azure-container-instances

# Azure Container Instances Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Container Instances. Covers troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, 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](https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/mcp/blob/main/README.md)

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 | L36-L42 | Diagnosing ACI issues using logs/events, understanding provisioning/runtime states, and troubleshooting deployment failures and container startup problems. |
| Best Practices | L43-L47 | Guidance on designing and running ACI workloads reliably: resource sizing, networking, storage, security, scaling, image management, and operational best practices. |
| Decision Making | L48-L53 | Guidance on cost-optimizing ACI with Spot containers and using prediction-based sizing to configure and right-size Azure Container Instances standby pools. |
| Architecture & Design Patterns | L54-L60 | Design patterns for giving ACI containers static inbound/outbound IPs using Application Gateway, firewalls, and NAT Gateway for controlled, predictable network egress/ingress. |
| Limits & Quotas | L61-L69 | ACI limits, quotas, and behaviors: max CPU/memory (Big Containers), per‑region quotas, standby pool limits, VNet constraints, and FAQs on scaling, performance, and resource usage. |
| Security | L70-L84 | Securing Azure Container Instances: TLS/HTTPS setup, secrets and CMK encryption, managed identities/RBAC, secure ACR pulls, DNS reuse protection, and Azure Policy for compliance. |
| Configuration | L85-L116 | Configuring ACI container groups: env vars, DNS, volumes, GPUs, probes, logging/monitoring, standby pools, restarts, entrypoints, updates, and runtime command execution. |
| Deployment | L117-L120 | Using GitHub Actions to build, push, and automatically deploy container images to Azure Container Instances, including workflow YAML setup and authentication configuration. |

### Troubleshooting
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Retrieve Azure Container Instances logs and events for troubleshooting | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-get-logs |
| Troubleshoot Azure Container Instances deployment issues | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-troubleshooting |
| Interpret Azure Container Instances provisioning and runtime states | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-state |

### Best Practices
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Apply Azure Container Instances workload best practices | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-best-practices-and-considerations |

### Decision Making
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Decide when to use ACI Spot containers for cost savings | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-spot-containers-overview |
| Use prediction results to right-size Azure Container Instances standby pools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-prediction-results |

### Architecture & Design Patterns
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Expose Azure Container Instances via Application Gateway static IP | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-application-gateway |
| Configure static outbound IP for Azure Container Instances with firewall | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-egress-ip-address |
| Configure Azure Container Instances egress via NAT Gateway | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-nat-gateway |

### Limits & Quotas
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Use Big Containers with ACI vCPU and memory limits | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/big-containers |
| Azure Container Instances FAQs on limits and behavior | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-faq |
| Check Azure Container Instances resource and quota limits | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-resource-and-quota-limits |
| FAQ and limits for Azure Container Instances standby pools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-faq |
| Understand ACI virtual network scenarios and limits | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-virtual-network-concepts |

### Security
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Configure automatic HTTPS for Azure Container Instances using Caddy | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-container-group-automatic-ssl |
| Enable TLS for Azure Container Instances with Nginx sidecar | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-container-group-ssl |
| Encrypt Azure Container Instances deployment data