microsoftdocs/azure-load-balancer

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

| Category | Lines | Description | |----------|-------|-------------| | Troubleshooting | L37-L44 | Diagnosing and fixing Azure Load Balancer issues: deployment errors, health events/logs, probes, connectivity/backend traffic, SNAT/timeouts, IMDS errors, and resource health/availability. | | Best Practices | L45-L52 | Guidance on deploying Azure Load Balancer with VM scale sets, configuring inbound NAT, and building custom HTTP/HTTPS health probes (Python) using recommended best practices. | | Decision Making | L53-L60 | Guidance on choosing the right Load Balancer SKU, upgrading Basic to Standard, migrating from AWS NLB, and moving from inbound NAT rules v1 to v2. | | Architecture & Design Patterns | L61-L66 | Design patterns for traffic distribution and session affinity, plus guidance for configuring outbound internet connectivity and SNAT behavior with Azure Load Balancer. | | Limits & Quotas | L67-L73 | Load Balancer connection limits, SNAT/port behaviors, TCP idle timeout configuration, and how/when TCP resets occur for troubleshooting connectivity issues. | | Security | L74-L79 | Securing Azure Load Balancer: hardening configs, network/security best practices, and using Azure DDoS Protection to mitigate volumetric and protocol attacks. | | Configuration | L80-L100 | Configuring Azure Load Balancer behavior: backends/frontends (incl. cross-subscription, IP-based, outbound-only), rules, health probes, traffic distribution, monitoring, and SNAT outbound rules. | | Integrations & Coding Patterns | L101-L108 | Using IMDS, Azure Monitor CLI, and REST APIs to query load balancer/VM IPs, retrieve metadata, and collect/load metrics for integration and automation. | | Deployment | L109-L113 | Guides for deploying Load Balancers: replicating configurations across regions and automating upgrades from Basic to Standard using PowerShell. |

Troubleshooting

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Interpret Azure Load Balancer health event logs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-health-event-logs | | Monitor and alert on LoadBalancerHealthEvent logs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-monitor-alert-health-event-logs | | Use metrics, alerts, and health to diagnose Azure Load Balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-standard-diagnostics | | Test Azure Public Load Balancer frontend reachability | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-test-frontend-reachability |

Best Practices

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Configure inbound NAT rules for VM scale sets | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/configure-inbound-nat-rules-vm-scale-set | | Implement custom HTTP/HTTPS health probes with Python | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/create-custom-http-health-probe-howto | | Apply Azure Load Balancer deployment best practices | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-best-practices | | Use Azure Standard Load Balancer with virtual machine scale sets | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-standard-virtual-machine-scale-sets |

Decision Making

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Plan and execute upgrade from Basic to Standard Load Balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-basic-upgrade-guidance | | Decide and migrate from inbound NAT rules v1 to v2 | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-nat-pool-migration | | Migrate AWS Network Load Balancer workloads to Azure Load Balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/network-load-balancing-aws-to-azure-how-to | | Choose the right Azure Load Balancer SKU | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/skus |

Architecture & Design Patterns

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Choose Azure Load Balancer distribution modes | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/distribution-mode-concepts | | Design outbound internet connectivity with Azure Load Balancer SNAT | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-outbound-connections |

Limits & Quotas

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Azure Load Balancer FAQs with limits and behaviors | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-faqs | | Configure Azure Load Balancer TCP idle timeout and reset | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-tcp-idle-timeout | | Understand Azure Load Balancer TCP reset behavior | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-tcp-reset |

Security

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Apply security best practices to Azure Load Balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/secure-load-balancer | | Protect Azure Load Balancer with Azure DDoS Protection | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/tutorial-protect-load-balancer-ddos |

Configuration

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Configure Azure Load Balancer backend pools by IP | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/backend-pool-management | | Configure cross-subscription backends for Azure Load Balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/cross-subscription-how-to-attach-backend | | Attach cross-subscription frontend IPs to Azure Load Balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/cross-subscription-how-to-attach-frontend | | Create global load balancer with cross-subscription backends | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/cross-subscription-how-to-global-backend | | Configure cross-subscription internal Azure load balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/cross-subscription-how-to-internal-load-balancer | | Configure outbound-only Azure Load Balancer with Bastion | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/egress-only | | Configure Azure Load Balancer health probe settings | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-custom-probe-overview | | Configure Azure Load Balancer traffic distribution mode | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-distribution-mode | | Configure DHCPv6 on Linux VMs for Azure IPv6 | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-ipv6-for-linux | | Understand Azure Load Balancer portal configuration options | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage | | Manage Azure Load Balancer backend admin state | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage-admin-state-how-to | | Configure and manage Azure Load Balancer inbound NAT rules | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage-inbound-nat-rules | | Configure Azure Load Balancer health probes | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage-probes-how-to | | Configure Azure Load Balancer rule types and properties | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/manage-rules-how-to | | Configure monitoring for Azure Load Balancer with Azure Monitor | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/monitor-load-balancer | | Reference monitoring metrics and logs for Azure Load Balancer | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/monitor-load-balancer-reference | | Configure outbound rules for Azure Load Balancer SNAT | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/outbound-rules |

Integrations & Coding Patterns

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Use IMDS to retrieve Azure Load Balancer metadata | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/howto-load-balancer-imds | | Query load balancer and VM IPs via IMDS | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/instance-metadata-service-load-balancer | | Retrieve Azure Load Balancer metrics using Azure Monitor CLI | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-monitor-metrics-cli | | Query Azure Load Balancer metrics via REST API | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-query-metrics-rest-api |

Deployment

| Topic | URL | |-------|-----| | Replicate Azure Load Balancer configuration across regions | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/move-across-regions-azure-load-balancer | | Automate Basic-to-Standard Load Balancer upgrade with PowerShell | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/upgrade-basic-standard-with-powershell |