diff --git a/dnsapi/dns_azure.sh b/dnsapi/dns_azure.sh
index 0834ede7..677a9f75 100644
--- a/dnsapi/dns_azure.sh
+++ b/dnsapi/dns_azure.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env sh
 
+WIKI="https://github.com/Neilpang/acme.sh/wiki/How-to-use-Azure-DNS"
+
 ########  Public functions #####################
 
 # Usage: add  _acme-challenge.www.domain.com   "XKrxpRBosdIKFzxW_CT3KLZNf6q0HG9i01zxXp5CPBs"
@@ -69,12 +71,36 @@ dns_azure_add() {
 
   acmeRecordURI="https://management.azure.com$(printf '%s' "$_domain_id" | sed 's/\\//g')/TXT/$_sub_domain?api-version=2017-09-01"
   _debug "$acmeRecordURI"
-  body="{\"properties\": {\"TTL\": 3600, \"TXTRecords\": [{\"value\": [\"$txtvalue\"]}]}}"
+  # Get existing TXT record
+  _azure_rest GET "$acmeRecordURI" "" "$accesstoken"
+  values="{\"value\":[\"$txtvalue\"]}"
+  timestamp="$(_time)"
+  if [ "$_code" = "200" ]; then
+    vlist="$(echo "$response" | _egrep_o "\"value\"\s*:\s*\[\s*\"[^\"]*\"\s*]" | cut -d : -f 2 | tr -d "[]\"")"
+    _debug "existing TXT found"
+    _debug "$vlist"
+    existingts="$(echo "$response" | _egrep_o "\"acmetscheck\"\s*:\s*\"[^\"]*\"" | _head_n 1 | cut -d : -f 2 | tr -d "\"")"
+    if [ -z "$existingts" ]; then
+      # the record was not created by acme.sh. Copy the exisiting entires
+      existingts=$timestamp
+    fi
+    _diff="$(_math "$timestamp - $existingts")"
+    _debug "existing txt age: $_diff"
+    # only use recently added records and discard if older than 2 hours because they are probably orphaned
+    if [ "$_diff" -lt 7200 ]; then
+      _debug "existing txt value: $vlist"
+      for v in $vlist; do
+        values="$values ,{\"value\":[\"$v\"]}"
+      done
+    fi
+  fi
+  # Add the txtvalue TXT Record
+  body="{\"properties\":{\"metadata\":{\"acmetscheck\":\"$timestamp\"},\"TTL\":10, \"TXTRecords\":[$values]}}"
   _azure_rest PUT "$acmeRecordURI" "$body" "$accesstoken"
   if [ "$_code" = "200" ] || [ "$_code" = '201' ]; then
-    _info "validation record added"
+    _info "validation value added"
   else
-    _err "error adding validation record ($_code)"
+    _err "error adding validation value ($_code)"
     return 1
   fi
 }
@@ -141,13 +167,38 @@ dns_azure_rm() {
 
   acmeRecordURI="https://management.azure.com$(printf '%s' "$_domain_id" | sed 's/\\//g')/TXT/$_sub_domain?api-version=2017-09-01"
   _debug "$acmeRecordURI"
-  body="{\"properties\": {\"TTL\": 3600, \"TXTRecords\": [{\"value\": [\"$txtvalue\"]}]}}"
-  _azure_rest DELETE "$acmeRecordURI" "" "$accesstoken"
-  if [ "$_code" = "200" ] || [ "$_code" = '204' ]; then
-    _info "validation record removed"
-  else
-    _err "error removing validation record ($_code)"
-    return 1
+  # Get existing TXT record
+  _azure_rest GET "$acmeRecordURI" "" "$accesstoken"
+  timestamp="$(_time)"
+  if [ "$_code" = "200" ]; then
+    vlist="$(echo "$response" | _egrep_o "\"value\"\s*:\s*\[\s*\"[^\"]*\"\s*]" | cut -d : -f 2 | tr -d "[]\"" | grep -v "$txtvalue")"
+    values=""
+    comma=""
+    for v in $vlist; do
+      values="$values$comma{\"value\":[\"$v\"]}"
+      comma=","
+    done
+    if [ -z "$values" ]; then
+      # No values left remove record
+      _debug "removing validation record completely $acmeRecordURI"
+      _azure_rest DELETE "$acmeRecordURI" "" "$accesstoken"
+      if [ "$_code" = "200" ] || [ "$_code" = '204' ]; then
+        _info "validation record removed"
+      else
+        _err "error removing validation record ($_code)"
+        return 1
+      fi
+    else
+      # Remove only txtvalue from the TXT Record
+      body="{\"properties\":{\"metadata\":{\"acmetscheck\":\"$timestamp\"},\"TTL\":10, \"TXTRecords\":[$values]}}"
+      _azure_rest PUT "$acmeRecordURI" "$body" "$accesstoken"
+      if [ "$_code" = "200" ] || [ "$_code" = '201' ]; then
+        _info "validation value removed"
+      else
+        _err "error removing validation value ($_code)"
+        return 1
+      fi
+    fi
   fi
 }
 
@@ -159,52 +210,92 @@ _azure_rest() {
   data="$3"
   accesstoken="$4"
 
