/azure-virtual-machines

name: azure-virtual-machines
description: Expert knowledge for Azure Virtual Machines development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. Use when choosing VM sizes/disks, configuring GPUs/HPC, encrypting VMs/disks, automating backups, or running Oracle workloads, and other Azure Virtual Machines related development tasks. Not for Azure Data Science Virtual Machines (use azure-data-science-vm), SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines (use azure-sql-virtual-machines), Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (use azure-vm-scalesets), Azure VMware Solution (use azure-vmware-solution).
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 Virtual Machines Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Virtual Machines. 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 | Location | Description | |----------|----------|-------------| | Troubleshooting | L37-L69 | Diagnosing and fixing Azure VM issues: kernel/AKS problems, extensions, hibernation, encryption, networking/NSG, restore, maintenance, Trusted Launch, and image/Spot VM errors. | | Best Practices | L70-L112 | Best practices for Linux/Windows VM operations, performance tuning (HPC, InfiniBand, Lsv3), HA, cost optimization, disk/boot/image management, encryption, and OS/AKS upgrades and migrations. | | Decision Making | L113-L185 | Guidance for choosing VM, disk, OS, and image options; planning costs, reservations, and licensing; and designing or migrating workloads (Linux, Oracle, GPU/HPC, AKS) and retired VM series. | | Architecture & Design Patterns | L186-L201 | Architectural patterns for Azure VMs: fleet allocation/HA, low-latency placement, clustered/shared-disk workloads, secure key release, and Oracle/OpenShift designs including DR and cross-cloud with OCI. | | Limits & Quotas | L202-L406 | VM size specs, disk and storage performance limits, quotas, capacity and packing rules, and hardware constraints for Azure VMs, Dedicated Hosts, GPUs, HPC, and confidential VMs. | | Security | L407-L476 | Encrypting and securing Azure VMs and disks (ADE, CMK, SSE, FIPS), managing certs/Key Vault, Trusted Launch/MSP, RBAC/Policy, and secure image sharing and VM extensions. | | Configuration | [configuration.md](configuration.md) | Configuring Azure VMs and disks (networking, storage, GPU/HPC, security, agents/extensions, maintenance, patching, telemetry, Oracle workloads) and managing images, galleries, restore points, and health monitoring. | | Integrations & Coding Patterns | [integrations.md](integrations.md) | Automation scripts and APIs for VM management: backups, restore points, disk operations, maintenance/scheduled events, monitoring, encryption, networking, and Oracle DB integration. | | Deployment | [deployment.md](deployment.md) | Guides for deploying and migrating Azure VMs: image customization, disk/ENCRYPTION/storage moves, regional/zone moves, DevOps-based rollouts, and blue‑green/rolling upgrade patterns. |

Troubleshooting

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Manage and debug Azure Linux kernel issues | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-linux/faq-kernel | | Troubleshoot AKS ACL workloads by toggling SELinux | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-linux/selinux-toggle-troubleshoot | | Resolve outdated kernel versions on Azure Linux AKS nodes | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-linux/troubleshoot-kernel-version | | Troubleshoot automatic package upgrade failures on Azure Linux AKS | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-linux/troubleshoot-package-upgrade-aks | | Troubleshoot per-disk resiliency issues on Azure VMs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/disks-per-disk-resiliency-troubleshoot | | Resolve Azure Spot VM and scale set error codes | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/error-codes-spot | | Troubleshoot Azure Windows VM extension failures | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/extensions/troubleshoot | | Diagnose and fix issues on Azure HB/HBv and N-series VMs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/hb-hc-known-issues | | Diagnose and fix Azure VM hibernation issues | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/hibernate-resume-troubleshooting | | Diagnose and fix Azure cloud-init VM provisioning issues | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/cloud-init-troubleshooting | | Resolve common Azure Disk Encryption issues on Linux VMs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/linux/disk-encry