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Support for VM agent extensions in Microsoft Azure

  • Article

Applies to: ✔️ Windows VMs

Original KB number:   2965986

This article discusses support policy for the VM agent for Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines and for VM agent extensions on infrastructure as a service (IaaS) for Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft Support for VM agent extensions is limited to first-party extensions that are developed and published directly by Microsoft. Support is available to customers who purchased a valid Azure support plan.

Support for third-party VM agent extensions is provided directly by the vendor.

Agents support matrix

VM agent extension Reference Microsoft Support policy Link for support
DSC Azure PowerShell DSC (Desired State Configuration) extension Supported by Microsoft Azure support
MSEnterpriseApplication System Center Role Authoring Extension Supported by Microsoft Azure support
BGInfo Background Info extension Supported by Microsoft Azure support
VMAccessagent VM Extension to enable Remote Desktop and password reset Supported by Microsoft Azure support
Chefclient Chef software agent Supported by Chef software https://www.chef.io/support/
PuppetEnterpriseAgent PuppetLabs agent Supported by PuppetLabs https://support.puppet.com/hc/
Symantec Endpoint Protection Symantec antivirus Supported by Symantec http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=contactsupport&key=54619
Trend Micro Deep Security Agent Trend Micro antivirus Supported by Trend Micro http://www.trendmicro.com/us/business/saas/deep-security-as-a-service/index.html

More information

Understanding the difference between the VM agent and VM extensions helps troubleshoot problems by isolating the location of the problem.

The VM agent lets you start, run, and monitor a VM extension that will perform specific tasks in the virtual machine (VM).

The VM agent has to be running for the agent to run extensions.

How do I know whether the problem is with the agent or with extensions?

The VM agent consists of three services that must be running:

  • RDAgent
  • Windows Azure Guest Agent
  • Microsoft Azure Telemetry Service

Make sure that these three services are running, and then check the extensions installation and startup.

Note

Starting in version 2.7.41491.971 of Guest Agent, the Telemetry component is included in the Windows Azure Guest Agent service. Therefore, you might not see this Telemetry service listed in newly created VMs.

Steps to verify the installation/startup error for the extensions:

When the agent is running, it will log a summary of extensions operations. This summary includes the following:

  • Enable
  • Install
  • Start
  • Disable

You can find the summary log at C:\WindowsAzure\logs\WaAppAgent.log.

To determine which extension is failing, open the log, and then look for the word "error" in the log.

An example of an error in starting the VMAccess extension is as follows:

[00000019] [04/08/2014 23:25:06.83] [INFO] plugin (name: Microsoft.Compute.VMAccessAgent, version: 1.0.3) enabled successfully., Code: 0
[00000028] [04/08/2014 23:25:07.80] [INFO] Successfully installed plugin Microsoft.Compute.BGInfo 1.1.
[00000028] [04/08/2014 23:25:07.80] [INFO] plugin (name: Microsoft.Compute.BGInfo, version: 1.1) enabled successfully. Code: 0
[00000003] [04/08/2014 23:27:04.11] [ERROR] Install command of Microsoft.Compute.VMAccessAgent has not exited on time! Killing it...

Use the table that is mentioned before to request support for the extension that is failing.

Contact us for help

If you have questions or need help, create a support request, or ask Azure community support. You can also submit product feedback to Azure feedback community.

Third-party information disclaimer

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.

Third-party contact disclaimer

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find additional information about this topic. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of third-party contact information.