---
name: Azure Architecture
slug: azure-architecture
category: DevOps
description: Azure Architecture provides guidance for designing Azure solutions, including reference architectures, patterns, service choices, and best practices. Use it when planning AKS, data and AI, hybrid, SAP, or high availability and disaster recovery architectures.
github: "https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills/tree/main/skills/azure-architecture"
stars: 715
forks: 116
install: "npx degit https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills/tree/main/skills/azure-architecture ~/.claude/skills/azure-architecture"
installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/azure-architecture
source_path: skills/azure-architecture/SKILL.md
collection_size: 25
category_size: 798
collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills"
added: 2026-08-23T05:20:08.139Z
last_synced: 2026-08-23T05:20:08.139Z
canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/azure-architecture"
---

# Azure Architecture

Azure Architecture provides guidance for designing Azure solutions, including reference architectures, patterns, service choices, and best practices. Use it when planning AKS, data and AI, hybrid, SAP, or high availability and disaster recovery architectures.

**Install:**

```bash
npx degit https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/Agent-Skills/tree/main/skills/azure-architecture ~/.claude/skills/azure-architecture
```

## README

# Azure Architecture Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for designing Azure solutions using Azure Architecture. Covers reference architectures, solution ideas, design patterns, technology choices, architecture styles, best practices, anti-patterns, example workloads, and migration guides. 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 |
|----------|-------|-------------|
| Reference Architectures | L37-L92 | End-to-end Azure solution blueprints for mission-critical apps, data/AI, networking, hybrid, and SAP—covering secure deployment, HA/DR, multiregion, and enterprise landing zone patterns. |
| Solution Ideas | L93-L130 | End-to-end solution patterns for AI, data, security, mainframe migration, IoT, and DevOps on Azure—covering reference architectures, design choices, and implementation guidance. |
| Design Patterns | L131-L180 | Patterns for resilient, scalable, event-driven cloud apps: messaging, CQRS/event sourcing, retries, rate limiting, security gateways, identity, caching, sharding, and migration strategies. |
| Technology Choices | L181-L215 | Guidance on choosing Azure/Fabric services and architectures for AI/ML, data, analytics, storage, compute, networking, containers, messaging, and vector/search workloads. |
| Architecture Styles | L216-L227 | Guidance on choosing and designing Azure app architectures (big compute, big data, event-driven, microservices, N-tier, web-queue-worker) with patterns, components, and best practices. |
| Best Practices | L228-L284 | Patterns and guidance for building secure, scalable, resilient Azure solutions: RAG/GenAI, APIs, AKS, Functions, networking, DR, monitoring, CI/CD, caching, and performance tuning. |
| Anti-patterns | L285-L299 | Diagnosing and fixing common Azure performance and scalability anti-patterns (busy DB/front end, chatty I/O, no caching, noisy neighbors, retry storms, sync I/O, monolithic persistence). |
| Example Workloads | L300-L400 | End-to-end reference architectures and patterns for real-world Azure workloads, covering data/AI platforms, AKS and networking, hybrid/mainframe migration, IoT/OPC UA, SAP/Oracle, security, and BCDR. |
| Migration Guides | L401-L430 | Guides for mapping AWS/Google/on-prem services to Azure, and migrating workloads (Kubernetes, Oracle, Kafka) including identity, networking, security, storage, and cost/ops comparisons. |