-  export _H1="authorization: Bearer $accesstoken"
-  export _H2="accept: application/json"
-  export _H3="Content-Type: application/json"
-
-  _debug "$ep"
-  if [ "$m" != "GET" ]; then
-    _debug data "$data"
-    response="$(_post "$data" "$ep" "" "$m")"
-  else
-    response="$(_get "$ep")"
-  fi
-  _debug2 response "$response"
-
-  _code="$(grep "^HTTP" "$HTTP_HEADER" | _tail_n 1 | cut -d " " -f 2 | tr -d "\r\n")"
-  _debug2 "http response code $_code"
-
-  if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
-    _err "error $ep"
+  MAX_REQUEST_RETRY_TIMES=5
+  _request_retry_times=0
+  while [ "${_request_retry_times}" -lt "$MAX_REQUEST_RETRY_TIMES" ]; do
+    _debug3 _request_retry_times "$_request_retry_times"
+    export _H1="authorization: Bearer $accesstoken"
+    export _H2="accept: application/json"
+    export _H3="Content-Type: application/json"
+    # clear headers from previous request to avoid getting wrong http code on timeouts
+    :>"$HTTP_HEADER"
+    _debug "$ep"
+    if [ "$m" != "GET" ]; then
+      _secure_debug2 "data $data"
+      response="$(_post "$data" "$ep" "" "$m")"
+    else
+      response="$(_get "$ep")"
+    fi
+    _secure_debug2 "response $response"
+    _code="$(grep "^HTTP" "$HTTP_HEADER" | _tail_n 1 | cut -d " " -f 2 | tr -d "\r\n")"
+    _debug "http response code $_code"
+    if [ "$_code" = "401" ]; then
+      # we have an invalid access token set to expired
+      _saveaccountconf_mutable AZUREDNS_TOKENVALIDTO "0"
+      _err "access denied make sure your Azure settings are correct. See $WIKI"
+      return 1
+    fi
+    # See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/best-practices/retry-service-specific#general-rest-and-retry-guidelines for retryable HTTP codes
+    if [ "$?" != "0" ] || [ -z "$_code" ] || [ "$_code" = "408" ] || [ "$_code" = "500" ] || [ "$_code" = "503" ] || [ "$_code" = "504" ]; then
+      _request_retry_times="$(_math "$_request_retry_times" + 1)"
+      _info "REST call error $_code retrying $ep in $_request_retry_times s"
+      _sleep "$_request_retry_times"
+      continue
+    fi
+    break
+  done
+  if [ "$_request_retry_times" = "$MAX_REQUEST_RETRY_TIMES" ]; then
+    _err "Error Azure REST called was retried $MAX_REQUEST_RETRY_TIMES times."
+    _err "Calling $ep failed."
     return 1
   fi
+  response="$(echo "$response" | _normalizeJson)"
   return 0
 }
 
 ## Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/active-directory-protocols-oauth-service-to-service#request-an-access-token
 _azure_getaccess_token() {
-  TENANTID=$1
+  tenantID=$1
   clientID=$2
   clientSecret=$3
 
+  accesstoken="${AZUREDNS_BEARERTOKEN:-$(_readaccountconf_mutable AZUREDNS_BEARERTOKEN)}"
+  expires_on="${AZUREDNS_TOKENVALIDTO:-$(_readaccountconf_mutable AZUREDNS_TOKENVALIDTO)}"
+
+  # can we reuse the bearer token?
+  if [ -n "$accesstoken" ] && [ -n "$expires_on" ]; then
+    if [ "$(_time)" -lt "$expires_on" ]; then
+      # brearer token is still valid - reuse it
+      _debug "reusing bearer token"
+      printf "%s" "$accesstoken"
+      return 0
+    else
+      _debug "bearer token expired"
+    fi
+  fi
+  _debug "getting new bearer token"
+
   export _H1="accept: application/json"
   export _H2="Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
 
   body="resource=$(printf "%s" 'https://management.core.windows.net/' | _url_encode)&client_id=$(printf "%s" "$clientID" | _url_encode)&client_secret=$(printf "%s" "$clientSecret" | _url_encode)&grant_type=client_credentials"
-  _debug data "$body"
-  response="$(_post "$body" "https://login.windows.net/$TENANTID/oauth2/token" "" "POST")"
+  _secure_debug2 "data $body"
+  response="$(_post "$body" "https://login.microsoftonline.com/$tenantID/oauth2/token" "" "POST")"
+  _secure_debug2 "response $response"
+  response="$(echo "$response" | _normalizeJson)"
   accesstoken=$(echo "$response" | _egrep_o "\"access_token\":\"[^\"]*\"" | _head_n 1 | cut -d : -f 2 | tr -d \")
-  _debug2 "response $response"
+  expires_on=$(echo "$response" | _egrep_o "\"expires_on\":\"[^\"]*\"" | _head_n 1 | cut -d : -f 2 | tr -d \")
 
   if [ -z "$accesstoken" ]; then
-    _err "no acccess token received"
+    _err "no acccess token received. Check your Azure settings see $WIKI"
     return 1
   fi
   if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
     _err "error $response"
     return 1
   fi
+  _saveaccountconf_mutable AZUREDNS_BEARERTOKEN "$accesstoken"
+  _saveaccountconf_mutable AZUREDNS_TOKENVALIDTO "$expires_on"
   printf "%s" "$accesstoken"
   return 0
 }
@@ -222,7 +313,6 @@ _get_root() {
   ## Per https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-subscription-service-limits#dns-limits you are limited to 100 Zone/subscriptions anyways
   ##
   _azure_rest GET "https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/$subscriptionId/providers/Microsoft.Network/dnszones?api-version=2017-09-01" "" "$accesstoken"
-
   # Find matching domain name is Json response
   while true; do
     h=$(printf "%s" "$domain" | cut -d . -f $i-100)