Introduction
Azure Monitor Workbooks are interactive reports that provide a unified view of data from multiple Azure services. They allow users to aggregate data from different sources, such as logs and metrics, and visualize it in a customizable dashboard format.
These workbooks are important in monitoring and analyzing data in Azure because they provide a single, centralized location to view and analyze data from various sources. This helps to simplify the monitoring process and gain more comprehensive insights into the performance of Azure resources.
Additionally, Azure Monitor Workbooks offer numerous features that allow users to drill down into specific details and troubleshoot issues, such as filtering and sorting capabilities, interactive charts and graphs, and the ability to add custom metrics and visualizations.
Overall, Azure Monitor Workbooks play a crucial role in helping organizations track their Azure resources, identify issues, and make data-driven decisions to optimize their performance.
How to create and use Azure Monitor Workbooks
Step 1: Log in to Azure Portal
To access Azure Monitor Workbooks, log in to your Azure Portal account using your credentials.
Step 2: Navigate to Azure Monitor
Once you are logged in, click on the “Azure Monitor” option located in the left sidebar menu.
Step 3: Open Workbooks
In the Azure Monitor menu, click on the “Workbooks” option to open the Workbooks page.
Step 4: Create a new Workbook
On the Workbooks page, click on the “New Workbook” button to create a new workbook.
Step 5: Choose the Workbook type
Select the type of Workbook you want to create from the available options — Performance, Log, Application Insights, or Resource.
Step 6: Add Data Source
Next, you need to select the data source for your Workbook. You can choose from various sources such as Azure Monitor Logs, Application Insights, Azure Metrics, and more.
Step 7: Add Query
In this step, you need to add the query to retrieve data from the chosen data source. You can either write a custom query or use the query builder for your Workbook.
Step 8: Design your Workbook
After adding the query and selecting the data sources, you can start designing your Workbook. You can add charts, tables, text, and other visual elements to create a custom dashboard.
Step 9: Configure Workbook settings
Once you have designed your Workbook, you can configure various settings such as schedule refresh, time range, and permissions.
Step 10: Save Workbook
Before you can use your Workbook, make sure to save it by clicking on the “Save” button at the top of the page.
Step 11: Publish Workbook
To make your Workbook available for other users to access, you need to publish it. Click on the “Publish” button at the top of the page, and select the appropriate options.
Step 12: Access Workbook
Once your Workbook is published, you can access it by clicking on the “All Workbooks” option on the Workbooks page. You can also access it directly from the Azure Monitor dashboard.
Step 13: Add to Dashboard
To add your Workbook to the Azure Monitor dashboard, navigate to the dashboard and click on the “Edit” button. Then click on the “+” button to add a new tile and select your Workbook from the list.
Step 14: Customize Dashboard
You can further customize your dashboard by resizing and rearranging the tiles, changing the time range, or adding filters.
Congratulations, you have successfully created and used an Azure Monitor Workbook! You can continue to add more Workbooks and data sources to your dashboard to gain valuable insights into your Azure environment.
Monitoring Azure virtual machines
One example of using Azure Monitor Workbooks to monitor and analyze the performance metrics of Azure virtual machines is for a company that uses a cloud-based application to manage its business operations. This application runs on multiple Azure virtual machines, each handling a different task. The company wants to keep track of the performance of these virtual machines to ensure that the application is running smoothly and efficiently.
To do this, the company can create a custom Azure Monitor Workbook that displays key performance metrics for the virtual machines. This Workbook can be customized to show the performance metrics that are most important for the company, such as CPU usage, network traffic, and disk performance.
To start, the company can use Azure Monitor to collect performance data from each virtual machine. This data can then be visualized in the Workbook using various charts and graphs. For example, a line chart can be created to track the CPU usage over time for each virtual machine. This will allow the company to see if there are any spikes in CPU usage that may indicate an issue with the virtual machine.
