skills/microsoftdocs/agent-skills/azure-cloud-services

azure-cloud-services

SKILL.md

Azure Cloud Services Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Cloud Services. Covers troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, 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: This file may be large. Use the Category Index below to locate relevant sections, then use read_file with specific line ranges (e.g., L136-L144) to read the sections needed for the user's question

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

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 L36-L40 Diagnosing and fixing common migration errors when moving classic Cloud Services to Cloud Services (extended support), including deployment, configuration, and compatibility issues.
Best Practices L41-L45 Guidance on designing and configuring autoscale rules for Cloud Services, including metrics, thresholds, and patterns to optimize performance, reliability, and cost.
Decision Making L46-L53 Guidance on when to use Cloud Services vs VM Scale Sets, and how to plan and execute migrations from classic/non-VNet Cloud Services to extended support and VNets
Limits & Quotas L54-L60 VM instance size limits/capacities and timelines, impacts, and constraints related to Guest OS family retirements for Azure Cloud Services.
Security L61-L67 Using Key Vault for certificates in Cloud Services and understanding Azure Guest OS security updates, support lifecycle, and retirement policies
Configuration L68-L86 Configuring Cloud Services roles and deployments: .csdef/.cscfg schemas, network/load balancer settings, diagnostics, RDP, Key Vault, extensions, alerts, and scaling/SKU overrides.
Integrations & Coding Patterns L87-L93 Automating Azure Cloud Services (extended support) with PowerShell: creating deployments, retrieving service details, and resetting or redeploying cloud service instances.
Deployment L94-L97 Guidance on planning and managing Guest OS version upgrades for Azure Cloud Services, including upgrade paths, scheduling, and compatibility considerations.

Troubleshooting

Topic URL
Resolve common errors when migrating to Cloud Services extended support https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/in-place-migration-common-errors

Best Practices

Topic URL
Configure autoscaling rules for Cloud Services deployments https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/configure-scaling

Decision Making

Topic URL
Compare Cloud Services and Virtual Machine Scale Sets features https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/feature-support-analysis
Plan migration from Cloud Services classic to extended support https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/in-place-migration-overview
Understand technical requirements for Cloud Services migration https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/in-place-migration-technical-details
Plan migration of non-VNet Cloud Services into VNets https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/non-vnet-migration

Limits & Quotas

Topic URL
VM size options and capacities for Cloud Services instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/available-sizes
Guest OS Family 1 retirement dates and deployment impact https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/cloud-services-guestos-family-1-retirement
Guest OS Families 2–4 retirement timelines and impact https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/cloud-services-guestos-family-2-3-4-retirement

Security

Topic URL
Securely store and use certificates with Key Vault in Cloud Services https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/certificates-and-key-vault
Review MSRC security updates applied to Azure Guest OS https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/cloud-services-guestos-microsoft-security-response-center-releases
Understand support and retirement policy for Azure Guest OS https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/cloud-services-guestos-retirement-policy

Configuration

Topic URL
Understand Cloud Services model, config, and package files https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/cloud-services-model-and-package
Configure monitoring alerts for Cloud Services instances https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/enable-alerts
Enable Key Vault VM extension for Cloud Services roles https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/enable-key-vault-virtual-machine
Configure Remote Desktop extension for Cloud Services https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/enable-rdp
Configure Azure diagnostics extension for Cloud Services https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/enable-wad
Configure and manage extensions for Cloud Services roles https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/extensions
Override Cloud Services SKU and instance count via allowModelOverride https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/override-sku
Reference schema for Cloud Services configuration (.cscfg) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/schema-cscfg-file
Configure NetworkConfiguration for Cloud Services deployments https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/schema-cscfg-networkconfiguration
Configure role settings in Cloud Services .cscfg https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/schema-cscfg-role
Reference schema for Cloud Services definition (.csdef) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/schema-csdef-file
Configure LoadBalancerProbe in Cloud Services definitions https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/schema-csdef-loadbalancerprobe
Configure NetworkTrafficRules in Cloud Services definitions https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/schema-csdef-networktrafficrules
Define and configure WebRole schema for Cloud Services https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/schema-csdef-webrole
Define and configure WorkerRole schema for Cloud Services https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/schema-csdef-workerrole

Integrations & Coding Patterns

Topic URL
Use PowerShell to create Cloud Services (extended support) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/sample-create-cloud-service
Use PowerShell to retrieve Cloud Service details https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/sample-get-cloud-service
Use PowerShell to reset Cloud Services deployments https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/sample-reset-cloud-service

Deployment

Topic URL
Plan Azure Cloud Services Guest OS upgrade path https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/cloud-services-guestos-update-matrix
Weekly Installs
3
GitHub Stars
402
First Seen
4 days ago
Installed on
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