mcpField
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azure-load-balancer

azure-load-balancer

github.com/microsoftdocsCloud & DevOps796186 installsUpdated 3d ago
Repository

About azure-load-balancer

A guidance skill for agents working with Azure Load Balancer, covering troubleshooting, design, security, configuration, and deployment. It combines local quick references with remote documentation retrieval.

Key features

  1. 01Troubleshooting guidance
  2. 02Architecture and traffic distribution
  3. 03SKU selection and migration planning
  4. 04Security, configuration, and deployment references
  5. 05Local references and remote documentation retrieval

Use cases

  1. 01Diagnose load balancer connectivity issues
  2. 02Plan high-availability and scaling architectures
  3. 03Configure probes, rules, and SNAT
  4. 04Evaluate SKUs or migration options

MCP support

The skill can retrieve remote documentation through mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch; fetch_webpage is listed as a fallback.

Install

Copy the command and run it in a terminal.

$npx skills add https://github.com/microsoftdocs/agent-skills --skill azure-load-balancer

After installing, type/azure-load-balancerin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.

Details

From the project README

Azure Load Balancer Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Load Balancer. 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

CategoryLinesDescription
TroubleshootingL37-L44Diagnosing and fixing Azure Load Balancer issues: health event logs, monitoring/alerts, connectivity problems, and testing public frontend reachability.
Best PracticesL45-L50Designing and deploying Azure Load Balancer and VM scale set architectures for reliability, performance, scaling, health probes, and high availability best practices.
Decision MakingL51-L57Guidance on choosing the right Load Balancer SKU, upgrading from Basic to Standard, and migrating workloads from AWS Network Load Balancer to Azure.
Architecture & Design PatternsL58-L62Design patterns for traffic distribution and session affinity, plus guidance for configuring outbound internet connectivity and SNAT behavior with Azure Load Balancer.
Limits & QuotasL63-L70Limits, behaviors, and configuration of Load Balancer TCP idle timeouts, TCP resets, and outbound SNAT connection quotas for inbound and outbound traffic.
SecurityL71-L76Security guidance for Azure Load Balancer: hardening, access controls, and using Azure DDoS Protection to defend against volumetric and network attacks.
ConfigurationL77-L93Configuring Azure Load Balancer behavior: backend pools (incl. cross-subscription), rules/NAT, health probes, SNAT outbound, IPv6 DHCPv6, portal settings, and monitoring/metrics/logs.
Integrations & Coding PatternsL94-L100Code samples and patterns for probing health, reading load balancer/VM metadata via IMDS, and retrieving Azure Load Balancer metrics using CLI and REST APIs
DeploymentL101-L108Deploying and migrating Azure Load Balancers: dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 setups (internal/external), automating Basic→Standard upgrades, NAT rule v1→v2 migration, and cross-region config replication.
Troubleshooting
TopicURL
Interpret Azure Load Balancer health event logshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-health-event-logs
Monitor and alert on Azure Load Balancer health eventshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-monitor-alert-health-event-logs
Diagnose and troubleshoot Azure Load Balancer connectivityhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-standard-diagnostics
Test Azure Public Load Balancer frontend reachabilityhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-test-frontend-reachability
Best Practices
TopicURL
Apply Azure Load Balancer deployment best practiceshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-best-practices
Use VM scale sets with Azure Standard Load Balancer effectivelyhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-standard-virtual-machine-scale-sets
Decision Making
TopicURL
Plan and execute upgrade from Basic to Standard Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-basic-upgrade-guidance
Migrate AWS Network Load Balancer workloads to Azurehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/network-load-balancing-aws-to-azure-how-to
Choose the right Azure Load Balancer SKUhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/skus
Architecture & Design Patterns
TopicURL
Choose Azure Load Balancer distribution modeshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/distribution-mode-concepts
Limits & Quotas
TopicURL
Azure Load Balancer FAQs with limits and behaviorshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-faqs
Configure TCP idle timeout and reset for Azure Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-tcp-idle-timeout
Understand TCP reset and idle timeout behavior in Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-tcp-reset
Configure outbound SNAT limits for Azure Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/outbound-rules
Security
TopicURL
Apply security best practices to Azure Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/secure-load-balancer
Protect Azure Load Balancer with Azure DDoS Protectionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/tutorial-protect-load-balancer-ddos
Configuration
TopicURL
Configure backend pools for Azure Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/backend-pool-management
Configure cross-subscription backends for Azure Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/cross-subscription-how-to-attach-backend
Configure Azure Load Balancer health probeshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-custom-probe-overview
Configure Azure Load Balancer traffic distribution modehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-distribution-mode
Configure DHCPv6 on Linux VMs for Azure IPv6https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-ipv6-for-linux
Configure SNAT-based outbound connectivity with Azure Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-outbound-connections
Configure Azure Load Balancer portal settingshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage
Manage Azure Load Balancer backend admin statehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage-admin-state-how-to
Configure and manage Azure Load Balancer inbound NAT ruleshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage-inbound-nat-rules
Manage Azure Load Balancer health probes in the portalhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage-probes-how-to
Configure and manage Azure Load Balancer ruleshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage-rules-how-to
Configure monitoring for Azure Load Balancer with Azure Monitorhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/monitor-load-balancer
Reference monitoring metrics and logs for Azure Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/monitor-load-balancer-reference
Integrations & Coding Patterns
TopicURL
Implement custom HTTP/HTTPS health probes with Python for Azure Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/create-custom-http-health-probe-howto
Use IMDS to retrieve Azure Load Balancer metadatahttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/howto-load-balancer-imds
Query Azure Load Balancer metrics via REST APIhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-query-metrics-rest-api
Deployment
TopicURL
Deploy IPv4/IPv6 dual stack app with Standard Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/deploy-ipv4-ipv6-dual-stack-standard-load-balancer
Deploy IPv6 dual stack app with Standard Internal Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/ipv6-dual-stack-standard-internal-load-balancer-powershell
Migrate inbound NAT rules v1 to v2 in Load Balancerhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-nat-pool-migration
Replicate Azure Load Balancer configuration across regionshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/move-across-regions-azure-load-balancer
Automate Basic-to-Standard Load Balancer upgrade with PowerShellhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/upgrade-basic-standard-with-powershell

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