Azure VIP Swap to different number of end points

Question

I'm trying to replace a hosted service with an empty redirect project, however when I try to do so I get the following error;

Windows Azure cannot perform a VIP swap between deployments that have a different number of endpoints.

I believe the only solutions available to me are the following;

1. Point DNS to the staging deployment which after 48 hours of propagation delete the production instance and change my DNS to a new deployment of the empty redirect project.
2. Delete the production instance and then immediately flip staging. This will of course result in downtime.

Unfortunetly changing DNS records isnt an option for me at this stage so unless anyone can suggest an alternative I will have to go with Point #2.

Although my only query with this is once I delete production and flip staging will the new production instance retain the old IP as like I said above im unable to change the DNS records.

Thanks, any queries let me know.

Answer 1

I resolved this issue by adding the additional endpoints to staging through another deployment. Although the application will never use them it allowed me to deploy without downtime.

Alternative solutions are included in my question.