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Expert knowledge for Azure VMware Solution development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. Use when deploying AVS with HCX, vSAN, NSX, Horizon/Citrix V...

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Azure VMware Solution Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure VMware Solution. 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-L43Diagnosing and fixing AVS issues: known platform problems and workarounds, deployment failures, and disaster recovery errors for Azure VMware Solution VMs.
Best PracticesL44-L50Guidance on securing and safely operating AVS private clouds, plus tuning NSX/​HCX scale and performance for efficient, reliable VMware workload migrations.
Decision MakingL51-L63Guidance on choosing AVS-related options: API Management SKUs, backup and storage, migration approaches, licensing, cross-region moves, reserved instances, and VMware Cloud Foundation subscriptions.
Architecture & Design PatternsL64-L76Network, storage, and private cloud design for AVS: hub-spoke patterns, vSAN/​stretched clusters, Horizon and GitHub Enterprise sizing, Cloud Director networking, and Gen 2 architecture.
Limits & QuotasL77-L89AVS capacity, host/​cluster/​vSAN limits, routing constraints, required ports, and how to plan, request quota, deploy, and scale private clouds within platform limits.
SecurityL90-L106Securing AVS: identity/​access control, Defender for Cloud, vSAN CMK encryption, LDAP/​vCenter identity, Trusted Launch/​vTPM, NSX Edge internet, ESU, app protection, credential rotation, and best practices.
ConfigurationL107-L143Configuring Azure VMware Solution environments: networking, storage, backup, monitoring, DNS, HCX, vSAN, Cloud Director, Arc/​Run Command, and related integration and high availability settings.
Integrations & Coding PatternsL144-L155Patterns for integrating AVS with Azure services: storage (Pure, NetApp), backup, monitoring/​logs, HCX internet, VPN/​Virtual WAN, and automation via Run Command/​Logic Apps.
DeploymentL156-L166Guides for planning and deploying AVS for production, including Horizon/​Citrix VDI, JetStream DR, VMware Cloud Director, and migrating SQL (Always On, FCI, standalone) to Azure VMware Solution.

Troubleshooting

Best Practices

TopicURL
Optimize NSX performance for HCX migrations in Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/azure-vmware-solution-nsx-scale-and-performance-recommendations-for-vmware-hcx
Maintain Azure VMware Solution private clouds safelyhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/azure-vmware-solution-private-cloud-maintenance
Optimize NSX scale and performance for HCX migrations in Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/vmware-hcx-mon-guidance

Decision Making

TopicURL
Choose API Management SKUs for Azure VMware workloadshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/architecture-identity
Select backup solutions for Azure VMware Solution VMshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/ecosystem-back-up-vms
Choose external storage options for Azure VMwarehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/ecosystem-external-storage-solutions
Evaluate migration solutions for AVS virtual machineshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/ecosystem-migration-vms
Choose and Apply Licensing for SQL and Windows on AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/license-sql-windows-in-avs
Plan and execute workload migration between AVS private cloudshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/migrate-between-private-clouds
Plan and migrate Azure VMware Solution across regionshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/move-azure-vmware-solution-across-regions
Decide and purchase Azure VMware reserved instanceshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/reserved-instance
Use portable VMware Cloud Foundation subscriptions on AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/vmware-cloud-foundations-license-portability

Architecture & Design Patterns

Limits & Quotas

TopicURL
Use Azure VMware Solution network planning checklist and port requirementshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-site-to-site-vpn-gateway
Configure vSAN ESA host and cluster settings in AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-vsan-esa
Understand Azure VMware Solution limits and constraintshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/faq
Understand Azure VMware Solution host and cluster limitshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/introduction
Understand AVS Gen 2 routing architecture and limitshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/native-network-routing-architecture
Request and manage Azure VMware host quotahttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/request-host-quota-azure-vmware-solution
Capacity limits for Azure VMware private cloud deploymenthttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/tutorial-create-private-cloud
Deploy an Azure VMware Solution private cloud with host and cluster limitshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/tutorial-network-checklist
Scale Azure VMware Solution private cloud within platform limitshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/tutorial-scale-private-cloud

