Configuring and monitoring Azure Databases with Diagnostic Settings Log Analytics

Before diving into Diagnostic Settings, it’s important to understand Azure Monitor’s data sources. Azure Monitor aggregates data from various Logs and Metrics collected across multiple resources. These data points are analyzed collectively using Azure Monitor’s suite of tools. Microsoft structures these monitoring sources hierarchically, with the application itself at the top and the underlying Azure platform components at the base.

Back on track, Azure Diagnostic refers to the set of tools and services provided by Azure to collect, analyze, and manage telemetry and diagnostic data from your Azure resources and applications. It is crucial for maintaining the health, performance, and security of your cloud infrastructure and applications.

Azure Diagnostic Settings are a crucial feature that allow you to collect and route diagnostic data from Azure resources to various destinations for monitoring, analysis, and compliance. These settings help you gain insights into the performance and health of your Azure resources.
It provide a robust way to collect, analyze, and manage diagnostic data. This data includes logs, metrics, and other performance indicators that can be crucial for monitoring, troubleshooting, optimizing Azure services and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements by storing logs and metrics for audit purposes.

Key Components

• Diagnostic Logs: Generated by Azure resources that capture detailed information about the operations and activities within those resources. For instance, application logs, system logs, and resource-specific logs (e.g., SQL Database logs).
• Metrics: Metrics are data points that measure the performance and health of Azure resources. They include information like CPU usage, memory usage, disk I/O, and network traffic.
• Log Analytics: A service in Azure that collects, analyzes, and visualizes logs and metrics. It allows you to query and analyze data using Kusto Query Language (KQL) and create dashboards and alerts.
• Storage Account: You can configure diagnostic settings to send logs and metrics to an Azure Storage account, where they can be archived and accessed for long-term storage and analysis.
• Event Hub: Logs and metrics can be sent to an Azure Event Hub, which allows for real-time data streaming and integration with other data processing services.
• Azure Monitor: Azure Monitor is the central hub for monitoring and managing diagnostic data. It integrates with various Azure services to provide a unified view of the performance and health of your resources.

How to set Diagnostic Settings?

a.) Accessing Diagnostic Settings:
To configure diagnostics settings, navigate to the Azure portal, select the resource you want to monitor, and go to the “Diagnostic settings” section. Here, you can create or modify diagnostic settings for the resource.

b.) Setting Up Data Collection and Datatype:
Choose the types of data you want to collect. You can select which logs and metrics to include in the diagnostic settings, allowing you to tailor the data collection to your needs.
You can specify where the diagnostic data should be sent. Options typically include:

• Log Analytics Workspace: For advanced querying, analysis, and visualization.
• Storage Account: For long-term retention and access to raw data.
• Event Hub: For integration with real-time processing systems.

**Configure retention settings if you are sending data to a storage account.

How can we access the log sent to Log Analytics?

a.) Acessing the Log Analytics workspace that was configured and click on “View Solutions”

b.) A Dashboard overview with all kind of SQL Analytics configured.
Just click on category databases you want show up.

c.) Now, you can navigate deeper inside of specific database and specific overview by clicking on graphics.

Benefits of Azure Diagnostic Monitoring

• Enhanced Monitoring: Provides detailed visibility into the performance and health of Azure resources, helping you detect and address issues proactively.
• Comprehensive Analysis: Enables advanced querying and analysis of logs and metrics, which can aid in identifying trends, diagnosing issues, and optimizing resource performance.
• Integration with Other Services: Works seamlessly with Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and other Azure services to provide a comprehensive monitoring and management solution.
• Customization and Flexibility: Offers flexibility in configuring where and how diagnostic data is collected and stored, allowing you to tailor the setup to your specific requirements.
• Security and Compliance: Ensures that diagnostic data is stored securely and can be accessed only by authorized users, helping meet security and compliance requirements.

Azure Diagnostic Settings offer a powerful and flexible framework for collecting, analyzing, and managing diagnostic data across Azure resources. By configuring diagnostic settings, you gain detailed insights into the performance and health of your applications and services through logs and metrics. This visibility allows you to proactively monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize your Azure environment.

In essence, leveraging Azure Diagnostic Settings equips you with the essential data and insights needed to maintain high performance, ensure security, and meet compliance requirements, ultimately supporting the smooth operation and optimization of your Azure-based solutions.