azure-container-instances

---
name: azure-container-instances
description: Expert knowledge for Azure Container Instances development including troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, architecture & design patterns, limits & quotas, security, configuration, and deployment. Use when configuring ACI standby pools, static IP networking, GPU containers, secure ACR pulls, or GitHub Actions deploys, and other Azure Container Instances related development tasks. Not for Azure Container Apps (use azure-container-apps), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) (use azure-kubernetes-service), Azure App Service (use azure-app-service), Azure Virtual Machines (use azure-virtual-machines).
compatibility: Requires network access. Uses mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch or WebFetch to retrieve documentation.
user-invocable: false
---
# 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

This skill requires **network access** to fetch documentation content:
- **Preferred**: Use `mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch`. Returns Markdown.
- **Fallback**: Use `WebFetch`. Returns Markdown.

## Category Index

| Category | Lines | Description |
|----------|-------|-------------|
| Troubleshooting | L32-L38 | Diagnosing ACI issues using logs/events, understanding provisioning/runtime states, and troubleshooting deployment failures and container startup problems. |
| Best Practices | L39-L43 | Guidance on designing and running ACI workloads reliably: resource sizing, networking, storage, security, scaling, image management, and operational best practices. |
| Decision Making | L44-L49 | 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 | L50-L56 | 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 | L57-L65 | 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 | L66-L80 | 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 | L81-L112 | Configuring ACI container groups: env vars, DNS, volumes, GPUs, probes, logging/monitoring, standby pools, restarts, entrypoints, updates, and runtime command execution. |
| Deployment | L113-L116 | 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 with customer-managed keys | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-encrypt-data |
| Secure images and secrets for Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-image-security |
| Configure managed identities for Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-managed-identity |
| Configure RBAC permissions for Azure Container Instances standby pools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-configure-permissions |
| Secure ACI pulls from Azure Container Registry with service principals | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-using-azure-container-registry |
| Mount secret volumes in Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-volume-secret |
| Set ACI DNS name reuse policy to prevent subdomain takeover | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/how-to-reuse-dns-names |
| Use built-in Azure Policy definitions for Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/policy-reference |
| Use managed identities for ACI access to Azure Container Registry | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/using-azure-container-registry-mi |

### Configuration
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Use config maps to manage settings in Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-config-map |
| Configure custom DNS for Azure Container Instances container groups | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-custom-dns |
| Configure environment variables for Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-environment-variables |
| Execute commands in running Azure Container Instances containers | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-exec |
| Deploy GPU-enabled workloads on Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-gpu |
| Configure init containers in Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-init-container |
| Configure liveness probes for Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-liveness-probe |
| Configure Azure Container Instances log collection | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-log-analytics |
| Configure readiness probes for Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-readiness-probe |
| Configure Azure Container Instances with YAML reference | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-reference-yaml |
| Configure restart policies for run-once tasks in ACI | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-restart-policy |
| Create standby pools for Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-create |
| Retrieve details of Azure Container Instances standby pools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-get-details |
| Understand and query health state of Azure Container Instances standby pools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-health-state |
| Use standby pools to reduce Azure Container Instances scale-out latency | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-overview |
| Request container groups from Azure Container Instances standby pools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-request-container |
| Update or delete Azure Container Instances standby pools | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pool-update-delete |
| Monitor Azure Container Instances standby pool events with Log Analytics | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-standby-pools-monitor-pool-events |
| Override container entrypoint command in Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-start-command |
| Manually stop and start Azure Container Instances container groups | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-stop-start |
| Update running container groups in Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-update |
| Mount Azure Files volumes in Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-volume-azure-files |
| Use emptyDir volumes to share data in Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-volume-emptydir |
| Mount gitRepo volumes in Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-volume-gitrepo |
| Configure monitoring and alerts for Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/monitor-azure-container-instances |
| Configure monitoring and alerts for Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/monitor-azure-container-instances |
| Monitoring data reference for Azure Container Instances | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/monitor-azure-container-instances-reference |
| View Azure Container Instances logs in Log Analytics via portal | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/viewing-logs-in-portal |

### Deployment
| Topic | URL |
|-------|-----|
| Automate ACI deployments with GitHub Actions workflow configuration | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-github-action |