Security

TopicURL
Configure identity and access for Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/architecture-stretched-clusters
Integrate Microsoft Defender for Cloud with Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/azure-security-integration
Configure customer-managed key encryption for AVS vSANhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-customer-managed-keys
Configure external LDAP identity source for NSX on AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-external-identity-source-nsx-t
Configure external identity sources for Azure VMware vCenterhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-identity-source-vcenter
Configure Trusted Launch and vTPM for Azure VMware VMshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-virtual-trusted-platform-module
Enable NSX Edge public IPs and internet access in AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/enable-public-ip-nsx-edge
Configure Extended Security Updates in Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/extended-security-updates-windows-sql-server
Re-enable Azure VMware Solution Gen2 service principalhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/native-first-party-principle-security
Manually configure AVS Gen 2 role assignmentshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/native-role-assignment
Protect AVS web apps with Azure Application Gatewayhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/protect-azure-vmware-solution-with-application-gateway
Rotate vCenter and NSX cloud admin credentials securelyhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/rotate-cloudadmin-credentials
Apply security best practices to Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/security-recommendations

Configuration

TopicURL
Configure guest management and extensions on Arc-enabled VMshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/arc-enable-guest-management
Enable and configure Managed SNAT for Azure VMware workloadshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/architecture-migrate
Configure networking and interconnectivity for Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/architecture-network-design-considerations
Configure Azure NetApp Files NFS datastores for AVS hostshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/attach-azure-netapp-files-to-azure-vmware-solution-hosts
Configure Cloud Backup policies for AVS datastores and VMshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/backup-azure-netapp-files-datastores-vms
Back up AVS VMware virtual machines with Azure Backup Serverhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/backup-azure-vmware-solution-virtual-machines
Configure alerts and metrics monitoring for Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-alerts-for-azure-vmware-solution
Use Azure Elastic SAN as AVS iSCSI datastorehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-azure-elastic-san
Create Azure Monitor resource health alerts for AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-azure-monitor-for-resource-health-for-azure-vmware-solution
Configure Azure VMware Solution performance and health metricshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-azure-vmware-solution-metrics
Manage AVS datastores and VMDKs with Cloud Backuphttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-cloud-backup-virtual-machine
Configure DHCP options for Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-dhcp-azure-vmware-solution
Configure HCX network extension high availability for AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-hcx-network-extension-high-availability
Configure DNS forwarders and private DNS for Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-l2-stretched-vmware-hcx-networks
Set up port mirroring for Azure VMware Solution network traffichttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-nsx-network-components-azure-portal
Configure Pure Cloud Block Store with Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-pure-cloud-block-store
Configure vSAN storage policies for AVS virtual machineshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-storage-policy
Configure VMware Cloud Director Service on Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-vmware-cloud-director-service-azure-vmware-solution
Configure diagnostic settings to collect VMware syslogs from AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-vmware-syslogs
Configure VMware vSAN settings in Azure VMware Solution clustershttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-vsan
Configure Windows Server Failover Cluster on Azure VMware vSANhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/configure-windows-server-failover-cluster
Configure VM placement policies in Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/create-placement-policy
Configure VMware Cloud Director Availability on Azure VMwarehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/deploy-vmware-cloud-director-availability-in-azure-vmware-solution
Configure Managed SNAT for Azure VMware workloadshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/enable-managed-snat-for-workloads
Configure Azure Hybrid Benefit Unlimited Virtualization for SQL on AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/enable-sql-azure-hybrid-benefit
Enable VMware Cloud Director on Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/enable-vmware-vcd-with-azure
Manage Arc resource bridge and credentials for Azure VMwarehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/manage-arc-enabled-azure-vmware-solution
Configure automatic peering sync for AVS Gen 2 networkshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/native-auto-peering-sync
Configure networking between Azure VMware Gen1 and Gen2 cloudshttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/native-connect-private-cloud-previous-edition
Configure DNS forward lookup zones for Azure VMware Gen2https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/native-dns-forward-lookup-zone
Execute VMware HCX Run Commands in AVShttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/use-hcx-run-commands
Use AVS Run Command with cloudadmin rolehttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/using-run-command
Configure VMware Aria Operations for Azure VMware Solutionhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-vmware/vrealize-operations-for-azure-vmware-solution

Integrations & Coding Patterns

Deployment