Similarly, a bar chart can be used to display the network traffic for each virtual machine, allowing the company to identify any potential bottlenecks or areas of high usage. Additionally, a table can be created to show the disk performance metrics for each virtual machine, such as read/write speeds, to ensure that the application is not being affected by slow disk performance.
The company can also create alerts within the Workbook to notify them if any of the performance metrics reach a certain threshold. For example, if the average CPU usage for a virtual machine exceeds 80%, an alert can be triggered, and the company can investigate further to determine the cause.
By using Azure Monitor Workbooks in this way, the company can easily monitor and analyze the performance metrics of their virtual machines, identify any issues or areas of improvement, and take proactive measures to ensure the smooth operation of their cloud-based application. These workbooks can also be shared with other team members, allowing for collaboration and better decision-making.
Analyzing Azure Web Apps logs
Azure Monitor Workbooks allow users to create customized dashboards and visualizations from various data sources, including logs from Azure Web Apps. Here are the steps to leverage Azure Monitor Workbooks to analyze logs from Azure Web Apps:
Access Azure Monitor Workbooks: Start by accessing Azure Monitor Workbooks, which can be found under the “Monitoring” section in the Azure portal.
Select a Template: On the “Workbooks” page, select “Create” and choose a template that best fits your needs. For analyzing logs from Azure Web Apps, you can choose the “Azure App Service Log Analysis” template.
Add Data Source: Once the template is selected, click on “Add Data Source” to add the data source from which the logs will be pulled. Select “Azure App Service Logs” from the list of available data sources.
Configure Data Source: Configure the data source to specify the Azure Web App from which the logs will be pulled. You can also specify the time range for the logs and add any log filters to narrow down the data.
Parse Logs: Once the data source is configured, click on “Add Visualization” to start creating visualizations from the logs. Depending on the type of logs being pulled, you can use the “Log Entries” visualization or other available options.
Create Visualizations: Use the query builder to create visualizations based on the logs. You can use aggregation, filters, and other features to customize the query and create meaningful visualizations.
Identify Patterns or Issues: With the visualizations in place, you can easily identify any patterns or issues in the logs. For example, you can use the “Response Status” visualization to see if the web app is returning any errors, or use the “Server Response Time” visualization to check if the response time is within acceptable limits.
Add Additional Visualizations: You can add multiple visualizations to your workbook to get a comprehensive view of the logs. You can also use the “Common Queries” option to quickly add pre-defined queries for common scenarios.
Save and Share: Once the workbook is created, save it and share it with your team or stakeholders. You can also set up scheduled refreshes to ensure that the workbook always displays up-to-date data.
By leveraging Azure Monitor Workbooks, you can easily analyze logs from Azure Web Apps and gain valuable insights into the performance and behavior of your web app. You can also use advanced features such as linking workbooks, creating bookmarks, and using external data sources to further enhance your analysis.
Visualizing Azure SQL Database metrics
Create an Azure Monitor Workbook: Navigate to the Azure portal and click on “Create a Resource”. Search for “Azure Monitor Workbook” and click on “Create”. Give your workbook a name, select the appropriate subscription and resource group, and click “Create”.
Add Data Source: In the workbook, click on “Add” and search for “Azure SQL Database”. Select the database you want to track and click “Done”.
Visualize Query Performance: Under the “Metrics” tab, click on “DatabaseInsights”, then select “CPU utilization”. This will display a chart of the database’s average CPU utilization over time. You can change the time period and granularity of the data using the options available.
Monitor Resource Utilization: Under the “Resource” tab, click on “DatabaseInsights” and select “Database Disk Usage”. This will show a graphical representation of the database’s disk usage over time. You can also add other metrics like storage, memory, and data IO.
Track Database Connections: Under the “Connections” tab, click on “DatabaseInsights” and select “Database Connection Count”. This will display a graph of the database’s connection count over time. You can also filter the data by client IP, client host, or application name.
