Azure Local Multi-Rack

Multi-rack is in preview — say so, and confirm availability from the docs before committing to a design.

Quick Reference

Property	Value
Best for	Rack-scale Azure Local: 100+ machines, preintegrated racks, SAN, managed fabric
Scale	Minimum four racks — one aggregation rack plus three or more compute racks
Providers	Microsoft.NetworkCloud, Microsoft.ManagedNetworkFabric, Microsoft.AzureStackHCI
CLI	az networkcloud, az networkfabric, az stack-hci-vm
Related skill	azure-local for standard 1-16 node and rack-aware deployments

When to Use This Skill

Use when the deployment is multi-rack / rack scale: preintegrated racks, an aggregation rack, a Network Fabric Controller, a Cluster Manager, SAN storage, or the networkcloud / managednetworkfabric CLI extensions.

Do not use for standard Azure Local (1-16 node hyperconverged, up to 64 disaggregated) or rack-aware clusters — hand off to the azure-local skill. If the scale is unclear, ask first: the two have separate, non-interchangeable procedures for the same-sounding tasks (logical networks, VM creation, NSGs).

MCP Tools

No dedicated MCP namespace. Use generic Azure MCP tools: mcp_azure_mcp_extension_cli_generate (confirm networkcloud/networkfabric extensions first), mcp_azure_mcp_monitor (needs Log Analytics), mcp_azure_mcp_resourcehealth (partial; not fabric or SAN health), mcp_azure_mcp_documentation (multi-rack articles only — standard Azure Local pages do not apply).

Details: cli-and-prereqs.

Workflow

1. Confirm this is multi-rack, not standard Azure Local — see When to Use.
2. Plan/deploy -> plan-and-deploy
3. VMs, AKS, images, disks -> workload-management
4. Fabric, isolation domains, load balancers, NSGs -> networking
5. Monitoring, metrics, serial console, failures -> operate-and-monitor

Read the matched workflow first and use docs-map. Start read-only. Ask before fabric changes, isolation domain edits, VM power/delete operations, or anything touching the aggregation rack or SAN.

Error Handling

Scenario	Remediation
Scale unknown	Ask whether the deployment is multi-rack or standard before recommending procedures.
Standard Azure Local detected	Hand off to the azure-local skill; multi-rack procedures do not apply.
Missing CLI extension	Install per cli-and-prereqs before running commands.
Risky fabric or SAN change	Stop and follow safety-rules.
Doc URL 404/redirect	Search Learn for the title, scoped to multi-rack deployments of Azure Local.