Azure Deployment Guide

June 8, 2026 · View on GitHub

Deploying AgentMesh on Microsoft Azure using AKS, Managed Identity, Key Vault, and Azure Monitor.

See also: Kubernetes Guide for general K8s patterns, AWS and GCP for other clouds.

Architecture Overview
Prerequisites
AKS Cluster Setup
Managed Identity Integration
Secrets Management with Key Vault
Monitoring with Azure Monitor
High Availability Topology
Network Security
Common Patterns

Architecture Overview

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Azure Region                                    │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  VNet                                      │  │
│  │  ┌──────────────┐  ┌────────────────────┐ │  │
│  │  │ AKS Cluster  │  │ Azure Cache for    │ │  │
│  │  │              │  │ Redis              │ │  │
│  │  │ ┌──────────┐ │  └────────────────────┘ │  │
│  │  │ │AgentMesh │ │  ┌────────────────────┐ │  │
│  │  │ │ Server   │ │  │ Azure Database for │ │  │
│  │  │ ├──────────┤ │  │ PostgreSQL         │ │  │
│  │  │ │AgentMesh │ │  └────────────────────┘ │  │
│  │  │ │ Sidecar  │ │                         │  │
│  │  │ └──────────┘ │  ┌────────────────────┐ │  │
│  │  └──────────────┘  │ Azure Key Vault    │ │  │
│  │                     └────────────────────┘ │  │
│  │                     ┌────────────────────┐ │  │
│  │                     │ Azure Monitor /    │ │  │
│  │                     │ Event Grid         │ │  │
│  │                     └────────────────────┘ │  │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Prerequisites

Azure CLI (az) configured with appropriate subscription
kubectl configured for your AKS cluster
Helm 3.x for chart-based deployment

Container Images

All AgentMesh container images are published to GitHub Container Registry (GHCR) and support linux/amd64 and linux/arm64:

Component	Image	Port
Trust Engine	`ghcr.io/microsoft/agent-governance-toolkit/trust-engine`	8443
Policy Server	`ghcr.io/microsoft/agent-governance-toolkit/policy-server`	8444
Audit Collector	`ghcr.io/microsoft/agent-governance-toolkit/audit-collector`	8445
API Gateway	`ghcr.io/microsoft/agent-governance-toolkit/api-gateway`	8446
Governance Sidecar	`ghcr.io/microsoft/agent-governance-toolkit/governance-sidecar`	8081

# Pull images (use specific version tags in production)
docker pull ghcr.io/microsoft/agent-governance-toolkit/trust-engine:latest
docker pull ghcr.io/microsoft/agent-governance-toolkit/governance-sidecar:latest

Using your own ACR? Mirror the images: az acr import --name <your-acr> --source ghcr.io/microsoft/agent-governance-toolkit/trust-engine:latest

AKS Cluster Setup

Create Resource Group and Cluster

# Create resource group
az group create \
  --name agentmesh-rg \
  --location eastus

# Create AKS cluster with managed identity
az aks create \
  --resource-group agentmesh-rg \
  --name agentmesh-prod \
  --node-count 3 \
  --node-vm-size Standard_D4s_v5 \
  --enable-managed-identity \
  --enable-workload-identity \
  --enable-oidc-issuer \
  --network-plugin azure \
  --network-policy calico \
  --zones 1 2 3 \
  --generate-ssh-keys

Recommended Node Configuration

Component	VM Size	Min Nodes	Required?
AgentMesh Server	Standard_D4s_v5	2	Yes (full cluster) / No (sidecar)
AgentMesh Sidecar	Runs in agent pods	—	Yes (sidecar mode)
Redis	Azure Cache Premium P1	1	Optional — for shared session state
PostgreSQL	General Purpose D4s_v3	1	Optional — for persistent audit logs

Which components do I need? For the sidecar pattern (one governance instance per agent pod), you only need the sidecar container and a policy ConfigMap — no Redis, no PostgreSQL, no separate server. For the full cluster pattern (centralized governance serving many agents), deploy all components.

Managed Identity Integration

Use AKS Workload Identity to authenticate AgentMesh pods to Azure services without storing credentials.

1. Create User-Assigned Managed Identity

az identity create \
  --resource-group agentmesh-rg \
  --name agentmesh-identity

2. Create Federated Credential

AKS_OIDC_ISSUER=$(az aks show \
  --resource-group agentmesh-rg \
  --name agentmesh-prod \
  --query "oidcIssuerProfile.issuerUrl" -o tsv)

az identity federated-credential create \
  --name agentmesh-fed-cred \
  --identity-name agentmesh-identity \
  --resource-group agentmesh-rg \
  --issuer "$AKS_OIDC_ISSUER" \
  --subject system:serviceaccount:agentmesh:agentmesh-sa \
  --audience api://AzureADTokenExchange

3. Create Kubernetes Service Account

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: agentmesh-sa
  namespace: agentmesh
  annotations:
    azure.workload.identity/client-id: "<MANAGED_IDENTITY_CLIENT_ID>"
  labels:
    azure.workload.identity/use: "true"

4. Grant Roles

IDENTITY_PRINCIPAL_ID=$(az identity show \
  --resource-group agentmesh-rg \
  --name agentmesh-identity \
  --query principalId -o tsv)

# Key Vault access
az role assignment create \
  --assignee "$IDENTITY_PRINCIPAL_ID" \
  --role "Key Vault Secrets User" \
  --scope /subscriptions/SUB_ID/resourceGroups/agentmesh-rg/providers/Microsoft.KeyVault/vaults/agentmesh-kv

# Event Grid publisher
az role assignment create \
  --assignee "$IDENTITY_PRINCIPAL_ID" \
  --role "EventGrid Data Sender" \
  --scope /subscriptions/SUB_ID/resourceGroups/agentmesh-rg

Secrets Management with Key Vault

What Secrets Go in Key Vault?

