Agent skill

azure-cloud-services

Expert knowledge for Azure Cloud Services development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. Use when managing Cloud Services (extended support), Guest OS versions, Key Vault certs, autoscale rules, or PowerShell automation, and other Azure Cloud Services related development tasks. Not for Azure Networking (use azure-networking), Azure Virtual Machines (use azure-virtual-machines), Azure Resource Manager (use azure-resource-manager), Azure Portal (use azure-portal).

View SKILL.md on GitHub Repository
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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills/tree/main/skills/azure-cloud-services

Metadata

Additional technical details for this skill

generator
docs2skills/1.0.0
generated at
2026-03-19

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: 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 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-L54 Guidance on when to use Cloud Services (extended support), comparing with VM Scale Sets, and planning/migrating classic and non-VNet Cloud Services into VNets and extended support.
Limits & Quotas L55-L61 VM instance size limits/capacities and timelines, impacts, and constraints related to Guest OS family retirements for Azure Cloud Services.
Security L62-L68 Using Key Vault for certificates in Cloud Services and understanding Azure Guest OS security updates, support lifecycle, and retirement policies
Configuration L69-L87 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 L88-L94 Automating Azure Cloud Services (extended support) with PowerShell: creating deployments, retrieving service details, and resetting or redeploying cloud service instances.
Deployment L95-L98 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
Decide when and how to use Azure Cloud Services (extended support) https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/faq
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

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