Monitoring and Alerting in Azure: Best Tools and Techniques
As businesses move their operations to the cloud, monitoring and alerting become critical components of ensuring the performance and reliability of their applications. In this article, we will explore Monitoring and Alerting in Azure: Best Tools and Techniques. Also, how they can help you ensure that your applications and services are running smoothly.
Whether you’re new to Azure or an experienced user, this article will provide valuable insights into the best tools and techniques for monitoring and alerting in Azure, helping you to stay on top of your applications and services and ensure that they’re running smoothly around the clock.
What is Monitoring and Alerting in Azure?
Monitoring and alerting are two essential aspects of managing cloud resources in Azure. Monitoring refers to the process of collecting and analyzing data from various sources, such as metrics, logs, events, and traces, to gain insights into the performance, availability, and health of your applications and infrastructure. Alerting refers to the process of notifying the appropriate stakeholders when a predefined condition or threshold is met or violated, such as a service outage, performance degradation, or a security breach.
Why it is important?
Here we have some factors to know the need for monitoring the Azure resources:
- Improving the reliability and resilience of your applications and services by detecting and resolving issues before they impact your customers or users.
- Optimizing the cost and efficiency of your cloud resources by identifying and eliminating waste, over-provisioning, or under-utilization.
- Enhancing the security and compliance of your cloud environment by detecting and responding to malicious activities, unauthorized access, or policy violations.
- Increasing the visibility and transparency of your cloud operations by providing a comprehensive and consistent view of your resources across different regions, subscriptions, and services.
Best Tools for Monitoring and Alerting in Azure
Whether running a single application or managing a complex infrastructure, Azure has a range of monitoring and alerting tools (Azure native and third-party tools) to fit your needs. To help you keep a close eye on your Azure resources, we have compiled a list of top monitoring and alerting tools.
1. Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor provides a comprehensive platform for monitoring the health and dependencies of Azure workloads. For example, with Azure Monitor, you can view the status of your VMs on a single map, without the need to log in to each machine individually. This makes it easy to monitor and diagnose network issues, track performance metrics, and identify potential security threats. Whether you are running a small number of VMs or managing a large-scale hybrid cloud environment, Azure Monitor can help you keep your resources running smoothly and efficiently.
Best for providing full observability into your applications, infrastructure, and network.
Cost: It depends upon the log ingestion and pricing tier.
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Monitor both infrastructure and application. | Does not provide good service metrics. |
| Offers charts and graphs to analyze and evaluate the performance of resources. | Complex Azure portal for those who have less Azure knowledge. |
| Allows you to set up alerts based on specific metrics and conditions. |
2. Serverless360
Serverless360 is a leading provider of monitoring and management services for Azure serverless environments. It offers a unified platform that allows you to monitor all your serverless integration solutions from a single location. With advanced security features, such as Azure Active Directory integration, granular user access policy definition, governance, and audit, Serverless360 helps ensure the security of your composite applications.
Best for operations and support for Microsoft Azure serverless resources.
Cost: Offers free trial for 15 days. Can quote price for enterprise plan.
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Support popular notification channels like Slack, PagerDuty, Microsoft Teams, etc. | It is paid platform and the cost may increase as the number of functions and services managed by the platform grows. |
| Offers a range of monitors suitable for product managers, DevOps teams, architects, and anyone else who needs to detect issues quickly. | Limited support for some cloud providers. |
| Allows you to set up alerts and notifications based on specific metrics and conditions. | This may create platform lock-in, as teams may find it difficult to migrate to other management and monitoring platforms once they have invested in the platform. |
3. Application Insights
Application Insights is a service offered within Azure Monitor that enables real-time monitoring of your applications. With its automatic anomaly detection, it helps to identify and diagnose performance issues. Additionally, it can be seamlessly integrated with Visual Studio App Center to monitor and analyze telemetry from mobile applications.
Best for monitoring live applications
Cost: Price depends on the volume of data sent by your applications and the number of web tests you choose to run.
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Spot performance bottlenecks and failure hotspots. | Cost may increase as the volume of telemetry data collected by the service grows. |
| Support sending alerts via emails. | It is a complex service that requires a team to have a good understanding of application performance management and monitoring. |
| In case of failure, it allows you to have end-to-end request flow details. | Does not offer a complete view of data flowing across your Azure application. |
4. Service Bus Explorer
Service Bus Explorer allows developers and administrators to manage Azure Service Bus resources such as queues, topics, subscriptions, and messages. It is a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables users to perform various operations, including creating, deleting, and managing Service Bus entities, sending and receiving messages, monitoring message activity, and configuring entities.
Service Bus Explorer is commonly used in scenarios where users need to debug or diagnose issues with their Service Bus applications or manage Service Bus entities in real-time. The tool provides a user-friendly interface that simplifies common Service Bus operations and reduces the need for complex code or command-line interfaces.
Service Bus Explorer can be used on both Windows and Mac OS, and it supports multiple authentication methods, including Azure Active Directory, Shared Access Signature (SAS), and connection string. It is available as an open-source project on GitHub and can be downloaded and customized to fit specific needs.
