AutoGineer
Generated banner for Azure Diagnostics
Generated logo for Azure Diagnostics

Azure Diagnostics

MicrosoftOfficialCreated by Microsoft

  • Skill
  • Workflow
  • Cloud and DevOps
  • MIT
  • Low risk
  • Has scripts
Download ZIP

From the author

Debug Azure production issues using AppLens, Azure Monitor, resource health, and safe triage, including evidence-only diagnosis without live access. WHEN: debug production issues, troubleshoot app service, app service high CPU, app service deployment failure, troubleshoot container apps, container app 503 or target port mismatch, troubleshoot functions, function telemetry missing or stopped after a config/connection-string change, troubleshoot AKS, VM RDP, Linux SSH, VM black screen, can't connect to VM, reset VM password, NSG or firewall blocking, kubectl cannot connect, kube-system/CoreDNS failures, pod pending, crashloop, node not ready, upgrade failures, analyze logs, KQL, insights, image pull failures, cold start issues, health probe failures, resource health, root cause of errors, troubleshoot event hubs, troubleshoot service bus, messaging SDK error, AMQP connection failure, message lock lost, lock renewal during long-running processing, service bus dead letter.
— the description by Microsoft

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

Azure Diagnostics provides a structured, authoritative approach to investigating and resolving production issues across various Azure services. It emphasizes a systematic flow: identifying symptoms, checking resource health, reviewing logs, analyzing metrics, and investigating recent changes. The skill supports both live troubleshooting via Azure CLI and AppLens, as well as evidence-only analysis when live access is restricted. It includes specialized guidance for App Service, Container Apps, Azure Functions, AKS, VMs, and Messaging services, ensuring consistent root-cause analysis.

What it does

  • Provides a standardized diagnostic workflow for Azure production environments.
  • Integrates with AppLens and Azure Monitor for automated issue detection and log analysis.
  • Offers service-specific troubleshooting paths for App Service, AKS, VMs, and more.
  • Supports evidence-only diagnosis for secure, offline troubleshooting scenarios.
  • Includes KQL query patterns for deep-dive log and resource health analysis.
  • Facilitates the use of bundled diagnostic scripts for efficient data collection.

When to use it

  • When investigating production incidents like high CPU, deployment failures, or service crashes.
  • When troubleshooting connectivity issues such as RDP/SSH failures or network blocking.
  • When diagnosing Kubernetes-specific issues like pod crashloops or image pull failures.
  • When analyzing missing telemetry or messaging errors in Event Hubs and Service Bus.
  • When performing root-cause analysis on unhealthy or degraded Azure resources.

Advantages

  • Reduces mean time to resolution (MTTR) with a clear, step-by-step diagnostic process.
  • Ensures consistent troubleshooting practices across different Azure service types.
  • Supports secure workflows by allowing diagnosis without requiring live environment access.
  • Leverages powerful built-in tools like AppLens and Azure Resource Graph for rapid insights.
  • Provides actionable remediation steps based on identified symptoms.

Usage examples

“Troubleshoot my App Service that is experiencing high CPU usage.”
The agent will initiate the App Service diagnostic flow, run the appservice-diagnostics script, check metrics, and guide you through profiling via Kudu.
“Why is my Azure VM unreachable via SSH?”
The agent will follow the VM connectivity troubleshooting guide, checking NSG rules, firewall status, and VM agent health.
“Analyze these logs to find why my Container App is failing to pull the image.”
The agent will perform an evidence-only analysis of the provided logs to identify image pull errors or registry authentication issues.
“Check the health of my AKS cluster and identify why pods are in a crashloop.”
The agent will check resource health, query logs for the affected pods, and route to the AKS-specific troubleshooting documentation.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/microsoft/azure-diagnostics/download

  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip azure-diagnostics.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Microsoft

Azure Diagnostics

AUTHORITATIVE GUIDANCE — MANDATORY COMPLIANCE

This document is the official source for debugging and troubleshooting Azure production issues. Follow these instructions to diagnose and resolve common Azure service problems systematically.

