Windows Azure Cloud Service Monitoring (Classic) (Deprecated)


Warning: Windows Azure Cloud Service Monitoring is deprecated since May 24, 2017. Please use Microsoft Azure monitoring to monitor Azure cloud services instead.
View list of deprecated/obsolete features in Applications Manager

Windows Azure - Overview

Applications Manager's Windows Azure monitor enables users to collect diagnostic data for the applications deployed in Windows Azure platform. Windows Azure is monitored using REST API to discover the list of deployed applications and get the performance counters based on the Role instances of the service.

With Windows Azure monitoring capabilities in ManageEngine Applications Manager, you can:

  • Discover Windows Azure applications and all its roles instances.
  • Collect and monitor performance information based on role instances.
  • Collect and monitor Windows Azure Event Logs, Trace Logs and Diagnostic Infrastructure Logs

Adding a Windows Azure application will include all the Hosted Services, deployments and its roles instance based on the Storage account. The hosted services and deployments will be created as a group.

Creating a new Windows Azure monitor in Applications Manager

Prerequisites: To add Windows Azure in Applications Manager, you must first export your Windows Azure Managed Certificates file (eg., testcertificate.pfx) and the password of the pfx file. To export your Windows Azure Managed Certificates file , invoke the batch script exportCertificateToAppManager.bat in the <Applications Manager Home>bin directory.

To create a new Windows Azure monitor, follow the steps given below:

  1. Click on the New Monitor link in the Applications Manager web client.
  2. Enter the Subscription ID for your Windows Azure account. (Note: Subscription ID can be obtained by signing into windows.azure.com using your windows live id. Then click Hosted Service and navigate to Storage & CDN, then to Storage Accounts)
  3. Enter the Account Name and Account key of your Windows Azure Storage account.
  4. Check the checkbox if your service is https-enabled.
  5. Specify a Timeout interval in seconds
  6. Specify the Polling Interval in minutes
  7. If you are adding a new monitor from an Admin Server, select a Managed Server.

Note:
Before creating a new Windows Azure monitor, you have to configure proxy settings under Settings tab.

Creating and deploying Management Certificates in Azure

  • Login to the machine where you have installed Windows Azure SDK and IIS 7.
  • To load the IIS 7 Management console, go to the Control Panel, select Administrative Tools and then IIS Manager.
  • In the IIS section of the center pane, double-click Server Certificates.
  • Click Create Self-Signed Certificate in the Actions panel.
  • Enter a name for the file.
  • Close the IIS Manager and open the Certificate Manager.
  • Under Trusted Root Certification Authorities, open Certificates.
  • Right-click your certificate, choose All Tasks and Export. The Certificate Export Wizard appears. Click Next.

You can export the certificate with or without a private key. First, export the certificate without a private key to be uploaded to Windows Azure Portal. Then export the certificate again with a private key to be used in Service Management API.

Exporting the certificate without a private key:

  • When the Certificate Export Wizard appears, Click Next.
  • On the Export Private Key page, click No.
  • Select the CER file format and click Next.
  • Enter a name and click Next.
  • Click Finish to start the export process.

Exporting the certificate with a private key:

  • When the Certificate Export Wizard appears, Click Next.
  • On the Export Private Key page, click Yes, export the private key.
  • Keep the default value, then click Next.
  • Specify a password for protecting your private key and click Next.
  • Specify a name for the PFX file and click Next.
  • Click Finish to start the export process.

The .cer file can be uploaded in the Windows Azure portal and the .pfx file which has the private key can be used in Applications Manager.

Monitored Parameters

Windows Azure platforms are monitored based on the parameters or the attributes listed below. You can also configure thresholds to the numerical attributes based on these details and get notified when the thresholds are violated.

The Availability tab shows the availability history for Azure Role instances for the past 24 hours or 30 days. The Performance tab shows some key performance indicators such as CPU, Memory Utilization, Exceptions thrown and Health History along with heat charts for these attributes. This tab also shows the health status and events for the past 24 hours or 30 days.

