Microsoftdocs Agent Skills

Included skill

Azure Network Watcher

Expert knowledge for Azure Network Watcher development including troubleshooting, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, and integrations & coding patterns. Use when configuring flow logs/Traffic Analytics, VPN monitoring, packet capture, KQL/Sentinel, or Power BI views, and other Azure Network Watcher related development tasks. Not for Azure Monitor (use azure-monitor), Azure Virtual Network (use azure-virtual-network), Azure Virtual Network Manager (use azure-virtual-network-manager), Azure Networking (use azure-networking).

Source: /skills/azure-network-watcher/SKILL.md

Azure Network Watcher Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Network Watcher. Covers troubleshooting, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, and integrations & coding patterns. 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

Category Lines Description
Troubleshooting L34-L44 Diagnosing and fixing outbound connectivity, NSG/admin rule issues, and VPN gateway/on-prem VPN connection problems, plus automating VPN monitoring with Azure Network Watcher.
Decision Making L45-L51 Guidance for migrating network monitoring: moving from classic Connection Monitor and Network Performance Monitor tests, and switching NSG flow logs to VNet flow logs.
Limits & Quotas L52-L56 How to configure and run Network Watcher packet capture, storage and filtering options, and the key limits/quotas (size, duration, concurrency) that apply to captures
Security L57-L64 Securing Network Watcher: RBAC setup, hardening deployments and data access, Zero Trust segmentation with Traffic Analytics, and protecting VNet flow logs using managed identities.
Configuration L65-L79 Configuring and deploying Network Watcher/NSG/VNet flow logs and Traffic Analytics, including agents (Linux/Arc), schemas, filtering, ARM/Bicep templates, and Azure Policy governance.
Integrations & Coding Patterns L80-L84 Using Network Watcher data in tools and code: parsing NSG flow logs with PowerShell, visualizing in Power BI, triggering packet capture from Functions, querying Traffic Analytics with KQL, and integrating with Sentinel.

Troubleshooting

Topic URL
Diagnose outbound connection issues with Network Watcher https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/connection-troubleshoot-manage
Troubleshoot NSG and admin rules with NSG diagnostics https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/diagnose-network-security-rules
Resolve common Azure Network Watcher issues https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/frequently-asked-questions
Diagnose on-premises VPN connectivity to Azure with Network Watcher https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/network-watcher-diagnose-on-premises-connectivity
Automate VPN connectivity monitoring with Azure Automation and Network Watcher https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/network-watcher-monitor-with-azure-automation
Troubleshoot VPN gateways and connections with Azure CLI https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/vpn-troubleshoot-cli
Troubleshoot VPN gateways and connections with PowerShell https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/vpn-troubleshoot-powershell

Decision Making

Topic URL
Migrate from Connection Monitor classic to new Connection Monitor https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/migrate-to-connection-monitor-from-connection-monitor-classic
Migrate tests from Network Performance Monitor to Connection Monitor https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/migrate-to-connection-monitor-from-network-performance-monitor
Migrate from NSG flow logs to VNet flow logs https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/nsg-flow-logs-migrate

Limits & Quotas

Topic URL
Use Network Watcher packet capture and understand its limits https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/packet-capture-overview

Security

Topic URL
Configure RBAC permissions for Azure Network Watcher https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/rbac-permissions
Secure Azure Network Watcher deployment and data access https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/secure-network-watcher
Apply Zero Trust segmentation using Traffic Analytics https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/traffic-analytics-zero-trust
Secure VNet flow logs with managed identities https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/vnet-flow-logs-managed-identity

Configuration

Topic URL
Install and manage Azure Monitor Agent on Arc servers https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/connection-monitor-install-azure-monitor-agent
Understand Connection Monitor Log Analytics data schemas https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/connection-monitor-schema
Install and manage Network Watcher Agent on Linux VMs https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/network-watcher-agent-linux
Configure and manage Azure NSG flow logs https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/nsg-flow-logs-manage
Govern Traffic Analytics with Azure Policy https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/traffic-analytics-policy-portal
Understand Traffic Analytics schema and aggregation https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/traffic-analytics-schema
Deploy Network Watcher flow logs with Bicep https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/vnet-flow-logs-bicep
Configure filtering for Azure VNet flow logs https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/vnet-flow-logs-filtering
Configure and manage Azure virtual network flow logs https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/vnet-flow-logs-manage
Enforce VNet flow logs with Azure Policy https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/vnet-flow-logs-policy
Deploy Network Watcher flow logs via ARM template https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/vnet-flow-logs-template

Integrations & Coding Patterns

Topic URL
Trigger Network Watcher packet captures from Azure Functions alerts https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/packet-capture-alert-triggered
Analyze Traffic Analytics data with KQL queries https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/traffic-analytics-queries