SkillsAdd

microsoftdocs/agent-skills

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 Guest OS upgrades, Key Vault certs, autoscale rules, .csdef/.cscfg configs, or PowerShell automation, and other Azure Cloud Services related development tasks. Not for Azure App Service (use azure-app-service), Azure Virtual Machines (use azure-virtual-machines)…

First seen Mar 10, 2026

Installation

$ npx skills add microsoftdocs/agent-skills --skill azure-cloud-services
View on skills.sh ↗ GitHub repository ↗

Summary

  • 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 Guest OS upgrades, Key Vault certs, autoscale rules, .csdef/.cscfg configs, or PowerShell automation, and other Azure Cloud Services related development tasks.
  • Not for Azure App Service (use azure-app-service), Azure Virtual Machines (use azure-virtual-machines), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) (use azure-kubernetes-service), Azure Functions (use azure-functions).

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More details

Agent compatibility

Declared targets from SKILL.md / docs. Unmarked agents are not listed — the skill may still install via the CLI.

Claude Code Not declared
Cursor Not declared
Codex Not declared
GitHub Copilot Not declared
Windsurf Not declared
Gemini CLI Not declared
Cline Not declared
OpenCode Not declared

Repository health

Stars 737
License LICENSE
Default branch main
Open issues 2
Status Active

Skill metadata

Parsed from SKILL.md frontmatter.

CompatibilityRequires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or fetch_webpage to retrieve documentation.
More metadata
generated_at
2026-08-16
generator
docs2skills/1.0.0

Package contents

Files included with this skill beyond the listing page.

  • skill md SKILL.md 9,071 B
  • docs SUMMARY.md 630 B

History

  1. First seen on skills.sh
  2. First recorded snapshot · 136 installs

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 readfile with the specified lines. For categories with file links (e.g., [security.md](security.md)), use readfile on the linked reference file

IMPORTANT for Agent: If metadata.generatedat is more than 3 months old, suggest the user pull the latest version from the repository. If mcpmicrosoftdocs tools are not available, suggest the user install it: Installation Guide

This skill requires network access to fetch documentation content:

  • Preferred: Use mcpmicrosoftdocs:microsoftdocs_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-L53 Guidance on planning Cloud Services guest OS upgrades, comparing Cloud Services vs VM Scale Sets, and migrating classic/non-VNet Cloud Services to extended support and VNets.
Limits & Quotas L54-L60 VM instance size limits/capacities and timelines, impacts, and constraints related to Guest OS family retirements for Azure Cloud Services.
Security L61-L66 Using Key Vault for certificates in Cloud Services and understanding Azure Guest OS security updates, support lifecycle, and retirement policies
Configuration L67-L85 Configuring Cloud Services roles and deployments: .csdef/.cscfg schemas, networking, load balancers, diagnostics, RDP, Key Vault, extensions, alerts, and SKU/instance overrides
Integrations & Coding Patterns L86-L92 Automating Azure Cloud Services (extended support) with PowerShell: creating deployments, retrieving service details, and resetting or redeploying cloud service instances.
Deployment L93-L96 Planning and managing Guest OS version upgrades for Azure Cloud Services, including upgrade paths, scheduling, and minimizing downtime during OS updates.

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
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
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 extensions for Azure Cloud Services (extended support) 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 paths https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services-extended-support/cloud-services-guestos-update-matrix