azure-local

name	azure-local
description	Expert knowledge for Azure Local development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. Use when planning Azure Local racks/SDN, configuring disconnected clusters, securing RBAC/PKI, or migrating VMs/AKS, and other Azure Local related development tasks. Not for Microsoft Foundry Local (use microsoft-foundry-local), Azure Stack Edge (use azure-stack-edge), Azure Kubernetes Service Edge Essentials (use azure-aks-edge-essentials), Azure IoT Edge (use azure-iot-edge).
compatibility	Requires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or fetch_webpage to retrieve documentation.
metadata	{"generated_at":"2026-04-19","generator":"docs2skills/1.0.0"}

Azure Local Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Local. 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

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-L67	Diagnosing and fixing Azure Local issues: deployment/upgrade failures, SDN and networking, VM/Arc/AKS problems, registration, disconnected ops, and collecting/using logs and support tools.
Best Practices	L68-L77	Best practices for Azure Local networking, rack-aware deployment prep, drift detection, alerting, Arc VM operations, and safe, reliable update management.
Decision Making	L78-L93	Planning Azure Local deployments: billing/pricing, VM types, connectivity and networking (incl. disconnected), migration, multi‑rack scale, deployment types, and upgrade paths.
Architecture & Design Patterns	L94-L120	Network, storage, and resiliency design for Azure Local: SDN topologies, rack-aware clustering, SAN use, room-to-room links, load balancing, and VM/DR architecture patterns.
Limits & Quotas	L121-L127	Cluster rack/layout limits, SLB HA port scale constraints, and VMware-to–Azure Local migration system requirements and supported configurations.
Security	L128-L167	Securing Azure Local: identity/RBAC, AD/PKI, certificates and rotation, firewall/NSGs, BitLocker, Trusted launch/attestation, Defender/SIEM, and security defaults for connected/disconnected setups.
Configuration	L168-L252	Configuring Azure Local infrastructure: networking, hardware/GPUs, registration/proxy, monitoring/Health, backups, disconnected ops, migrations, multi-rack, and VM/network policies.
Integrations & Coding Patterns	L253-L264	VM networking, load balancing, image/VM creation, and migration/replication patterns for Azure Local (Hyper-V, Azure Migrate, Site Recovery, CLI/PowerShell, SSH, public IPs).
Deployment	L265-L287	Deploying, scaling, upgrading, and repairing Azure Local clusters (including rack-aware and disconnected), plus ARM/portal deployment, Arc gateway, ACR, SQL workloads, and post-deploy tasks

Troubleshooting

Topic	URL
Validate rack aware cluster readiness with LLDP tool	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/rack-aware-cluster-readiness-check?view=azloc-2603
Troubleshoot simplified machine provisioning in Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/troubleshoot-simplified-machine-provisioning?view=azloc-2603
Resolve known issues in Azure Local releases	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/known-issues?view=azloc-2603
Collect diagnostic logs for Azure Local Arc-enabled VMs	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/collect-log-files-arc-enabled-vms?view=azloc-2603
Use appliance fallback log collection for Azure Local disconnected VMs	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/disconnected-operations-fallback?view=azloc-2603
Known issues and workarounds for disconnected operations	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/disconnected-operations-known-issues?view=azloc-2603
Collect on-demand logs via PowerShell for Azure Local disconnected operations	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/disconnected-operations-on-demand-logs?view=azloc-2603
Interpret and resolve Azure Local Health Service faults	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/health-service-faults?view=azloc-2603
Use AKS Arc Support Tool to remediate Azure Local infrastructure	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/remediate-support-tool-infrastructure?view=azloc-2603

Best Practices

Topic	URL
Apply Network ATC best practices for Azure Local networking	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/network-atc-overview?view=azloc-2603
Prepare network and hardware for rack aware cluster deployment	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/rack-aware-cluster-deploy-prep?view=azloc-2603
Apply drift detection to maintain Azure Local configuration health	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/drift-detection?view=azloc-2603
Enable recommended Azure Local alert rules for baseline monitoring	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/set-up-recommended-alert-rules?view=azloc-2603
Use supported operations for Azure Local Arc VMs	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/virtual-machine-operations?view=azloc-2603
Best practices for Azure Local update management	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/update/update-best-practices?view=azloc-2603

Decision Making

Topic	URL
Understand billing and payment model for Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/billing?view=azloc-2603
Choose Azure Local VM types and management capabilities	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/compare-vm-management-capabilities?view=azloc-2603
Choose between Azure Local and Windows Server	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/compare-windows-server?view=azloc-2603
Plan Azure Local connectivity using private endpoints	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/about-private-endpoints?view=azloc-2603
Use Extended Security Updates on Azure Local VMs	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/azure-benefits-esu?view=azloc-2603
Understand billing and capacity pricing for disconnected Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/disconnected-operations-billing?view=azloc-2603
Plan networking for Azure Local disconnected operations	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/disconnected-operations-network?view=azloc-2603
Plan and use disconnected operations for Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/disconnected-operations-overview?view=azloc-2603
Choose migration options for VMs to Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/migrate/migration-options-overview?view=azloc-2603
Evaluate multi-rack deployments for large Azure Local datacenters