Create a Custom Dashboard: To have all the key metrics in one place, you can create a custom dashboard. Under the “Dashboard” tab, click on “+ Add” and select the charts you want to include. You can resize, move, and customize the charts as needed.
Set Up Alerts: You can also set up alerts to notify you when a certain metric exceeds a threshold. Under the “Alert” tab, click on “+ Add” and select the metric you want to monitor. Set the condition and threshold, and choose how you want to be notified.
Save and Share: Once you have customized your workbook, click “Save” and then “Share” to make it available for others to see. You can also schedule the workbook to be automatically refreshed at a specific interval.
View Insights and Recommendations: Azure Monitor Workbooks also offer insights and recommendations to optimize your database performance. Under the “Insights” tab, click on “Assessments” and select “Database Insights”. This will show recommendations for performance tuning, as well as best practices for database security, connectivity, and availability.
Overall, Azure Monitor Workbooks provide a comprehensive and customizable way to visualize and track key metrics of your Azure SQL Databases. This can help you identify performance issues, optimize resource usage, and ensure the health and availability of your databases.
Monitoring Azure Storage account activity
A company has a web application deployed on Azure using Azure Storage for containers, blob storage, and table storage. The company wants to monitor their Azure Storage account activity to ensure high performance and identify any potential bottlenecks that may impact the functionality of the web application. They also want to track file access patterns to understand how their users are interacting with the application and identify any potential security threats. For this purpose, the company decided to use Azure Monitor Workbooks.
Monitoring Capacity:
The first step in monitoring the Azure Storage account is to track its capacity usage. Azure Monitor Workbooks allow us to create a dashboard that displays the current capacity usage and trends over time. This helps in identifying if the current capacity is sufficient for the usage and if it needs to be increased to accommodate future growth.
To monitor the capacity usage, we create a basic workbook that displays the total capacity of each storage account, the current usage, and the percentage of capacity used. We can also create a line chart that shows the trend of capacity usage over time. This information helps the company to plan for future storage needs and ensure that there is enough available capacity to support the web application.
Tracking File Access Patterns:
The next step is to track file access patterns to understand how users are interacting with the web application. This can be useful in identifying the most popular files, the traffic patterns, and any suspicious activity. Azure Monitor Workbooks provide powerful query capabilities that allow us to retrieve data from Azure Storage and visualize it in a meaningful way.
We can create a workbook that displays the top accessed files, the number of reads and writes for each file, and the time of access. This data can be displayed in a table or a chart to make it easier to analyze. Additionally, we can also filter the data by user or IP address to identify any potential malicious activity.
Identifying Bottlenecks:
With the ability to track file access patterns and monitor capacity usage, we can now identify any potential bottlenecks in the Azure Storage account. For example, if we notice that certain files are being accessed frequently and causing high read/write operations, we can take action to optimize the storage account settings and improve performance. Additionally, we can also use Azure Monitor Workbooks to analyze the performance metrics of the storage account, such as latency and throughput. We can visualize this data in a chart and compare it against the expected performance levels. If there is a significant difference, we can investigate further to identify the cause of the bottleneck and take corrective actions.
Analyzing Azure Function Performance
Azure Monitor Workbooks are a powerful tool for monitoring the performance of Azure Functions. They offer a customizable and interactive platform where users can query and visualize data from various sources to gain insights and troubleshoot any issues. Here are some of the ways Azure Monitor Workbooks can be utilized to analyze the performance of Azure Functions:
Troubleshooting Latency Issues: Latency in Azure Functions refers to the time it takes for a function to start and complete its execution. This is a critical aspect of performance as it can impact overall application response times. With Azure Monitor Workbooks, users can monitor and analyze function latency by querying and visualizing data from Azure Monitor metrics and logs. They can also use built-in views and charts to identify patterns and spikes in latency, helping them identify potential issues and take corrective action.