Best for connecting to a service bus namespace and administering messaging entities.
Cost: Free
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that simplifies the management and exploration of Service Bus entities, making it easier for developers and IT professionals to work with the technology. | Primarily designed for managing and exploring service bus entities on the Azure Platform and it does not work on other cloud platforms. |
| The tool offers management capabilities, including the creation, deletion, and modification of Service Bus entities. | Does not provide automation capabilities means the user must manually perform tasks such as creating or deleting service bus entities. |
| Message filtering, session handling and batching are advanced features that enable developers to create more complex messaging scenarios. |
5. Site24/7
It allows you to monitor 100+ Azure resources and analyze the performance of your entire Azure environment by monitoring and tracking the performance of IaaS services, such as virtual machines (VMs) and Kubernetes, and PaaS services like App Service, Event Hubs, and SQL database.
Best for websites, servers, applications, networks, and cloud resources.
Cost: Offers free plan (monthly monitoring of 5 websites and 10 notifications). Paid plan ($9 per month monitoring 10 websites, 8 test locations, and 50 alert credits).
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Easily identify and diagnose issues in your Azure environment and receive alerts when problems occur. | Can be expensive for small businesses or for startups. |
| Create custom plugins and monitor critical attributes. | Limited integration with other tools. |
| Can troubleshoot apps, servers and cloud platforms. |
6. ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus
Best for Monitoring Office 365 services 24/7
Cost: Offers 2 plans: Standard ($345 per month for 100 users) and Professional ($595 per month for 100 users). It also offers a free trial and a free edition.
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Provides over 700 preconfigured reports to gain a deeper understanding of Microsoft 365 services. | The issue with compatibility and integration with other platforms. |
| Offers real-time auditing, content searches and 24/7 monitoring to enhance security. | The steep learning curve for beginners. |
| Enable customization of features according to business requirements. |
7. Azure Log Analytics
The Azure Log Analytics Agent is a versatile tool designed to gather telemetry from a wide range of computing environments, including Windows and Linux virtual machines hosted in any cloud or on-premise machines. It sends data to a Log Analytics workspace to take advantage of features supported by Azure Monitor Logs, such as log queries. With support for both Windows and Linux operating systems, this agent can collect and consolidate log data from a variety of sources, making it easy to analyze and troubleshoot issues across your entire IT infrastructure.
Best for editing and running log queries against data collected by Azure Monitor logs and interactively analyzing their results.
Cost: Free but charges of data ingested.
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Analyze and visualize log data using a query language and dashboards. | Expensive depending on the amount of data ingested and stored. |
| Can troubleshoot problems as soon as they arise using log analysis. | Can have issues with data latency and accuracy. |
8. Azure Advisor
Azure Advisor helps you to get recommendations in the Azure portal. It analyzes your resource configuration and usage and provides guidance to improve the availability, security, performance, and cost-effectiveness of your Azure resources. You can select a subscription and optionally a resource group to specify the resources that you want to receive alerts on. You can also configure the action that will take place when a signal is triggered by selecting or creating an action group.
Best for providing personalized recommendations and best practices to optimize your Azure resources.
Cost: Free.
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Personalized best practices to optimize Azure deployments. | Limited Customization options |
| Improve cost-effectiveness, performance, security and operational excellence of Azure resources. | |
| Implementation with proposed action inline or refer to the documentation for assistance. |
9. Datadog
Datadog is an observability service for cloud-scale applications, providing monitoring of servers, databases, tools, and services, through a SaaS-based data analytics platform. Datadog is a platform that offers a variety of solutions for monitoring and managing modern applications and infrastructure. It provides tools for network monitoring, application performance monitoring (APM), log management, serverless computing, real-user monitoring, and more.
Best for analyzing large-scale applications and cloud infrastructure.
Cost: You can start free but depending upon the features prices can vary. It offers various plans for APM, Serverless, Security, Log Management, etc.
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Monitor applications, services, databases, servers and networks. | Expensive depending on the amount of data ingested and stored. |
| Integrate with various platforms such as AWS, Kubernetes, etc. | The issue with data latency and accuracy. |
| Provide real-time observability of the system's state and health using metrics, traces and blogs | Complex user interface. |
10. CloudMonix
CloudMonix is a cloud-based monitoring and automation platform that provides real-time monitoring and management of applications and resources in the Microsoft Azure cloud and on-premises resources for performance and availability. It helps IT teams to detect and resolve issues proactively, minimize downtime, and optimize the performance of their Azure infrastructure.
It offers monitoring for a wide range of Azure resources including Virtual Machines, Web Apps, Databases, Storage Accounts, Service buses, and more. It provides a centralized dashboard to monitor the health, performance, and usage of Azure resources and provides alerts when metrics exceed predefined thresholds.
CloudMonix also offers integrations with third-party tools such as PagerDuty, Slack, and Microsoft Teams to send notifications and alerts to different channels. It provides detailed reports and analytics that help IT teams to identify trends and patterns in their Azure infrastructure and make informed decisions about resource allocation and optimization.