The List view displays all the Azure role instances along with an overall idea of their availability and health status. The list view also enables you to perform bulk admin configurations. You can click on the individual role instances to view detailed performance metrics.

Click on the monitor listed in the Availability tab to view detailed performance metrics of the Azure role instances. These metrics are categorized into 4 different tabs for easy understanding:

Overview

This tab provides a high-level overview of your Azure account as well as information about the Role instances present in this account.

Parameter Description
Monitor Information
Name The name of the Windows Azure account.
Type Denotes the type you are monitoring.
Health Denotes the health (Clear, Warning, Critical) status of the Windows Azure account.
Associated Groups Denotes the monitor groups associated with the Windows Windows Azure monitor.
Last Polled at Specifies the time at which the last poll was performed
Next Poll at Specifies the time at which the next poll will be performed
CPU Utilization Usage of CPU resources or the amount of work handled by CPU
Memory Utilization Memory Available Memory Usage Time Spend in Garbage Collection
Exceptions Thrown Number of exceptions thrown per second
ASP .NET System Performance Counters
  • Number of times Application Restarted
  • Request Execution Time
  • Number of Requests Disconnected
  • Number of times Worker Process Restarted
  • Total Number of Requests
  • Number of Requests executed per second
  • Current Requests
  • Recent Request Waited Time
  • Number of Queued Request waiting for service
  • Number of Requests Rejected
TCP Connections
  • Number of TCP Connections failed
  • Number of TCP Connections Established
  • Number of TCP Connections Reset
TCP Segment Connections TCP segments sent per sec
Network Traffic
  • Total number of Bytes received per second for all interfaces
  • Total number of Bytes sent per second for all interfaces
Network Traffic VM Bus Adapter
  • Total number of bytes send and received per sec for VM Bus Network Adapter
  • Total number of bytes received per second for VM Bus Network Adapter
  • Total number of bytes sent per second for VM Bus Network Adapter

Monitoring Logs in Applications Manager

Event Logs, Trace logs and Diagnostic infrastructure logs of the Windows Azure Role Instances can be monitored by defining rules. On clicking Windows Azure Log rule configuration, you can create rules for Diagnostic Infrastructure and Trace logs.

When the Azure Role Instance starts it data collection, all the logs associated to the role instance will be matched the rule. On matching the rule, an event will be generated and the log entry will be persisted in the database. The log information will be available in the GUI of the Azure role instance

Event Logs

On clicking Event Log Rules configuration tab, you can create rules on various category such as Application, System, Application, Security, DNS Server, File replication service and Directory service.

You can view Windows Azure Event Log Details like:

Parameter Description
Rule Name Specify the name of the rule.
Provider Guid Globally unique identifier of the provider
Provider Name Provider name of the event.
Event ID The identifier of the event.
Level This field provides the severity of the event.
Process ID The process ID of the event.
Thread ID The thread ID of the event.
Channel You can get notified by the events from channels like Applications, Security, System, etc.
Generated Time The time at which the event is generated.

Trace logs

In the trace logs tab, you can view Windows Azure Event Log Details like:

Parameter Description
Rule Name Specify the name of the rule.
Event ID The identifier of the events
Level This field provides the severity of the log event.
Process ID The process ID of the log.
Thread ID The thread ID of the log.
Generated Time The time at which the event is generated.

Diagnostic infrastructure logs

In the Diagnostic infrastructure logs tab, you can view Windows Azure Diagnostic Infrastructure Log Details like :

Parameter Description
Rule Name Specify the name of the rule.
Error Code Specify the error code of the log.
Level This field provides the severity of the log event.
Process ID The process ID of the log.
Thread ID The thread ID of the log.
Function Specify the function of the log event.
Line Specify the line containing the function.
MD Result Specify the MDetect result of the log.
Event Generated Time The time at which the event is generated.