Introduction

In this lesson, we explore effective monitoring practices that support your DevOps workflows. Monitoring is a cornerstone of the DevOps lifecycle, empowering teams to quickly detect and resolve issues in both applications and infrastructure. This guide introduces critical concepts and demonstrates essential tools for continuous monitoring in Azure.

Our initial focus is configuring Azure Monitor and Log Analytics to seamlessly integrate with your DevOps toolchain. Azure Monitor is Microsoft's all-in-one solution for collecting, analyzing, and acting on telemetry data from both cloud and on-premises environments. Its Log Analytics feature lets you write powerful queries to gain valuable insights into system performance, helping you streamline operations and make data-driven decisions.

Below is the session agenda:

• Introduction to continuous monitoring and its importance in DevOps.
• Detailed exploration of Azure Monitor, including key features and capabilities.
• Integration of Azure Monitor with various Azure services for comprehensive visibility.
• Overview of Log Analytics and its role in enhancing Azure Monitor.
• Connecting Azure Monitor with popular DevOps tools for a unified monitoring experience.
• Practical examples of integrating Azure Monitor into existing workflows.
• Setting up Azure Monitor alerts to proactively notify you of significant events or threshold breaches.
• Configuring Azure Log Analytics, including workspace setup, query writing, and log data visualization.

A key aspect of Azure monitoring is the collection of telemetry data from a variety of services. In this section, we'll explain how to configure telemetry collection using several Azure services, giving you a complete view of your Azure ecosystem—from your applications right down to the underlying infrastructure.

We will cover the following Azure services for telemetry collection:

1. Application Insights – Gain deep insights into your application's performance and user behavior.
2. VM Insights – Monitor the performance and health of your virtual machines.
3. Container Insights – Keep track of containerized applications and Kubernetes clusters.
4. Storage Insights – Monitor your Azure storage accounts for optimum performance.
5. Network Insights – Enhance visibility into your network's performance and overall health.

Let's get started on enhancing your monitoring capabilities in Azure.