Azure Virtual Network Agent Skill

Azure Virtual Network Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Virtual Network. Covers troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, 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), 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

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 Azure VM/VNet connectivity issues: routing and NSG problems, NVAs and routing appliances, SMTP blocking, VNet peering, encryption, and VNet deletion errors. |

| Best Practices | L41-L50 | Designing secure, high-performance VNets: outbound VM access control, NSG rules/flows, VM throughput tuning, TCP/IP optimization, and secure use of VNet service endpoints. |

| Decision Making | L51-L60 | Guidance on design choices: when to use accelerated networking, routing preferences, VNets vs appliances, IP upgrade paths, VNet integration options, and cost/performance trade-offs. |

| Architecture & Design Patterns | L61-L67 | Designing VNet architectures: subnet extension for migrations, VNet peering, hybrid two-tier apps, traffic mirroring with TAP, topology planning, and custom routing options. |

| Limits & Quotas | L68-L74 | IP address quotas, VM network throughput caps, and Virtual Network scale/limit behaviors (IP types, NICs, bandwidth) and how to design within these constraints. |

| Security | L75-L83 | Network security for VNets: Kubernetes network policies, layered controls, Azure Policy for VNets, Virtual Network encryption concepts/config, and securing storage egress with service endpoint policies. |

| Configuration | L84-L116 | Configuring Azure Virtual Network features: IPs (public/private/custom), DNS, MTU, DHCP, encryption, monitoring, subnet delegation/peering, and gateway/firewall/load balancer/NAT settings. |

| Deployment | L117-L120 | Guidance for upgrading Azure Basic public IP addresses to Standard SKU, including requirements, steps, and considerations for network resources and downtime. |

Troubleshooting

| Topic | URL |

|-------|-----|

| Register and create Azure Virtual Network routing appliances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/how-to-create-virtual-network-routing-appliance |

Best Practices

| Topic | URL |

|-------|-----|

| Apply Azure Virtual Network design best practices | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/concepts-and-best-practices |

| Understand and control default outbound access for Azure VMs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/default-outbound-access |

| Configure Azure NSG rules and traffic processing | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/network-security-group-how-it-works |

| Optimize Azure VM network throughput settings | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-optimize-network-bandwidth |

| Implement Azure virtual network service endpoints securely | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-service-endpoints-overview |

| Apply TCP/IP performance tuning on Azure VMs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-tcpip-performance-tuning |

Decision Making

| Topic | URL |

|-------|-----|

| Decide when to use Azure Accelerated Networking | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/accelerated-networking-overview |

| Plan and execute upgrade from Basic to Standard public IPs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/public-ip-basic-upgrade-guidance |

| Choose Azure routing preference via Microsoft or ISP network | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/routing-preference-overview |

| Use routing preference unmetered for Azure-to-CDN traffic | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/routing-preference-unmetered |

| Optimize Azure Virtual Network costs and trade-offs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-cost-optimization |

| Choose Azure VNet integration options for service isolation | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/vnet-integration-for-azure-services |

Architecture & Design Patterns

| Topic | URL |

|-------|-----|

| Design subnet extension strategies for Azure migrations | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/subnet-extension |

| Implement hybrid two-tier application with Azure VNets | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-scenario-udr-gw-nva |

| Plan Azure virtual network topology and connectivity | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-vnet-plan-design-arm |

Limits & Quotas

| Topic | URL |

|-------|-----|

| Create Azure VM with static public IP and understand IP limits | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/virtual-network-static-public-ip |

| Understand Azure VM network throughput limits | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-machine-network-throughput |

| Understand Azure Virtual Network limits and behaviors | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-networks-faq |

Security

| Topic | URL |

|-------|-----|

| Configure Kubernetes network policies on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/kubernetes-network-policies |

| Secure Azure Virtual Network deployments with layered controls | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/secure-virtual-network |

| Apply Azure Policy compliance controls to Virtual Network | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/security-controls-policy |

| Configure and manage Azure Virtual Network encryption | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-encryption-faq |

| Secure Azure Storage egress with service endpoint policies | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-service-endpoint-policies-overview |

Configuration

| Topic | URL |

|-------|-----|

| Configure MANA for Linux Azure virtual machines | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/accelerated-networking-mana-linux |

| Configure MANA support and opt-out for Azure NVAs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/accelerated-networking-mana-network-virtual-appliance-opt-out |

| Configure advertised gateway prefixes for hub VNets | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/how-to-advertised-gateway-prefixes |

| Configure subnet peering in Azure virtual networks | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/how-to-configure-subnet-peering |

| Create and configure an encrypted Azure virtual network | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/how-to-create-encryption |

| Deploy a DHCP server VM for on-premises clients | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/how-to-dhcp-azure |

| Configure MTU settings for Azure virtual machines | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/how-to-virtual-machine-mtu |

| Configure public IP addresses for Azure Application Gateway frontends | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/configure-public-ip-application-gateway |

| Configure public IP addresses for Azure Firewall deployments | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/configure-public-ip-firewall |

| Configure public IP usage with Azure Load Balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/configure-public-ip-load-balancer |

| Configure public IPs with Azure NAT Gateway for outbound SNAT | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/configure-public-ip-nat-gateway |

| Manage public IP addresses for Azure Virtual Machines | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/configure-public-ip-vm |

| Configure public IP addresses for Azure VPN gateways | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/configure-public-ip-vpn-gateway |

| Onboard and configure custom IPv6 address prefixes in Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/create-custom-ip-address-prefix-ipv6-portal |

| Onboard and configure custom IPv4 address prefixes in Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/create-custom-ip-address-prefix-portal |

| Manage Azure custom IP address prefixes and migrations | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/manage-custom-ip-address-prefix |

| Create and manage Azure public IP address prefixes | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/manage-public-ip-address-prefix |

| Configure monitoring and alerts for Azure Public IP addresses | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/monitor-public-ip |

| Use Azure Monitor metrics for Public IP addresses | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/monitor-public-ip-reference |

| Configure Azure public IP address prefixes and zones | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/public-ip-address-prefix |

| Configure private and public IPs on Azure network interfaces | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/virtual-network-network-interface-addresses |

| Create and manage Azure public IP address resources | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/virtual-network-public-ip-address |

| Configure monitoring for Azure Virtual Network with Azure Monitor | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/monitor-virtual-network |

| Reference for Azure Virtual Network monitoring data | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/monitor-virtual-network-reference |

| Use built-in Azure Policy definitions for Virtual Network | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/policy-reference |

| Configure subnet delegation for Azure PaaS services | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/subnet-delegation-overview |

| Set up dynamic DNS registration for Azure VMs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-networks-name-resolution-ddns |

| Configure DNS name resolution for Azure virtual networks | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-networks-name-resolution-for-vms-and-role-instances |

| Understand and configure Azure IP 168.63.129.16 usage | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/what-is-ip-address-168-63-129-16 |

Deployment

| Topic | URL |

|-------|-----|

| Upgrade Azure Basic public IPs to Standard SKU | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/ip-services/public-ip-upgrade |