Azure Local Multi Rack

by microsoft354361d83247MITListed Oct 8, 2026Updated Oct 8, 2026

Plan, deploy, operate, and troubleshoot multi-rack (rack scale) deployments of Azure Local — preintegrated racks scaling to hundreds of machines, built on Network Fabric Controller, Cluster Manager, SAN storage, and managed network fabric. Use for the Microsoft.NetworkCloud and Microsoft.ManagedNetworkFabric control plane. NOT for standard 1-16 node Azure Local, and NOT for rack-aware clusters (two racks as availability zones, up to 8 nodes, synchronous replication) — those are standard scale. WHEN: multi-rack, rack scale Azure Local, aggregation rack, compute rack, Network Fabric Controller, NFC, Cluster Manager, network fabric, isolation domain, az networkcloud, az networkfabric, multi-rack logical network, multi-rack Arc VM.

FeaturedInstructions onlyDevOps & Cloud
AI-generated overview

Guides planning, deployment, operation and troubleshooting of rack-scale Azure Local multi-rack environments.

What it does
Provides instructions for rack-scale Azure Local deployments built on preintegrated racks, an aggregation rack, Network Fabric Controller, Cluster Manager, SAN storage and managed network fabric. It routes the agent to workflow documents covering plan-and-deploy, workload management, networking and operate-and-monitor, plus reference files on CLI prerequisites, resource types, documentation mapping and safety rules. It produces procedural guidance and command-oriented steps rather than files or code.
When to use it
Use when the deployment is multi-rack or rack scale, involving preintegrated racks, an aggregation rack, Network Fabric Controller, Cluster Manager, SAN storage, or the networkcloud and managednetworkfabric CLI extensions. Do not use for standard 1-16 node Azure Local or rack-aware clusters, which follow separate procedures.
Requirements
Requires Azure CLI with the networkcloud and networkfabric extensions, and generic Azure MCP tools for CLI generation, monitoring, resource health and documentation. Monitoring needs Log Analytics. No scripts are shipped; the skill is instructions and reference documents only.

Azure Local Multi-Rack

Multi-rack is in preview — say so, and confirm availability from the docs before committing to a design.

Quick Reference

PropertyValue
Best forRack-scale Azure Local: 100+ machines, preintegrated racks, SAN, managed fabric
ScaleMinimum four racks — one aggregation rack plus three or more compute racks
ProvidersMicrosoft.NetworkCloud, Microsoft.ManagedNetworkFabric, Microsoft.AzureStackHCI
CLIaz networkcloud, az networkfabric, az stack-hci-vm
Related skillazure-local for standard 1-16 node and rack-aware deployments

When to Use This Skill

Use when the deployment is multi-rack / rack scale: preintegrated racks, an aggregation rack, a Network Fabric Controller, a Cluster Manager, SAN storage, or the networkcloud / managednetworkfabric CLI extensions.

Do not use for standard Azure Local (1-16 node hyperconverged, up to 64 disaggregated) or rack-aware clusters — hand off to the azure-local skill. If the scale is unclear, ask first: the two have separate, non-interchangeable procedures for the same-sounding tasks (logical networks, VM creation, NSGs).

MCP Tools

No dedicated MCP namespace. Use generic Azure MCP tools: mcp_azure_mcp_extension_cli_generate (confirm networkcloud/networkfabric extensions first), mcp_azure_mcp_monitor (needs Log Analytics), mcp_azure_mcp_resourcehealth (partial; not fabric or SAN health), mcp_azure_mcp_documentation (multi-rack articles only — standard Azure Local pages do not apply).

Details: cli-and-prereqs [blocked].

Workflow

  1. Confirm this is multi-rack, not standard Azure Local — see When to Use.
  2. Plan/deploy -> plan-and-deploy [blocked]
  3. VMs, AKS, images, disks -> workload-management [blocked]
  4. Fabric, isolation domains, load balancers, NSGs -> networking [blocked]
  5. Monitoring, metrics, serial console, failures -> operate-and-monitor [blocked]

Read the matched workflow first and use docs-map [blocked]. Start read-only. Ask before fabric changes, isolation domain edits, VM power/delete operations, or anything touching the aggregation rack or SAN.

Error Handling

ScenarioRemediation
Scale unknownAsk whether the deployment is multi-rack or standard before recommending procedures.
Standard Azure Local detectedHand off to the azure-local skill; multi-rack procedures do not apply.
Missing CLI extensionInstall per cli-and-prereqs [blocked] before running commands.
Risky fabric or SAN changeStop and follow safety-rules [blocked].
Doc URL 404/redirectSearch Learn for the title, scoped to multi-rack deployments of Azure Local.

Source and attribution

Source:microsoft/skillsin.github/plugins/azure-local-skills/skills/azure-local-multi-rackat commit354361d

License: MIT

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

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