Triggers

Activate this skill when user wants to:

  • Debug or troubleshoot production issues

  • Diagnose errors in Azure services

  • Analyze application logs or metrics

  • Fix image pull, cold start, or health probe issues

  • Investigate why Azure resources are failing

  • Find root cause of application errors

  • Troubleshoot App Service issues (high CPU, deployment failures, crashes, slow responses, TLS/custom domains)

  • Respond to prompts like "troubleshoot app service", "app service high CPU", or "app service deployment failure"

  • Troubleshoot Azure Function Apps (invocation failures, timeouts, binding errors)

  • Find the App Insights or Log Analytics workspace linked to a Function App

  • Troubleshoot AKS clusters, nodes, pods, ingress, or Kubernetes networking issues

  • Troubleshoot Azure VM connectivity issues (RDP/SSH failures, port 3389/22 timeouts, NSG or firewall blocking, credential resets)

  • Troubleshoot Azure Messaging SDK issues (Event Hubs, Service Bus connection failures, AMQP errors, message lock issues)

  • Root-cause a symptom that looks like a healthy-runtime-but-wrong-destination problem (e.g., telemetry/messages stop flowing to the expected resource after a config change) — invoke this skill for the matrix even when MCP tools could answer the surface question alone

Rules

  1. Start with systematic diagnosis flow

  2. Use supplied evidence first. If the user requests evidence-only analysis or prohibits live Azure access, do not query or modify Azure. Diagnose from the supplied logs, metrics, and timeline; identify assumptions and provide optional verification steps.

  3. Use AppLens (MCP) for AI-powered diagnostics when available

  4. Check resource health before deep-diving into logs

  5. Select appropriate troubleshooting guide based on service type

  6. Document findings and attempted remediation steps

  7. Prefer bundled diagnostic scripts over ad hoc calls for permitted live collection when identifiers are known. If supplied evidence suffices or live access is prohibited, don't run them; otherwise run the applicable script first.

  8. Route AKS incidents to the dedicated AKS troubleshooting document

  9. Keep baseline AKS diagnostics available even when the optional aks-skills add-on is absent, declined, or unsupported by the host

Quick Diagnosis Flow

  1. Identify symptoms - What's failing?

  2. Check resource health - Is Azure healthy?

  3. Review logs - What do logs show?

  4. Analyze metrics - Performance patterns?

  5. Investigate recent changes - What changed?

Troubleshooting Guides by Service

ServiceCommon IssuesReference
Container AppsImage pull failures, cold starts, health probes, port mismatchescontainer-apps/
App ServiceHigh CPU, deployment failures, crashes, slow responses, TLS/custom domainsapp-service/
Function AppsApp details, invocation failures, timeouts, binding errors, cold starts, missing app settingsfunctions/
AKSCluster access, nodes, kube-system, scheduling, crash loops, ingress, DNS, upgradesAKS Troubleshooting
ComputeVM RDP/SSH connectivity, NSG/firewall blocks, credential resets, VM agent/tooling issuesVM Connectivity Troubleshooting
MessagingEvent Hubs & Service Bus SDK errors, AMQP failures, message lock, connectivityMessaging Troubleshooting

Routing

  • Keep Container Apps and Function Apps diagnostics in this parent skill.

  • Route active AKS incidents, AKS-specific intake, evidence gathering, and remediation guidance to AKS Troubleshooting.

  • Route Azure VM RDP/SSH connectivity, NSG/firewall, credential reset, and VM agent troubleshooting to VM Connectivity Troubleshooting.

  • Route Azure Messaging SDK troubleshooting (Event Hubs, Service Bus) to Messaging Troubleshooting.

