Azure Monitor Dashboard Tutorial and Implementation Guide

Creating an Azure Monitor dashboard is a straightforward process that can be completed in a few steps. First, you need to sign in to the Azure portal and navigate to the Monitor section.

To create a new dashboard, click on the "New dashboard" button and choose a template or start from scratch.

The Azure Monitor dashboard allows you to view multiple metrics and logs in one place, making it easier to monitor your resources. This is especially useful for large-scale applications with many components.

Azure Monitor dashboards can be customized to fit your specific needs, allowing you to add or remove widgets as necessary.

To set up Azure Monitor, start by visiting the Azure Portal and ensuring you have the necessary permission to edit or create dashboards.

You'll need to navigate to your Virtual Machine, which can be found under the "Virtual Machines" option in the left navigation pane.

Enable VM Performance Diagnostics by going to the "Monitoring" section and selecting "Diagnostic settings". From there, choose the performance counters that are relevant to your VM's role.

Consider the storage implications of high-frequency collection, as it can impact your storage costs.

To create a dashboard, select the "Dashboards" option from the main menu and choose "New Dashboard". Give your dashboard a name that clearly indicates its purpose.

When adding performance metrics to your dashboard, select the "Metrics Chart" tile and configure it by choosing your VM as the source and selecting the metrics you want to display.

Select relevant performance metrics that are meaningful to your VM's primary role, such as disk I/O for data-intensive VMs or CPU utilization for CPU-heavy tasks.

Here are some key considerations for setting up Azure Monitor:

To create an effective Azure Monitor Dashboard, you need to select relevant performance metrics. This means understanding your VM's primary role and choosing metrics that resonate with its operations, such as disk I/O for data-intensive VMs or CPU utilization for CPU-heavy tasks.

Azure offers more than mere data representation; it provides clarity. Use color codes, label descriptors, and different tile sizes to make your dashboard informative and intuitive. This will help you visualize data and quickly identify trends or issues.

To get the most out of your dashboard, set up alerts for thresholds that, if crossed, could spell trouble. This proactive approach can be the difference between a hiccup and a crisis.

The Infrastructure Dashboard in Azure Monitor is a powerful tool that gives you a single view of all your Azure resources. You can access it by going to Azure > Infrastructure Dashboard or by clicking on the hamburger icon beside the page title.

From this dashboard, you can view all your Azure resources on a single page, which is super helpful for getting an overview of your entire infrastructure. You can also filter resources based on their names, resource groups, resource type, locations, tags, subscriptions, and status.

One of the coolest features of the Infrastructure Dashboard is that you can view resources according to their status. This means you can quickly see which resources are up, down, in trouble, critical, or suspended. This is especially useful for identifying and resolving issues quickly.

Here are some key features of the Infrastructure Dashboard:

Overall, the Infrastructure Dashboard is a must-have for anyone managing Azure resources. It saves you time and effort by giving you a clear and concise view of your entire infrastructure.

You can override the global filters for specific tiles by selecting the filter icon in the top-left corner of the tile. This allows you to customize the data displayed in that tile without affecting the rest of the dashboard.

Tiles that support filtering will have a filter icon in the top-left corner, indicating that you can override the global filters. These tiles can be configured to show data for a different time span, for example.

To apply filters for a particular tile, select Configure tile settings from the tile's context menu or select the filter icon. This will change the left corner of the tile to show a double filter icon, indicating that the data in that tile reflects its own filters.

By overriding filters for specific tiles, you can create a more tailored and relevant view of your Azure resources or other data.

Cloning a dashboard in Azure Monitor is a great way to save time and effort. You can use an existing dashboard as a template for a new one.

To clone a dashboard, make sure the dashboard view is showing the one you want to copy. Then, in the page header, select Clone. A duplicate copy of the dashboard will open in edit mode, where you can rename and customize it.

You can clone a dashboard to create a new version with the same layout and metrics. This is especially useful when you need to create multiple dashboards with similar configurations.

Here's a step-by-step guide to cloning a dashboard:

Once you've cloned a dashboard, you can start customizing it to fit your needs. This is a great way to create multiple dashboards with similar configurations, without having to start from scratch.

VM monitoring is a crucial aspect of Azure Monitor Dashboard. To set up VM performance monitoring, start by navigating to your VM in the Azure Portal, where you'll find the 'Virtual Machines' option in the left navigation pane.

You'll need to enable VM performance diagnostics by selecting 'Diagnostic settings' under 'Monitoring.' This is where you can choose the performance counters that resonate most with your VM's role and set the collection frequency. A high-frequency collection might offer more data, but consider the storage implications.

Selecting relevant performance metrics is key to effective VM monitoring. For a data-intensive VM, disk I/O might be interesting, while CPU utilization could be intriguing for CPU-heavy tasks. Understand your VM's primary role and select metrics accordingly.

Here are some best practices for setting up Azure dashboards for VM performance monitoring:

You can also customize your dashboard by using color codes, label descriptors, and even different tile sizes to make it informative and intuitive. To do so, select the 'Configure tile settings' option from the tile's context menu, or select the filter icon.

Additionally, you can override dashboard filters for specific tiles by selecting the filter icon in the top-left corner of the tile. This allows you to change the desired filters for that tile, such as overriding the dashboard time settings at the tile level.