azure-defender-for-cloud
Azure Defender For Cloud Skill
This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Defender For Cloud. 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), useread_filewith the specified lines. For categories with file links (e.g.,[security.md](security.md)), useread_fileon the linked reference file
IMPORTANT for Agent: If
metadata.generated_atis more than 3 months old, suggest the user pull the latest version from the repository. Ifmcp_microsoftdocstools 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_fetchwith query stringfrom=learn-agent-skill. Returns Markdown. - Fallback: Use
fetch_webpagewith query stringfrom=learn-agent-skill&accept=text/markdown. Returns Markdown.
Category Index
| Category | Lines | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Troubleshooting | L37-L65 | Diagnosing and fixing Defender for Cloud issues: alert validation/interpretation, connector/onboarding problems (AWS/GCP/APIs/SQL/K8s), deployment gaps, malware/vuln handling, and incident references. |
| Best Practices | L66-L85 | Best practices for investigating and remediating vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, secrets, and API/endpoint/Kubernetes risks across Defender for Cloud, AKS, registries, and CI/CD. |
| Decision Making | L86-L104 | Guidance for choosing and planning Defender for Cloud plans, pricing, portals, agents, regional availability, and migration/transition paths for servers, containers, storage, and GCP. |
| Architecture & Design Patterns | L105-L114 | Architectural guidance for Defender for Servers/Containers: agentless scanning, malware/vuln detection on VMs/Kubernetes, data collection, residency, workspaces, and large-scale deployment. |
| Limits & Quotas | L115-L124 | Limits, quotas, and prerequisites for Defender for Cloud features: free trials, data ingestion, APIs, DevOps, portal preview, alert export limits, and data collection extension changes. |
| Security | L125-L199 | Security alerts, permissions, and hardening for Defender for Cloud: configuring protections, interpreting alerts/recommendations, RBAC/CIEM, data handling, and securing SQL, storage, containers, VMs, APIs, and Kubernetes. |
| Configuration | L200-L267 | Configuring Defender for Cloud features: onboarding, policies, exemptions, scanning (agentless, containers, SQL, storage, DevOps), alerts, exports, private links, and data security posture. |
| Integrations & Coding Patterns | L268-L297 | Integrating Defender for Cloud with CI/CD, SIEM, EDR, ITSM, APIs, and multi-cloud logs, plus querying/exporting security data and automating tickets and container/AKS scans |
| Deployment | L298-L325 | Deploying and managing Defender for Cloud plans and agents (Containers, SQL, Storage) across AKS/EKS/GKE and servers using portal, CLI, IaC, policies, APIs, and reviewing support/regions. |
Troubleshooting
Best Practices
Decision Making
Architecture & Design Patterns
| Topic | URL |
|---|---|
| Use agentless malware scanning for virtual machines | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/agentless-malware-scanning |
| Understand Defender for Containers security architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-for-containers-architecture |
| Design a Defender for Servers deployment architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/plan-defender-for-servers |
| Understand Defender for Servers data collection design | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/plan-defender-for-servers-agents |
| Plan Defender for Servers data residency and workspaces | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/plan-defender-for-servers-data-workspace |
| Scale Microsoft Defender for Servers across environments | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/plan-defender-for-servers-scale |
Limits & Quotas
| Topic | URL |
|---|---|
| Use Defender for Servers data ingestion benefit and free quota | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/data-ingestion-benefit |
| Understand current limitations of Defender portal preview | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-portal/known-limitations |
| Review support scope and prerequisites for DevOps security | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/devops-support |
| Export Defender for Cloud alerts to CSV with limits | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/export-alerts-to-csv |
| Check and understand Defender for Cloud free trial limits | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/free-trial |
| Understand Defender data collection extensions and retirement | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/monitoring-components |
Security
Configuration
Integrations & Coding Patterns
Deployment
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