Quick Reference

Common Diagnostic Commands
# Check resource health
az resource show --ids RESOURCE_ID
# View activity log
az monitor activity-log list -g RG --max-events 20
# Container Apps logs
az containerapp logs show --name APP -g RG --follow
# Function App logs (query App Insights traces)
az monitor app-insights query --apps APP-INSIGHTS -g RG \
  --analytics-query "traces | where timestamp > ago(1h) | order by timestamp desc | take 50"
AppLens (MCP Tools)

For AI-powered diagnostics, use:

mcp_azure_mcp_applens
  intent: "diagnose issues with <resource-name>"
  command: "diagnose"
  parameters:
    resourceId: "<resource-id>"

Provides:
- Automated issue detection
- Root cause analysis
- Remediation recommendations
Azure Monitor (MCP Tools)

For querying logs and metrics:

mcp_azure_mcp_monitor
  intent: "query logs for <resource-name>"
  command: "logs_query"
  parameters:
    workspaceId: "<workspace-id>"
    query: "<KQL-query>"

See kql-queries.md for common diagnostic queries.

Check Azure Resource Health

Using MCP
mcp_azure_mcp_resourcehealth
  intent: "check health status of <resource-name>"
  command: "get"
  parameters:
    resourceId: "<resource-id>"
Using CLI
# Check specific resource health
az resource show --ids RESOURCE_ID

# Check recent activity
az monitor activity-log list -g RG --max-events 20

References

Files

references/functions/durable.md

Durable Functions Troubleshooting

Diagnostics for stuck orchestrations, non-determinism, and task hub conflicts.

Stuck Orchestrations

SymptomCauseFix
Orchestration stuck in Running indefinitelyAn awaited durable timer/sub-orchestration/activity never completes, or completes but the orchestrator never observes it due to a non-determinism error breaking replayQuery instance status; check for OrchestrationServiceException/replay errors in App Insights traces for that instanceId
Orchestration stuck in PendingTask hub control-queue backlog, host-storage access failure, or the Durable extension isn't loadingCheck control queue depth, AzureWebJobsStorage, extension startup logs, and scale-controller traces
Terminated/Failed but activity output looks fineUnhandled exception in the orchestrator itself (not an activity)Orchestrator-level exceptions fail the whole instance; wrap sub-orchestrator/activity calls in try/catch if partial failure should be tolerated
# Check one orchestration instance
func durable get-runtime-status --connection-string-setting AzureWebJobsStorage \
  --task-hub-name TASKHUB --id <instance-id> --show-output

Non-Determinism Violations

Orchestrator functions must produce the same durable operations in the same order on replay. Pure computation is safe; nondeterministic I/O, time, randomness, and unmanaged tasks aren't.

Anti-patternWhy It BreaksFix
Thread.Sleep / Task.DelayNot replay-safe: uses a non-durable wait that isn't persisted, so it isn't recomputed identically on replaycontext.CreateTimer()
DateTime.Now / DateTime.UtcNowReturns a different value on every replaycontext.CurrentUtcDateTime
Guid.NewGuid()Generates a new value on every replaycontext.NewGuid()
Direct HTTP/DB calls in the orchestrator bodySide effects re-execute on every replayMove to an activity function and call it via context.CallActivityAsync
async/await on non-Durable-Task APIs (e.g. raw Task.Run, unmanaged threads)Not tracked in the orchestration history, so it can't be replayed consistentlyOnly await context.Call*Async/context.CreateTimer/context.WaitForExternalEvent inside an orchestrator

Search App Insights exceptions for NonDeterministic when an orchestration silently stalls. The extension logs NonDeterministicWorkflowException/replay errors when history and current execution diverge.

Timeout Patterns: Cancel the Loser, Don't Just Race

A common but incomplete pattern uses Task.WhenAny to add a timeout to a sub-orchestration call, but Task.WhenAny only picks a winner. It doesn't cancel the loser. If the sub-orchestration wins, an outstanding durable timer keeps the parent instance's history growing until it fires. If the timer wins, the sub-orchestration keeps running with no caller waiting on it, which can duplicate side effects on retry.