Secret	Purpose	Required?
Ed25519 agent private keys	Agent DID identity — signing trust handshakes	Yes, if using DID identity
TLS cert/key	mTLS between AgentMesh components	Yes, if TLS enabled
Redis connection string	Shared session cache for HA deployment	Only for full cluster mode
PostgreSQL credentials	Persistent audit log storage	Only for full cluster mode

Sidecar-only deployments (e.g., OpenClaw sidecar) typically need only the agent private key — or no secrets at all if you're using policy-only enforcement without DID identity.

Create Key Vault

az keyvault create \
  --resource-group agentmesh-rg \
  --name agentmesh-kv \
  --location eastus \
  --enable-rbac-authorization

Store Agent Private Keys

# Store Ed25519 private key (base64-encoded)
az keyvault secret set \
  --vault-name agentmesh-kv \
  --name agent-alpha-private-key \
  --value "<base64-encoded-ed25519-key>"

Use Azure Key Vault CSI Driver

# SecretProviderClass for AKS
apiVersion: secrets-store.csi.x-k8s.io/v1
kind: SecretProviderClass
metadata:
  name: agentmesh-secrets
  namespace: agentmesh
spec:
  provider: azure
  parameters:
    usePodIdentity: "false"
    useVMManagedIdentity: "false"
    clientID: "<MANAGED_IDENTITY_CLIENT_ID>"
    keyvaultName: agentmesh-kv
    tenantId: "<TENANT_ID>"
    objects: |
      array:
        - |
          objectName: agent-alpha-private-key
          objectType: secret

Monitoring with Azure Monitor

Enable Container Insights

az aks enable-addons \
  --resource-group agentmesh-rg \
  --name agentmesh-prod \
  --addons monitoring \
  --workspace-resource-id /subscriptions/SUB_ID/resourceGroups/agentmesh-rg/providers/Microsoft.OperationalInsights/workspaces/agentmesh-logs

Prometheus Metrics to Azure Monitor

AKS supports managed Prometheus with Azure Monitor workspace.

Key Metrics to Monitor

Metric	Alert Condition
`agentmesh_trust_score`	Any agent drops below 300
`agentmesh_policy_violations_total`	> 10 violations/min
`agentmesh_anomaly_detections_total`	Any HIGH severity detection
`agentmesh_credential_rotations_total`	Rotation failure
`agentmesh_handshake_duration_seconds`	p99 > 500 ms

Audit Log Export via Event Grid

# AgentMesh config
audit:
  export:
    type: cloudevents
    target: azure_event_grid
    topic: /subscriptions/SUB_ID/resourceGroups/agentmesh-rg/providers/Microsoft.EventGrid/topics/agentmesh-audit

High Availability Topology

Multi-Zone Deployment

┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐
│    Zone 1    │  │    Zone 2    │  │    Zone 3    │
│              │  │              │  │              │
│ AgentMesh    │  │ AgentMesh    │  │ AgentMesh    │
│ Server (1)   │  │ Server (1)   │  │ Server (1)   │
│              │  │              │  │              │
│ Redis Primary│  │ Redis Replica│  │              │
│ PG Primary   │  │ PG Standby   │  │ PG Read      │
└──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘

AgentMesh Server: ≥ 2 replicas with zone-aware pod anti-affinity
Redis: Azure Cache Premium with zone redundancy
PostgreSQL: Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server with zone-redundant HA

Helm Values for HA

replicaCount: 3

affinity:
  podAntiAffinity:
    preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
      - weight: 100
        podAffinityTerm:
          topologyKey: topology.kubernetes.io/zone
          labelSelector:
            matchLabels:
              app: agentmesh-server

resources:
  requests:
    cpu: 500m
    memory: 512Mi
  limits:
    cpu: "1"
    memory: 1Gi

Network Security

VNet Configuration

AKS nodes in private subnets with Azure NAT Gateway
Redis and PostgreSQL in private subnets with Private Endpoints
Use Private Link for Key Vault, Event Grid, and Azure Monitor

Network Security Groups

Component	Inbound	Outbound
AgentMesh Server	8080 (API), 9090 (metrics) from VNet	Redis 6380, PostgreSQL 5432, Key Vault 443
AgentMesh Sidecar	8081 from localhost only	AgentMesh Server 8080
Redis	6380 from AKS subnet	—
PostgreSQL	5432 from AKS subnet	—

Kubernetes Network Policies

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: agentmesh-server
  namespace: agentmesh
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      app: agentmesh-server
  policyTypes:
    - Ingress
    - Egress
  ingress:
    - from:
        - namespaceSelector:
            matchLabels:
              agentmesh-access: "true"
      ports:
        - port: 8080
        - port: 9090
  egress:
    - to:
        - namespaceSelector: {}
      ports:
        - port: 6380
        - port: 5432
        - port: 443

Common Patterns

Identity Integration

Use Workload Identity so AgentMesh pods authenticate to Azure services without static credentials:

AgentMesh DID → K8s ServiceAccount → Azure Managed Identity (via Workload Identity)

Secret Management

Agent private keys: Azure Key Vault + CSI driver mount
Redis/PostgreSQL credentials: Key Vault with automatic rotation
TLS certificates: Azure-managed certificates for external; SPIFFE for mesh-internal

Cost Optimization

Use Azure Spot VMs for non-critical agent workloads
Right-size Azure Cache and PostgreSQL based on agent count
Use Log Analytics data retention tiers for audit log cost management

See also: AWS Deployment · GCP Deployment · Kubernetes Guide