Architecture & Design Patterns

Topic	URL
Design Azure Local deployments with external SAN storage	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/external-storage-support?view=azloc-2603
Plan Network Controller deployment topology on Azure Local 23H2	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/plan-network-controller-deployment?view=azloc-2603
Plan SDN infrastructure for Azure Local 23H2	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/plan-software-defined-networking-infrastructure-23h2?view=azloc-2603
Understand Azure Local rack aware clustering architecture	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/rack-aware-cluster-overview?view=azloc-2603
Reference network architecture for Azure Local rack aware clusters	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/rack-aware-cluster-reference-architecture?view=azloc-2603
Design room-to-room connectivity for rack aware clusters	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/rack-aware-cluster-room-to-room-connectivity?view=azloc-2603
Plan SDN Multisite topology and disaster recovery on Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/sdn-multisite-overview?view=azloc-2603
Choose SDN management methods enabled by Azure Arc on Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/sdn-overview?view=azloc-2603
Design resilient infrastructure for Azure Local deployments	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/disaster-recovery-infrastructure-resiliency?view=azloc-2603

Limits & Quotas

Topic	URL
Rack aware cluster requirements and supported configurations	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/rack-aware-cluster-requirements?view=azloc-2603
Configure SLB high availability ports and understand limits	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/configure-software-load-balancer?view=azloc-2603
System requirements for VMware migration to Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/migrate/migrate-vmware-requirements?view=azloc-2603

Security

Topic	URL
Configure firewall rules and endpoints for Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/firewall-requirements?view=azloc-2603
Configure Azure verification attestation for Azure Local VMs	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/azure-verification?view=azloc-2603
Assign Azure Arc registration and deployment permissions for Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deployment-arc-register-server-permissions?view=azloc-2603
Use local identity and Key Vault for Azure Local deployment	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deployment-local-identity-with-key-vault?view=azloc-2603
Prepare Active Directory for Azure Local deployment	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deployment-prep-active-directory?view=azloc-2603
Assign built-in RBAC roles for Azure Local VMs	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/assign-vm-rbac-roles?view=azloc-2603
Configure managed identity for enhanced Azure Local management	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/azure-enhanced-management-managed-identity?view=azloc-2603
Use tags with SDN network security groups in WAC	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/configure-network-security-groups-with-tags?view=azloc-2603
Create NSGs, rules, and default network access policies for Azure Local VMs	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/create-network-security-groups?view=azloc-2603

Configuration

Topic	URL
Configure host networking for Azure Local clusters	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/host-network-requirements?view=azloc-2603
Configure physical network requirements for Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/physical-network-requirements?view=azloc-2603
Configure AKS node distribution in rack aware clusters	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/rack-aware-cluster-aks-nodes?view=azloc-2603
Provision Azure Local VMs in local availability zones	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/rack-aware-cluster-provision-vm-local-availability-zone?view=azloc-2603
Configure system requirements for Azure Local 23H2	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/system-requirements-23h2?view=azloc-2603
Configure low-capacity Azure Local deployment hardware	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/system-requirements-small-23h2?view=azloc-2603
Configure private endpoints for Azure Local without proxy or gateway	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deploy-private-endpoints-no-proxy-no-gateway?view=azloc-2603
Configure private endpoints for Azure Local with Arc gateway	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deploy-private-endpoints-no-proxy-with-gateway?view=azloc-2603
Configure private endpoints for Azure Local with proxy only	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deploy-private-endpoints-with-proxy-no-gateway?view=azloc-2603

Integrations & Coding Patterns

Topic	URL
Create Azure Local VMs from Azure Compute Gallery images	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/manage/virtual-machine-image-azure-compute-gallery?view=azloc-2603
Discover and replicate Hyper-V VMs with Azure Migrate to Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/migrate/migrate-hyperv-replicate?view=azloc-2603
Migrate Azure Local VMs with Azure Migrate PowerShell	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/migrate/migrate-via-powershell?view=azloc-2603
Connect to Azure Local multi-rack Windows VMs via SSH	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/multi-rack/multi-rack-connect-arc-vm-using-ssh?view=azloc-2603
Create internal load balancer via Azure CLI for Azure Local multi-rack	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/multi-rack/multi-rack-create-internal-load-balancer-virtual-networks?view=azloc-2603
Create load balancers on logical networks with Azure CLI	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/multi-rack/multi-rack-create-load-balancer-logical-network?view=azloc-2603
Create public IP resources on Azure Local multi-rack	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/multi-rack/multi-rack-create-public-ip?view=azloc-2603
Create Azure Local multi-rack VM images from Azure Storage	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/multi-rack/multi-rack-virtual-machine-image-storage-account?view=azloc-2603

Deployment

Topic	URL
Add or repair nodes in Azure Local rack aware clusters	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/concepts/rack-aware-cluster-add-server?view=azloc-2603
Deploy and manage Azure Arc gateway for Azure Local	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deployment-azure-arc-gateway-overview?view=azloc-2603
Deploy Azure Local using Azure Resource Manager templates	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deployment-azure-resource-manager-template?view=azloc-2603
Deploy Azure Local with local identity and Key Vault via ARM template	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deployment-local-identity-with-key-vault-template?view=azloc-2603
Deploy a virtualized Azure Local instance	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/deployment-virtual?view=azloc-2603
Deploy Azure Local rack aware clusters via Azure portal	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/rack-aware-cluster-deploy-portal?view=azloc-2603
Deploy rack aware clusters using ARM templates at scale	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/rack-aware-cluster-deployment-via-template?view=azloc-2603
Perform post-deployment tasks for rack aware clusters	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/rack-aware-cluster-post-deployment?view=azloc-2603
Deploy SQL Server workloads on Azure Local 23H2	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/deploy/sql-server-23h2?view=azloc-2603