Tracking Executions: Azure Functions can be triggered by various events, such as HTTP requests, message queues, or scheduled timers. Tracking how many times a function has been executed, its duration, and its success or failure rate can provide valuable insights into its performance. Azure Monitor Workbooks can be used to create custom dashboards that track these metrics, allowing users to monitor function usage and identify any errors that may be impacting performance.
Optimizing Resource Allocation: Azure Functions can scale automatically based on configurable concurrency settings and the load on the functions. However, it is essential to monitor the usage and performance of functions to optimize resource allocation and ensure they can handle the required workload. Azure Monitor Workbooks can be used to visualize function usage, execution times, and resource utilization patterns to help users identify areas where more resources are needed or where resources can be scaled down to save costs.
Analyzing Dependencies: Azure Functions often have dependencies on external services, such as storage accounts, databases, or APIs. If these dependencies are not performing optimally, they can impact the overall performance of functions. Azure Monitor Workbooks can be used to track and analyze the performance of these dependencies by querying data from Azure Monitor metrics and logs. This can help users identify any bottlenecks and optimize the performance of functions by addressing these dependencies.
Creating Custom Alerts: Azure Monitor Workbooks can be used to create custom alerts based on user-defined metrics and thresholds. This enables users to proactively identify and address potential performance issues before they impact operations. For example, users can set up alerts for high function latency or a high number of failed executions, allowing them to take corrective action before it escalates into a critical issue.
Visualizing Azure network traffic
Azure Monitor Workbooks is a powerful tool that allows users to create custom dashboards and visualizations to monitor and analyze data from various Azure resources, including virtual networks, load balancers, and application gateways. In this showcase, we will demonstrate how Azure Monitor Workbooks can be used to visualize Azure network traffic patterns, providing insights into the performance and health of your network infrastructure.
Creating an Azure Monitor Workbook:
To get started, we will create a new Workbook in Azure Monitor. Navigate to the “Workbooks” section in the Azure Monitor menu and click on “New Workbook.” Name your Workbook and select the data source as “Azure Resource Explorer.” This will allow us to query data from our Azure resources directly.
Adding Data Sources:
To visualize network traffic patterns, we will need to gather data from virtual networks, load balancers, and application gateways. In the Workbook, click on the “Data sources” tab and add the following data sources:
Virtual Network: Select the “Resource Types” as “Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks” and “Metrics” as “BytesInPerSecond” and “BytesOutPerSecond.”
Load Balancer: Select the “Resource Types” as “Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers” and “Metrics” as “TotalBytesIn” and “TotalBytesOut.”
Application Gateway: Select the “Resource Types” as “Microsoft.Network/applicationGateways” and “Metrics” as “BytesReceived” and “BytesSent.”
Creating Visualizations:
Now, we can create visualizations using the data from these data sources. In the “Visualizations” tab, click on “Add chart” and select a chart type (e.g., line chart, bar chart). Choose the appropriate data source and select the metrics you want to visualize.
For example, we can create a line chart to show the incoming and outgoing traffic for a virtual network. Add a new chart, select the data source as “Virtual Network,” and choose “BytesInPerSecond” and “BytesOutPerSecond” as the metrics. You can also add filters to the chart to show data for a specific virtual network or time period. Similarly, we can create charts to visualize the total incoming and outgoing traffic for a load balancer or application gateway. We can also add multiple charts to the Workbook to compare and analyze data from different data sources.
Applying Filters and Time Range:
Azure Monitor Workbooks allow users to apply filters and specify the time range for the data displayed in the Workbook. This can be particularly useful when analyzing network traffic patterns. For example, we can apply a filter to show data for a specific virtual network or application gateway, or we can specify a time range to focus on a particular time period.
Sharing and Customizing the Workbook:
Once the Workbook is created, we can customize it by adding descriptions, themes, and legends. We can also save the Workbook, making it easier to access in the future. Additionally, we can share the Workbook with other team members, allowing them to access and analyze the data in real-time.
No comments:
Post a Comment