### Reference Architectures
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Deploy a baseline enterprise Foundry chat reference architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/architecture/baseline-microsoft-foundry-chat |
| Implement baseline Foundry chat in an Azure landing zone | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/architecture/baseline-microsoft-foundry-landing-zone |
| Deploy MLOps v2 CI/CD and retraining architectures | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/guide/machine-learning-operations-v2 |
| Implement DR-ready Azure enterprise data platform architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/data-guide/disaster-recovery/dr-for-azure-data-platform-architecture |
| Enterprise-hardened Azure Data Factory lakehouse architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/databases/architecture/azure-data-factory-enterprise-hardened |
| Mission-critical Azure Data Factory analytics architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/databases/architecture/azure-data-factory-mission-critical |
| Baseline medallion lakehouse with Azure Data Factory | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/databases/architecture/azure-data-factory-on-azure-landing-zones-baseline |
| Deploy MongoDB Atlas securely on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/databases/architecture/mongodb-atlas-baseline |
| Move archive data from mainframes to Azure storage | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/example-scenario/mainframe/move-archive-data-mainframes |
| Deploy a hub-spoke AKS cluster with Azure Firewall | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/guide/aks/aks-firewall |
| Architect mission-critical global content delivery on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/guide/networking/global-web-applications/mission-critical-content-delivery |
| Implement mission-critical global HTTP ingress on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/guide/networking/global-web-applications/mission-critical-global-http-ingress |
| Design global routing redundancy for mission-critical web apps | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/guide/networking/global-web-applications/overview |
| Implement multiregion load balancing with Traffic Manager and Application Gateway | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/high-availability/traffic-manager-application-gateway |
| Implement enterprise cloud file shares with Azure Files | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/hybrid/azure-files-private |
| Design Azure Local baseline infrastructure architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/hybrid/azure-local-baseline |
| Implement Azure Local storage switchless architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/hybrid/azure-local-switchless |
| Design Azure Virtual Desktop on Azure Local | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/hybrid/azure-local-workload-virtual-desktop |
| Implement a hub-spoke network topology in Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/networking/architecture/hub-spoke |
| Deploy a hub-spoke network using Azure Virtual WAN | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/networking/architecture/hub-spoke-virtual-wan-architecture |
| Implement TIC 3.0-compliant internet access on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/networking/architecture/trusted-internet-connections |
| Deploy Microsoft Entra security for AWS identities | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/aws/aws-azure-ad-security |
| Host GPU-based ML and HPC workloads on AKS | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-gpu/gpu-aks |
| Deploy microservices architecture on AKS with DevOps | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-microservices/aks-microservices |
| Deploy advanced AKS microservices with secure networking | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-microservices/aks-microservices-advanced |
| Apply application design patterns for mission-critical Azure apps | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-mission-critical/mission-critical-app-design |
| Choose application platform for mission-critical workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-mission-critical/mission-critical-app-platform |
| Design data platforms for mission-critical Azure solutions | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-mission-critical/mission-critical-data-platform |
| Implement deployment and testing for mission-critical workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-mission-critical/mission-critical-deploy-test |
| Implement health modeling for mission-critical Azure workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-mission-critical/mission-critical-health-modeling |
| Design mission-critical architectures on Azure AKS | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-mission-critical/mission-critical-intro |
| Design networking for mission-critical AKS workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-mission-critical/mission-critical-networking |
| Operate and maintain mission-critical workloads on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-mission-critical/mission-critical-operations |
| Apply security controls to mission-critical Azure workloads | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-mission-critical/mission-critical-security |
| Deploy a multiregion AKS baseline architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks-multi-region/aks-multi-cluster |
| Use baseline reference architecture for secure AKS clusters | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aks/baseline-aks |
| Build Azure Red Hat OpenShift landing zone for financial services | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/containers/aro/azure-redhat-openshift-financial-services-workloads |
| Deploy a Databricks-based stream processing pipeline | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/data/stream-processing-databricks |
| Implement stream processing with Azure Stream Analytics | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/data/stream-processing-stream-analytics |
| Implement secure hybrid DMZ network in Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/dmz/secure-vnet-dmz |
| Implement basic enterprise integration with Logic Apps and API Management | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/enterprise-integration/basic-enterprise-integration |
| Implement ExpressRoute private peering to Azure VNets | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/hybrid-networking/expressroute-private-peering-connectivity |
| Design ExpressRoute with VPN failover for resilience | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/hybrid-networking/expressroute-vpn-failover |
| Deploy site-to-site VPN Gateway for hybrid networks | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/hybrid-networking/hybrid-vpn-connectivity |
| Replicate and sync mainframe data to Azure during migration | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/migration/sync-mainframe-data-with-azure |
| Deploy and secure Linux VMs with full Azure stack | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/n-tier/linux-vm |
| Deploy and secure Windows VMs with full Azure stack | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/n-tier/windows-vm |
| Run SAP BW/4HANA on Azure Linux VMs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/sap/run-sap-bw4hana-with-linux-virtual-machines |
| Deploy highly available SAP HANA on Azure Linux VMs | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/sap/run-sap-hana-for-linux-virtual-machines |
| Deploy high-availability App Service Environment across zones | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/web-apps/app-service-environment/architectures/app-service-environment-high-availability-deployment |
| Enterprise App Service Environment v3 deployment architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/web-apps/app-service-environment/architectures/app-service-environment-standard-deployment |
| Baseline zone-redundant App Service web app architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/web-apps/app-service/architectures/baseline-zone-redundant |

