Mastering Azure Monitor: A Step-by-Step Guide to Monitoring Your Azure Virtual Machine Like a Pro

INTRODUCTION

Ensuring the performance and availability of your apps and services is essential in today's fast-paced digital world. One of the most complete monitoring solutions available is Azure Monitor, which is made to gather, examine, and respond to telemetry data from both on-premises and cloud settings. You may easily improve performance and identify problems early on by utilizing its strong features, which provide you with extensive insights into your infrastructure.
This blog will help you to take complete control of your environment while optimizing uptime and efficiency.

ARCHITECTURAL DIAGRAM

PROCEDURE

Step 1: Setting the Foundation: Enable Azure Monitor
Here’s how to set up Azure Monitor for your VM:

1. Log in to the Azure Portal.
   • Open Azure Portal
   • Navigate to your Virtual Machine, and fill in the basis.
   • Review + create (Download private key and create resource) and deploy VM

2. Enable Insights.

   • Go to the Monitoring section on the VM’s page.
   • Click Insights and enable it.
   • Create a new data collection rule
   • Configure new data collection rule
   • confirm VM insight is enabled

3. Set Up a Log Analytics Workspace.
   
   If you don’t have one, create it. This is where Azure Monitor stores logs and metrics for your VM.

   • Create logs and metrics
   • Fill in the basic information
   • Create a data collection rule
   • Got to Resource > + Add resource > Browse and select VM
   • Navigate to the collect and deliver > + add data source (fill in the data source type)
   • Next: Destination > Select destination type and destination then add data source > create > deploy data collection rule

Step 2: Collecting Key Metrics
Metrics provide real-time insights into your VM’s performance. To access metrics:

1. Go to your VM in the Azure Portal.
2. Click Metrics under the Monitoring section.
3. Select a metric to track, such as:
   • CPU utilization
   • Disk IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second)
   • Network traffic
4. Adjust the time range and visualization style (line chart, bar graph, etc.).

Use multiple metrics on one chart for a comprehensive view.

Step 3: Investigating Logs for Deeper Insights
Logs let you dig into historical data and uncover trends.

1. Navigate to Logs under Monitoring.
2. Use Kusto Query Language (KQL) to analyze data. For example:

kql
Copy code
InsightsMetrics 
| where Namespace == "processor" and Name == "Percentage CPU" 
| order by TimeGenerated desc
| take 10

3.Visualize the results or export them for reporting.

Logs are essential for troubleshooting and understanding anomalies.

Step 6: Setting Alerts to Stay Ahead
Alerts notify you when something’s off, so you’re never caught off guard.

1. Open Azure Monitor in the portal.
2. Go to Alerts > Create Alert Rule.
3. Define the criteria:
   • Condition: E.g., CPU usage > 75%.
   • Action Group: Choose how you want to be notified—email, SMS, or webhook.
4. Name your alert and save it. Start with broad alerts and refine them as you learn more about your VM’s behavior.

Step 5: Dashboards: Your Command Center
Why sift through menus when you can have all your monitoring info in one place?

1. Go to the Dashboard section in Azure Portal.
2. Create a new dashboard or edit an existing one.
3. Add visualizations:
   • Pin metrics and alerts.
   • Add custom charts from logs.
4. Save and share your dashboard with your team. This gives you an at-a-glance view of your VM’s health.

Step 6: Advanced Monitoring Techniques
Now that the basics are covered, let’s get fancy:

• Auto-Scaling: Use Azure Monitor data to scale your VMs up or down automatically.
• Application Insights: Monitor applications running inside your VM.
• Power BI Integration: Connect your Log Analytics Workspace to Power BI for detailed, interactive reports.

Step 7: Best Practices for Monitoring Success

• Review Regularly: Check metrics and logs frequently to catch trends.
• Refine Alerts: Avoid alert fatigue by only setting meaningful thresholds.
• Secure Your Data: Monitor for unusual logins or access attempts.
• Optimize Costs: Use insights to identify and reduce underutilized resources