/azure-load-balancer

name: azure-load-balancer
description: Expert knowledge for Azure Load Balancer development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. Use when configuring backend pools/rules, SNAT/outbound, dual-stack IPv4/IPv6, health probes, or LB metrics/APIs, and other Azure Load Balancer related development tasks. Not for Azure Application Gateway (use azure-application-gateway), Azure Front Door (use azure-front-door), Azure Traffic Manager (use azure-traffic-manager), Azure Virtual Network (use azure-virtual-network).
compatibility: Requires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or fetch_webpage to retrieve documentation.
metadata:
  generated_at: "2026-09-13"
  generator: "docs2skills/1.0.0"

Azure Load Balancer Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Load Balancer. Covers troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. It combines local quick-reference content with remote documentation fetching capabilities.

How to Use This Skill

> **IMPORTANT for Agent**: Use the **Category Index** below to locate relevant sections. For categories with line ranges (e.g., `L35-L120`), use `read_file` with the specified lines. For categories with file links (e.g., `[security.md](security.md)`), use `read_file` on the linked reference file

> **IMPORTANT for Agent**: If `metadata.generated_at` is more than 3 months old, suggest the user pull the latest version from the repository. If `mcp_microsoftdocs` tools are not available, suggest the user install it: [Installation Guide](https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/mcp/blob/main/README.md)

This skill requires **network access** to fetch documentation content:

• **Preferred**: Use `mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch` with query string `from=learn-agent-skill`. Returns Markdown.
• **Fallback**: Use `fetch_webpage` with query string `from=learn-agent-skill&accept=text/markdown`. Returns Markdown.

Category Index

| Category | Lines | Description | |----------|-------|-------------| | Troubleshooting | L37-L44 | Diagnosing and fixing Azure Load Balancer issues: health event logs, monitoring/alerts, connectivity problems, and testing public frontend reachability. | | Best Practices | L45-L50 | Designing and deploying Azure Load Balancer and VM scale set architectures for reliability, performance, scaling, health probes, and high availability best practices. | | Decision Making | L51-L57 | Guidance on choosing the right Load Balancer SKU, upgrading from Basic to Standard, and migrating workloads from AWS Network Load Balancer to Azure. | | Architecture & Design Patterns | L58-L62 | Design patterns for traffic distribution and session affinity, plus guidance for configuring outbound internet connectivity and SNAT behavior with Azure Load Balancer. | | Limits & Quotas | L63-L70 | Limits, behaviors, and configuration of Load Balancer TCP idle timeouts, TCP resets, and outbound SNAT connection quotas for inbound and outbound traffic. | | Security | L71-L76 | Security guidance for Azure Load Balancer: hardening, access controls, and using Azure DDoS Protection to defend against volumetric and network attacks. | | Configuration | L77-L93 | Configuring Azure Load Balancer behavior: backend pools (incl. cross-subscription), rules/NAT, health probes, SNAT outbound, IPv6 DHCPv6, portal settings, and monitoring/metrics/logs. | | Integrations & Coding Patterns | L94-L100 | Code samples and patterns for probing health, reading load balancer/VM metadata via IMDS, and retrieving Azure Load Balancer metrics using CLI and REST APIs | | Deployment | L101-L108 | Deploying and migrating Azure Load Balancers: dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 setups (internal/external), automating Basic→Standard upgrades, NAT rule v1→v2 migration, and cross-region config replication. |

Troubleshooting

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Interpret Azure Load Balancer health event logs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-health-event-logs | | Monitor and alert on Azure Load Balancer health events | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-monitor-alert-health-event-logs | | Diagnose and troubleshoot Azure Load Balancer connectivity | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-standard-diagnostics | | Test Azure Public Load Balancer frontend reachability | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-test-frontend-reachability |

Best Practices

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Apply Azure Load Balancer deployment best practices | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-best-practices | | Use VM scale sets with Azure Standard Load Balancer effectively | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-standard-virtual-machine-scale-sets |

Decision Making

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Plan and execute upgrade from Basic to Standard Load Balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-basic-upgrade-guidance | | Migrate AWS Network Load Balancer workloads to Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/network-load-balancing-aws-to-azure-how-to | | Choose the right Azure Load Balancer SKU | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/skus |

Architecture & Design Patterns

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Choose Azure Load Balancer distribution modes | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/distribution-mode-concepts |

Limits & Quotas

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Azure Load Balancer FAQs with limits and behaviors | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-faqs | | Configure TCP idle timeout and reset for Azure Load Balancer | https://l