### Solution Ideas
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Generate AI-assisted documents from enterprise data | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/idea/generate-documents-from-your-data |
| Design image classification apps using Azure services | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/idea/intelligent-apps-image-processing |
| Scale many-models machine learning on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/idea/many-models-machine-learning-azure-machine-learning |
| Process multimodal content with Azure AI services | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/idea/multi-modal-content-processing |
| Design multi-agent workflow automation on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/idea/multiple-agent-workflow-automation |
| Forecast customer orders with Azure AI | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/idea/next-order-forecasting |
| Orchestrate MLOps pipelines with Azure Databricks | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/idea/orchestrate-machine-learning-azure-databricks |
| Design a conversation analytics solution with Foundry tools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/ai-ml/idea/unlock-insights-from-conversational-data |
| Design polyglot persistence with Cosmos DB and SQL | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/databases/idea/combine-relational-nosql |
| Use Cosmos DB change feed for minimal storage replication | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/databases/idea/minimal-storage-change-feed-replicate-data |
| Plan migration of IBM z/OS OLTP workloads to Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/example-scenario/mainframe/ibm-zos-online-transaction-processing-azure |
| Integrate IBM message queues with Azure data platform | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/example-scenario/mainframe/integrate-ibm-message-queues-azure |
| Simulate IoT device behavior with Azure Load Testing and custom plugins | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/guide/testing/load-testing/load-testing-with-custom-plugins |
| Design portable adaptive applications across diverse environments | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/adaptive-apps |
| Design dynamic multi-agent AI systems on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/ai-agents-at-scale |
| Design AI Search skillsets for image and text enrichment | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/ai-search-skillsets |
| Build real-time analytics using Azure Service Bus and Microsoft Fabric | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/analytics-service-bus |
| Design a modern analytics architecture with Azure Databricks | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/azure-databricks-modern-analytics-architecture |
| Design first-layer defense with Azure security services | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/azure-security-build-first-layer-defense |
| Design AKS-based real-time data streaming architecture | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/data-streaming-scenario |
| Design a GitHub-based DevSecOps IaC pipeline on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/devsecops-infrastructure-as-code |
| Design a highly available SharePoint farm on Azure | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/highly-available-sharepoint-farm |
| Build batch and streaming ETL with Databricks and Delta Lake | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/ingest-etl-stream-with-adb |
| Design IoT analytics with Azure Data Explorer and IoT Hub | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/iot-azure-data-explorer |
| Replicate and sync mainframe files to Azure storage | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/mainframe-azure-file-replication |
| Map organizational threats using Azure security tools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/map-threats-it-environment |
| Integrate Azure and Microsoft Defender XDR security services | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/microsoft-365-defender-security-integrate-azure |
| Implement a second defense layer with Microsoft Defender XDR | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/microsoft-defender-xdr-build-second-layer-defense |
| Automate incident response with Microsoft Sentinel playbooks | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/microsoft-sentinel-automated-response |
| Plan cross-tenant workload migrations between Entra tenants | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/migrate-cloud-workloads-across-security-tenants |
| Design multilayered security for Azure virtual machines | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/multilayered-protection-azure-vm |
| Automate SAP infrastructure on Azure with SUSE | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/sap-workload-automation-suse |
| Design cross-region TDE with Managed HSM for SQL MI | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/secure-sql-managed-instance-managed-hardware-security-module |
| Design a modern SMB data platform with Fabric and Databricks | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/small-medium-modern-data-platform |

### Design Patterns
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Implement Transactional Outbox with Cosmos DB and Service Bus | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/databases/guide/transactional-out-box-cosmos |
| Virtual hub extension pattern for shared services in Virtual WAN | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/networking/guide/private-link-virtual-wan-dns-virtual-hub-extension-pattern |
| Implement the Ambassador pattern for helper services | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/ambassador |
| Apply the Anti-Corruption Layer integration pattern | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/anti-corruption-layer |
| Use the Asynchronous Request-Reply pattern for long tasks | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/asynchronous-request-reply |
| Design Backends for Frontends for tailored clients | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/backends-for-frontends |
| Apply the Bulkhead pattern to isolate failures | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/bulkhead |
| Use the Cache-Aside pattern for on-demand caching | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/cache-aside |
| Apply the choreography pattern for distributed workflows | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/patterns/choreography |
| Use the Circuit Breaker pattern for resilient calls | https://lear