azure CDN configurations are still visible via Azure portal for profile that are not eligible for auto-migration and are not migrated by customers. However, these profiles are not active and not serving traffic.
  • Starting from February 1, 2026, for profiles that are auto-migrated to Azure Front Door, the CDN endpoint exampledomain.mcchcdn.com as the CNAME endpoint can’t be used any more.

When is the latest I should migrate?

It is recommended to complete migration to Azure Front Door or an alternative CDN provider before November 30, 2025.

What if I don't migrate by the due date?

Azure Front Door will attempt to automatically migrate your CDN resources. However, some configurations cannot be migrated automatically and there will be service disruptions. See the next question for details.

How do I tell if my profile can be auto migrated?

Not all Azure CDN profiles can be migrated due to the feature gaps. Here are the scenarios not eligible for auto-migration.

  1. Disabled Azure CDN profiles
  2. An active profile doesn't have any endpoint
  3. Disabled endpoints within an active CDN profile
  4. Azure CDN endpoints that doesn't have active requests in the past 3 month
  5. Azure CDN profiles that aren't compatible for migration based on the gap mentioned in Azure CDN and Front Door comparison, Azure Front Door won’t migrate your profile and your service will experience service disruption from December 1, 2025. Please refer to the compatibility section in Azure CDN and Front Door comparison, you can also see if your profile is eligible for migration on portal (screenshot below). If some of the features aren’t supported on Azure Front Door, your Azure CDN profiles can’t be automatically migrated. If you are using the global acceleration or overseas, AFD can’t migrate your CDN profile.

Here is an example if your profile is not eligible for migration. Clicking "View details" will provide more details of what are not eligible and what you can potentially act. Screenshot of migration on Azure portal. Screenshot of provide more details of what are not eligible on Azure portal.

What can I do if my profile is not eligible for migration?

You must migrate to an alternative third party CDN. Please reach out to support team or sales contact if you want to learn more.

Do I need to make any changes on my side if AFD team helps migrate to Azure Front Door?

No, AFD will take care of migration without downtime if your instance are eligible for auto migration. However, after migration, you have to make changes to the dev-ops pipeline automation by using AFD API or other command line tools, such as Az.Cdn, etc.

Is there any DNS change to point my custom domain from Azure CDN endpoint to AFD endpoint?

AFD will add XXX.mcchcdn.com CNAME to xxx-hash.z01.frontdoor.azure.cn. However, please plan to change your DNS CNAME from XXX.mcchcdn.com to xxx-hash.z01.frontdoor.azure.cn by end of January 2026 to avoid unexpected disruption.

Will my cost increase if I migrate to Azure Front Door?

It depends on your traffic pattern. Azure Front Door will have different billing meters and may result in higher costs. However, Microsoft will offer a time-bound discount on a per customer request basis to the migrated Azure Front Door profile to match the China CDN cost. Please reach out to your sales representative to request the discount. Starting from October 1, 2026, standard AFD billing will apply to all meters.

Are there any noticeable changes after migration to Azure Front Door?

A few noticeable changes

  • Feature set: Azure Front Door offers richer self-service features in customize cipher suite, URL rewrite or URL redirect with server variables and header manipulations in rules engine, path-based routing, Web Application Firewall, origin security using Private Link, etc.
  • Pricing model: Azure CDN charges for egress only while Azure Front Door charges for base fee, egress from AFD edge to clients, ingress from AFD edge to origin, request fee.
  • PoPs: Azure Front Door has presence in Azure China East 3 and Azure China North 3 regions while Azure CDN has hundreds of points of presences.

What if I don’t want to migrate to Azure Front Door?

You would need to migrate to an alternative third party CDN. Please reach out to support team or sales contact if you want to learn more.