Best for advanced cloud monitoring and automation of various resources. Also, provide self-healing actions.
Cost: CloudMonix is a subscription-based service and offers a free trial for new users. Offers 3 plans: Starter (Free), Professional ($15 per resource per month), and Ultimate ($20 per resource per month).
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Perform self-healing actions and auto-scaling of resources in real-time. | Limited default rules and customizations. |
| Generate reports and dashboards to visualize and analyse data. | Huge manual configuration. |
| Time-consuming for large environments. |
Which tool to use?
After going thru so many details of their strength and weakness you might be thinking about which tool to choose. So I have summarized these tools here to help you decide.
| Tool | Features | Use Cases | Purpose | Best for | When to choose? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Service Bus Explorer | -Message tracking and management -Visualization of message queues and topics -Message routing and filtering | -Monitoring and managing the flow of messages between applications and services -Troubleshooting message delivery issues | Monitors and manages the flow of messages between applications and services | Developers and IT teams who use Azure Service Bus for messaging | Choose Azure Service Bus Explorer when you need a simple and free tool to monitor and manage Azure Service Bus | |
| Azure Log Analytics | -Log management -Querying and analyzing log data -Creating custom dashboards and alerts -Integration with other Azure services | -Centralized logging and analysis of data from different sources -Troubleshooting issues and identifying trends -Monitoring system health | Collects, queries, and analyzes log data from different sources, and provides customized dashboards and alerts | IT teams who need to analyze and troubleshoot logs from Azure and non-Azure resources | Choose Azure Log Analytics when you need to centralize and analyze log data from different sources | |
| Application Insights | -Application performance monitoring -End-user monitoring -Custom metrics and telemetry -Diagnostics -Logging, alerts and notifications - | -Monitoring and optimizing application performance -Identifying and troubleshooting issues -Improving user experience | Monitors application performance, end-user experience, custom metrics, diagnostics, and logging | Developers and IT operations teams who want to improve application performance and troubleshoot issues | Choose Application Insights when you need to monitor and optimize the performance of your Microsoft-based applications | |
| Site24/7 | - Infrastructure monitoring -Application monitoring -Cloud monitoring -Network monitoring -Server monitoring -Log management - | -Monitoring and maintaining the health and performance of IT infrastructure -Troubleshooting issues, preventing downtime | Monitors servers, networks, cloud services, applications, and logs | IT teams who want to maintain the health and performance of their IT infrastructure and prevent downtime | Choose Site24/7 when you need a comprehensive IT infrastructure monitoring solution | |
| ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus | Office 365 management and reporting -User and group management, auditing and compliance -Security and threat management | Managing and securing Office 365 environment -Monitoring and reporting on user activity -Ensuring compliance with industry regulations | Monitors and manages Office 365 user activity, security, compliance, and performance | IT teams and compliance officers who use Office 365 | Choose ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus when you need to manage and secure your Office 365 environment | |
| Azure Advisor | Recommendations for optimizing Azure resources -Performance and cost management -Security and Compliance | Providing actionable insights and recommendations for improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Azure deployments -Optimizing resource usage -Ensuring compliance and security | Provides recommendations for optimizing Azure resources for performance, cost, security, and compliance | Cloud architects and IT teams who want to optimize their Azure resources | Choose Azure Advisor when you need to optimize your Azure resources for cost, performance, security, and compliance | |
| Datadog | -Infrastructure monitoring -Application performance monitoring -Log management, network monitoring -APM -Security monitoring | -Monitoring and maintaining the health and performance of IT infrastructure -Identifying and troubleshooting issues -Improving application performance and user experience | Monitors cloud infrastructure, applications, logs, APM, network performance, and security | DevOps teams and cloud architects who need a comprehensive monitoring and analytics solution | Choose Datadog when you need a powerful and flexible cloud monitoring and analytics tool | |
| Serverless360 | Advanced monitoring, alerting, and management for serverless applications | Monitoring, troubleshooting, and management of serverless applications and workflows | Simplify serverless operations and improve application performance and reliability | Developers, DevOps teams, and IT administrators who work with serverless applications in Azure and other cloud platforms | Choose Serverless360 when you need a comprehensive tool for monitoring and managing serverless applications across multiple cloud platforms | |
| CloudMonix | Cloud infrastructure monitoring and automation | Monitoring, troubleshooting, and automation of cloud infrastructure and applications | Optimize cloud performance, reduce downtime, and improve cost efficiency | Cloud architects, DevOps teams, and IT administrators who work with cloud infrastructure in Azure and other cloud platforms | Choose CloudMonix when you need a flexible and customizable tool for monitoring and automating cloud infrastructure and |
Conclusion
Azure monitoring and alerting is an important aspect of managing and maintaining cloud services to ensure optimal performance, reliability, and security. Additionally, Azure offers integration with third-party monitoring solutions and provides APIs and automation capabilities to streamline monitoring and alerting workflow. Overall, using the best tools and techniques for proactive and effective cloud services.
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