This in-process C# example cancels the timer and assigns a known child ID:

using var timeoutCts = new CancellationTokenSource();
var deadline = context.CurrentUtcDateTime.AddMinutes(5);
var childInstanceId = $"{context.InstanceId}:child";
var subTask = context.CallSubOrchestratorAsync<Result>(
    "ChildOrchestrator", childInstanceId, input);
var timeoutTask = context.CreateTimer(deadline, timeoutCts.Token);
var winner = await Task.WhenAny(subTask, timeoutTask);

if (winner == subTask)
{
    timeoutCts.Cancel(); // stop the outstanding timer from lingering in history
    return await subTask;
}

// The child is still running. Include its ID so an external monitor can terminate it.
throw new TimeoutException($"Child orchestration {childInstanceId} timed out.");

context.CreateTimer accepts a CancellationToken; canceling it on the success path allows the parent to complete without waiting for the timer. Task.WhenAny does not cancel an activity or sub-orchestration. If the child must stop, call TerminateAsync (in-process) or TerminateInstanceAsync (isolated worker) from a client-capable function using the known child ID. Do not inject or call a Durable client from orchestrator code. Termination also does not stop an activity already executing, so activity side effects must be idempotent or cooperatively cancellable.

Task Hub Conflicts

SymptomCauseFix
Orchestrations from two apps interleave/corrupt each other's historyTwo function apps configured with the same task hub name against the same storage backendAssign each app a unique task hub name
App fails to start after deployment, hub-name-related errorTask hub name isn't alphanumeric, or exceeds 45 charactersTask hub names must be alphanumeric only (letters and numbers, starting with a letter, 3-45 chars). The name prefixes storage artifacts that forbid special characters. MyApp-TaskHub-Prod is invalid; use MyAppTaskHubProd
Duplicate/lost orchestration instances after a shared-storage migrationMultiple apps unintentionally sharing the same storage account and default task hub nameGive each app an explicit, unique hubName in host.json rather than relying on the default
# Check whether a task hub name override is set via app settings
az functionapp config appsettings list -n APP -g RG \
  --query "[?name=='AzureFunctionsJobHost__extensions__durableTask__hubName']" -o table

# If no override is set, the hub name comes from host.json:
#   - Inspect host.json in your source repo, or
#   - Use Kudu (Advanced Tools) / zip-deployed content to view host.json in the deployed app
{
  "extensions": {
    "durableTask": {
      "hubName": "MyAppTaskHubProd"
    }
  }
}

Tip: For the Azure Storage provider, a task hub uses multiple tables, queues, and blobs. See the storage providers docs for the full schema before assuming an artifact is missing.

Purging Old Instance History

# Compute a cutoff timestamp 7 days ago, portable across GNU (Linux) and BSD (macOS) date
if CUTOFF=$(date -u -d '7 days ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ 2>/dev/null); then
  :
else
  CUTOFF=$(date -u -v-7d +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)
fi

func durable purge-history --connection-string-setting AzureWebJobsStorage \
  --task-hub-name TASKHUB --created-before "$CUTOFF" \
  --runtime-status completed failed terminated canceled

Always restrict purge operations to terminal statuses. Without --runtime-status, Core Tools also purges matching active instances.

⚠️ Growing history warning: Orchestrations with >10,000 history events can hit performance/storage limits. To check whether an instance's history is large, query the History table for that instance's partition key and count rows. --num-results 1 only confirms the table has entries, it doesn't estimate row count.

Integration Testing Durable Failure Paths

  • Stuck orchestration: start an orchestration whose sub-orchestrator never completes; assert the instance stays Running and a timeout/terminate recovery path exists.

  • Non-determinism: introduce DateTime.UtcNow into an orchestrator, force a replay, and assert the extension surfaces a non-determinism error rather than silently diverging.

  • Task hub conflict: in Azurite or isolated test storage, run two apps with the same hub name and assert the collision is detected; never run this test against shared production storage.

  • Timeout/cancellation: assert that when the timer wins a Task.WhenAny race, the losing sub-orchestration is either explicitly terminated or documented as intentionally left running.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs a command-line tool

Security

What our scanner noticed· Low risk

  • Instructions that use the network
  • Scripts that your agent may run

This skill includes scripts that your agent may run. Read them before you use it.

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by
Microsoft
Publisher
Microsoft (Official)
Source
microsoft/skills · .github/plugins/azure-skills/skills/azure-diagnostics · commit 0696600
Licence
MIT License (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from .github/plugins/azure-skills/LICENSE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced
Also distributed in
microsoft/azure-skills

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft or Microsoft.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download azure-diagnostics.zip